RMA reform - what does it mean for local councils

Reform of the Resource Management Act is now well underway, with the first two peices of the new legislation to replace it expected to be before Parliament at the end of this year. The RMA will be replaced with three new acts, the Natural and Built Environments Act, the Strategic Planning Act, and the Climate Change Adaptation Act. The reform will see the 100-plus RMA council planning documents reduced to about 14. It will mean huge changes for local councils which are already dealing with the reform of three waters, and a local government review. So what are those changes, and what will they mean for people seeking consents? Dr Grant Hewison is the director of Grant Hewison & Associates Ltd, a firm specialising in local government and environmental legal and consultancy services and John Tookey is a professor of construction at AUT University's School of Future Environments.