Consultation begins on tentative NPD for the new planning system
Albeit the passage of the double-headed Planning and Natural Environment legislation is set to become a fait accompli at Parliament this week, the RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop and Parliamentary Under-Secretary Simon Court have now fulfilled a promise made by Mr Bishop on 20 July to release an illustrative National Policy Direction (NPD) for the new planning system for feedback.
This non-statutory NPD was launched today, with Mr Bishop stating it is “what translates the goals of the Planning and Natural Environment Bills into clear directives on national priorities and identifies how key system conflicts should be resolved.”
This belated engagement is being positioned as a key milestone in the Government’s wider reform of the planning system. The underlying document itself is available for downloading from the MCERT website here.
Mr Bishop: “The NPD will influence where homes and businesses can be built, how roads, water infrastructure and renewable energy projects are enabled, how farming, quarrying and other resource uses are managed, and how environmental and public values are protected.
“(It) responds to the strong interest through Select Committee submissions in how national system instruments would guide how the new planning legislation plays out in communities (and) presents draft Government directives across five themes – housing and development, infrastructure, primary production, resources and public values (including environmental and human health, and indigenous biodiversity) – as well as broader cross-cutting, system-wide directives”.
Mr Bishop said the consultation is “an important step in giving councils, infrastructure providers, developers, farmers and growers, iwi and communities an early look at how national direction could guide decisions under New Zealand’s new planning system”, adding “it will help us test the structure and content with those who engage with the planning system every day to identify any improvements needed or gaps needing filling to ensure it’s clear and workable before a formal statutory consultation process.
NPD directives will be supported by national standards which are not expected until next year, well after the General Election and the voting that commences from 25 October.
Feedback on the ‘Illustrative NPD’ can be submitted up until 11.59pm on Friday 16th October. Details on how to provide feedback are available at consult.environment.govt.nz The illustrative NPD is being posited as an example for engagement only and is not statutory or legally binding. The full media release on this is available at beehive.govt.nz
The final debate
At this point in time, a large number of papers containing proposed amendments to the Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill have yet to be debated in the Committee of the House. This will happen this week.
Those Amendment Papers can currently be accessed here:
Other announcements of public interest made this month, running to more than 30 releases so far, include: