RMA shake-up to impact local government

Tuesday, 9 December 2025

Wairarapa councils could soon be managing changes relating to “once-in-a-generation“ planning reforms if new Government proposals are passed into law.

In an announcement at the Beehive on Tuesday, Chris Bishop, Minister for RMA Reform, announced a raft of proposed changes aimed at streamlining and simplifying the planning process, reducing the number of consents needed, and shortening time frames.

Bishop said key changes included fewer, simpler consents; fewer, faster plans – with more than 100 existing plans reduced to 17 regional combined plans; more consistency through nationally set policy direction; and regulatory relief – with councils required to provide relief mechanisms when imposing restrictions like heritage protections.

Two substantial bills, the Planning Bill, and the Natural Environment Bill, underpin the new regime which would replace the current Resource Management Act and its associated processes. The bills were expected to be introduced into Parliament on Tuesday afternoon.

“The Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) has failed,” Bishop said.

“It has slowed down energy and infrastructure projects, and fuelled a housing crisis in a country the size of the United Kingdom but with only about seven per cent of its population. It has created enormous uncertainty for developers, councils, farmers and growers – but it hasn’t protected the environment, with many environmental indicators worsening since 1991.

“Our reforms are a once-in-a-generation opportunity to free ourselves from a millstone that has weighed on both our economy and our environment.”

He said the economic benefits of the new planning system would be significant, with a projected GDP boost of an additional 0.56 per cent every year by 2050, or up to $3.1 billion annually. A cost benefit analysis had estimated $13.3 billion in savings over 30 years through reduced administrative and compliance costs.

“Officials also estimate that up to 46 per cent of consent and permit applications required under the RMA could be removed under the new system. Based on 2023/24 volumes, that represents between 15,000 and 22,000 consents no longer needed.”

An explanatory paper from the Ministry for the Environment said the role of local government in the new system would include jointly making and maintaining a spatial plan for their region, and making and maintaining a regulatory plan.

The Government recently proposed local government reforms which included local mayors collectively leading regional issues and governing the regional council through a structure called a combined territories board (CTB).

“If the local government reforms proceed, Ministers have decided that CTBs should be the decision-making body for both these new planning instruments, ” the paper said.

Bishop said there was clearly going to be a burden for the smaller councils.

'That is the status quo now, so you have to compare the status quo with what the new system will look like. It will be far less burdensome with fewer consents, fewer permits and much less red tape.”

Wairarapa-based Green Party spokesperson for local government, Celia Wade-Brown said while reform was needed, the transition consenting regime would be another out-of-the-blue surprise to local councils, similar to the proposed removal of regional councillors.

“Instead of a combined Wairarapa Plan, this change will see one plan for the whole of the Wellington region which means mayors Little, Baker, Zee and Laban will have more input than mayors Johnson, Cretney, and Wilde,” she said.

“New Zealand has been talking about RM change for decades; this coalition government threw out the replacement Urban Development and Environment laws developed by the previous Government, wasting time.

“Wairarapa councils must feel like a political football.”

Wade-Brown said the proposals meant more centralisation and less say from the public.

“We’ve seen this Government bulldoze nature and freshwater for short-term mining profit. Their actions so far don’t say they are committed to protecting te taiao. The Greens support appropriate decision-making which means local communities should be involved in the development of the 17 regional plans.”

Local Government New Zealand vice president Rehette Stoltz welcomed the clarity in the proposals.

“We will see a totally new way of operating,” she said.

“We were really pleased when the Minister said he wanted buy-in from councils and from the community. We welcome that, because there is already buy-in. Everyone has been frustrated by the RMA.”

Stoltz said it would be important to examine the detail of the proposals.

“There is still a lot of detail we will need before we can discuss the changes with our communities, but overall there is buy-in from councils to take this forward.

“We welcome the fact that the Government want to work with us. We will be waiting for feedback from LGNZ members, but also, as mayors, from our communities on how that will impact them.”

The Government had proposed a range of transitional measures to implement the new system, which included additional legislation to extend existing consents to be passed under urgency in the coming days.

People would be invited to have their say on the legislation through the select committee process.

LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air