NZCOC recognises the significance of the Natural Environment Bill and the Planning Bill and as a long-standing advocate for reform of New Zealand’s resource management system, we welcome the opportunity to provide feedback on these bills. Council has consistently expressed concern that, over time, the Resource Management Act 1991 became increasingly complex, mired in bureaucratic bottlenecks, costly and uncertain in its operation, particularly for nationally and regionally significant infrastructure. The Port of Tauranga wharf expansion project, which has taken longer to progress through planning processes than it (eventually) will to construct, is a sorry example of the cost to NZ Inc. of resource consent-related delays; including loss of export shipping capacity, and supply chain congestion. We therefore strongly support the Government’s intent to replace the RMA and to establish a new system that better enables development while appropriately protecting the natural environment.
NZCOC Submission on Natural Environment Bill and Planning Bill
