{"id":357186,"date":"2026-03-31T18:07:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/357186\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T18:07:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:07:08","slug":"rma-reform-getting-the-planning-system-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/357186\/","title":{"rendered":"RMA Reform: Getting the planning system right"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cNew Zealand&#8217;s resource management system is broken\u201d, said Nick Clark,\u00a0author of\u00a0The New Zealand Initiative\u2019s new research\u00a0note\u00a0RMA Reform: Getting the new system right.\u00a0\u201cMany attempts have been made over the past three decades to fix it. All have missed the mark.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>The latest attempt\u00a0is the Government\u2019s\u00a0Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill, both currently before the Environment Select Committee.\u00a0\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>The\u00a0research note\u00a0finds that the Bills have the right basic shape but are missing critical pieces\u00a0for\u00a0them\u00a0to\u00a0work as intended.\u00a0Closing that gap is not just a matter of fine-tuning.\u00a0It\u00a0determines\u00a0whether this reform succeeds or fails.\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0\u00a0<br \/>\u201cThe Government got the diagnosis right: the RMA had to be replaced\u201d,\u00a0said Mr Clark. \u201cAnd\u00a0for the first time,\u00a0the original blueprint was clear\u00a0and hit the mark: the new system starts\u00a0with people having\u00a0the right to use and enjoy their property.\u00a0After thirty years\u00a0of failure, this is the closest we have come to getting it right.\u00a0\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>\u201cAn expert group then drew up a plan, Cabinet\u00a0largely agreed\u00a0with it.\u00a0But drafting\u00a0filed off\u00a0the sharp edges.\u00a0What was lost is not minor detail. It tips the balance from success to failure.\u00a0There is\u00a0still\u00a0time to\u00a0put back what was left out.\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>\u201cThe most striking gap is that, despite the whole reform being built around property rights, neither Bill mentions them. This is a fatal omission.\u201d\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>The Bills also removed a longstanding requirement in the RMA for councils and ministers to weigh up the costs and benefits of decisions, without\u00a0a replacement. That matters because the new system will hand\u00a0more power to\u00a0ministers\u00a0to\u00a0determine\u00a0how our planning system works under their watch.\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>\u201cThink of it like building a new motorway with no speed limits or road rules. The road might be well-designed, but without rules governing its use, things can still go wrong,\u201d said Mr Clark.\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>The Government has chosen to keep legislation \u2018lean\u2019,\u00a0leaving most details to be filled in by ministers. That\u00a0only\u00a0works\u00a0if the Bills\u00a0contain\u00a0the guardrails that stop those powers from being misused or misread. Right now, those guardrails\u00a0are not\u00a0there.\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>\u201cThe Bills are also packed with vaguely worded goals without saying which take priority. This approach is a recipe for years of court battles.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>\u201cAnd for a reform intended to make housing affordable, provisions\u00a0are missing to\u00a0satisfy the goal of competitive urban land markets.&#8221;<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>We are at a fork in the road. The promise is real and potentially\u00a0historic. But so is the risk. The work\u00a0to be done\u00a0on these Bills in the coming months will decide whether this reform succeeds or becomes one more missed opportunity.<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>The Bills are currently before the Environment Select Committee. That forum is the best place to fix these issues before the election. The Government has signalled willingness to rework them to deliver on their intent.\u00a0\u00a0<br \/>\u00a0<br \/>\u201cThat is an encouraging sign.\u00a0After 30 years learning what a broken resource management system costs, Parliament should not need another lesson,\u201d concluded Mr Clark.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cNew Zealand&#8217;s resource management system is broken\u201d, said Nick Clark,\u00a0author of\u00a0The New Zealand Initiative\u2019s new research\u00a0note\u00a0RMA Reform: Getting&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-357186","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-zealand","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-newzealand","11":"tag-nz"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}