Skip to main content.

National Policy Statement on Flood Risk Management

In March 2007 Cabinet decided that a national policy statement (NPS) on managing flood risk is desirable.

Comments on a draft national policy statement have been sought in terms of section 46 of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) from councils, iwi authorities and other organisations with a direct interest in flood risk management. The Ministry has considered these comments and a draft national policy statement has been prepared. Input has been sought from a variety of parties in preparing the draft.

A board of inquiry has been appointed and will become operational if it is agreed that a national policy statement should proceed and public comment is called for.

The Ministry has started the section 32 RMA process and has carried out a high level cost benefit analysis and consideration of alternatives as part of this process.  In doing so officials identified that a national policy statement may not be the best tool to assist local authorities to achieve reductions in flood risk.  The reasons for this assessment are:

  • An NPS would have greatest impact on new development and would have limited impact on reducing flood risk to existing development
  • There are a small number of councils that would continue to struggle to meet their flood risk management responsibilities irrespective of whether a national policy statement is in place
  • Most councils already appear to be prioritising to achieving flood risk reduction in the context of new development

In order to determine whether or not a national policy statement should proceed, the Ministry is further investigating:

  • The amount of flood damage potentially avoided by the draft national policy statement
  • Whether the desired objective of flood risk reduction could be achieved by most local authorities without government intervention
  • Alternative options to address the problem – in particular targeted assistance and other tools to assist local authorities to achieve flood risk reduction

It is expected that further analysis will be concluded early in 2010.

Last updated: 19 October 2009