Replacing the current resource management act is a key recommendation in the Productivity Commission’s better urban planning report released this week.
Both BusinessNZ and the Employers and Manufacturers Association (EMA) are responding positively to the report’s recommendations, but the EMA also says the terms of reference have constrained the report and it doesn’t go far enough in addressing systemic issues.
BusinessNZ chief executive Kirk Hope says a new approach to resource management law would be positive, and the Commission’s recommendations contained good direction towards a replacement act.
“An enabling approach to development is critically needed,” says Hope.
He says the report covered a huge range of connected issues including urban planning, housing, infrastructure and environmental protection, and it would be important for there to be a good public discussion on its recommendations.
“The Productivity Commission suggests a new act that makes a clear distinction between the built environment and the natural environment. Separate provisions would allow for protection of the natural environment while better enabling development in urban areas,” says Hope
Hope says a new act would need to give more clarity around planning.
“Planning problems evident in cities today have arisen in part because of the broad and unclear provisions of the current resource management act,” he says.
“The Commission recommends that a new act should contain clearly defined and restrained objectives. Planners would then have clearer parameters to work within,” says Hope.
Hope say many of the Commission’s major recommendations on planning, housing, infrastructure and environmental matters now deserve considered implementation.
EMA chief executive officer Kim Campbell feels the report does not go far enough in addressing the systemic issues the nation needs to debate.
He says this includes how the RMA, Local Government Act and Land Transport Management Act intersect.
“For a long time, we have been saying the wider resource management system needs reviewing as a matter of national importance,” says Campbell.
“I think the key here, is whether the government will be bold enough to use this report as a launching pad to create a much broader, non-political process, to identify a better way to manage the built and natural environments,” he says.
“We welcome the debate this report will trigger and look forward to working towards a more holistic solution to drive much-needed reform,” says Campbell.
