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Drafting Issues, Objectives, Policies and Methods in Regional Policy Statements and District Plans

• Purpose of the Guide
• Why the Provisions Matter
• The Terms Defined
• Where Provisions Belong
• Well-crafted Provisions
• Summary

The Terms Defined

What is an issue?

An issue is an existing or potential problem that must be resolved to promote the purpose of the RMA.

Identifying an issue is the starting point of the public policy cycle. It is also the main justification for policy development and local authority action. There are two types of issue: environmental issues, and corporate issues.

Environmental issues

Environmental issues [Of course there are some procedural matters that must be dealt with within plans such as cross-boundary issues and monitoring but these need not be presented in the objectives policies framework.] usually concern conflicts between uses and users of resources, and the associated environmental effects of use. An environmental issue can be:

• an existing problem. The degraded state of water quality in lowland waterways caused by agricultural run-off
• a potential problem or conflict, particularly the effects that might arise from any new development or resource use. The potential for the operation of non-residential activities within residential areas to generate noise that detracts from the existing residential amenity
• an issue requiring positive action, usually associated with the effects of a past use, or responding to the failure of previous policy (or the absence of policy) to achieve a desired environmental outcome. Without restoration of corridors of indigenous vegetation, the ecological value of the district's key areas of indigenous vegetation will continue to decline.

Most issues in a plan should be existing problems or potential problems, rather than issues requiring positive action. Presenting issues as problems fits the process of issues leading to objectives, rather than the other way around.

However, including issues requiring positive action does allow plans to be proactive and focus on creating positive things, rather than be purely reactive and focus on removing negative things.

Sometimes the purpose of the RMA is best served by acknowledging, through an issue requiring positive action, that inaction by a local authority would allow a substandard environmental outcome to continue or worsen.

Issues requiring positive action will usually involve methods available under legislation such as the Local Government Act or the Biosecurity Act, rather than rules under the RMA.

Corporate issues

Corporate issues generally don't belong in a plan. Corporate issues arise from the administrative, financial, and procedural challenges that local authorities face in working with the RMA.

They include things like a lack of information, lack of staff capacity, and difficulty in drafting provisions that recognise the diverse interests of the community.

Although local authorities need to find ways to deal with corporate issues, such issues don't justify action under the RMA. If corporate issues must be included in a plan, they should be identified separately from environmental issues.

Procedural issues such as cross boundary issues and monitoring need to be addressed in a plan, but don't need to be part of the objectives and policies framework.

What is an objective?

An objective is a statement of what will be achieved through the resolution of the issue. [Concise Oxford Dictionary (7th edition); Oxford Compact Thesaurus (2nd edition).] Every issue should have at least one corresponding objective that clearly states the aim, intention, purpose, or target for the issue being addressed. These statements provide the framework that establishes what policies must achieve.

Plans are complex policy documents, and objectives sometimes need to convey intended outcomes at both strategic and operational levels.

There are two types of objectives: outcome objectives, and administrative objectives.

Outcome objectives

Outcome objectives focus on the environmental outcomes to be achieved. An outcome objective can be:

• an open objective, setting a general direction that might simply be enhancement of the status quo: increased urban amenity in the suburban shopping centres
• a closed objective, a finite statement of a desired end state: the water quality in the x Lake is improved to meet a Trophic Index level of 3.2 by 2006.

A closed objective may also be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound).

Both types of objectives should clearly add value to the RMA, rather than merely repeat the Act. They should be concrete, and not be qualified by statements like "as far as practicable".

For more information on objectives, see Regional Policy Statements and Regional Plans: A Guide to their Purpose, Scope, and Content, Hawke's Bay Regional Council, Taranaki Regional Council, Manawatu-Wanganui Regional Council, Otago Regional Council, and Southland Regional Council, March 1998.

Administrative objectives

Administrative objectives relate to how the local authority intends to deal with an issue from an administrative and policy-making point of view. They might concern matters like:

• the desire to treat users equitably
• the desire for administrative efficiency
• the desire to adopt policies and methods that impose least cost on the community
• matters concerning corporate issues.

Like corporate issues, administrative objectives don't serve any particular purpose in a plan, and are not critical to good practice.

However, plan developers might choose to include administrative objectives because, for example, they aid understanding of the plan.

Including administrative objectives would only be considered bad practice if it meant that more critical outcome objectives were left out as a result.

What is a policy?

The definition of "policy" is widely debated. [See Regional Policy Statements and Regional Plans: A Guide to Their Purpose Scope and Content, Hawke's Bay Regional Council, Taranaki Regional Council, Manawatu-Wanganui Regional Council, Otago Regional Council, and Southland Regional Council, March 1998.] The Concise Oxford Dictionary defines a policy as "a course or general plan of action adopted by government, party, person etc". This fits the wider definition of public policy as being "whatever a government chooses to do or not to do". [Dye TR (1998) Understanding Public Policy(9th ed), Prentice Hall, Hall Jersey.]

Any statement of a local authority's intended action or attitude towards an issue is a policy, regardless of how specific that statement is. This is confirmed by a Court of Appeal definition (see text box).

However, policies can be treated differently in different plans, depending on the context and the local authority. A policy in one context may be a method, or even an objective, in another.

It is important not to get trapped in circular arguments about what defines a policy. It is far more valuable to ask:

• is this policy useful in a plan; does it serve a purpose that needs to be served?
• does this policy allow the plan to be consistent with the RMA's general approach and philosophy?
• does this policy fit with the other policies in the plan, and with other policy documents?

Substantive policy

Substantive policy states what is going to be done. [Anderson J (1984) Public Policy Making and Introduction(3rd ed) Houghton Miffin, Boston.] In the RMA context, "what is going to be done" relates, first and foremost, to the position a local authority will take on the use of a resource.

A substantive policy is often more like a principle than an action. For example, the course of action in this policy is to prefer one form of resource use over another: floating structures and piled platforms are preferred ahead of reclamations and causeways.

There are three main types of substantive policies. Practitioners refer to these as the "decision-making policies". They are:

• to not accept a particular effect or degree of effect: subdivision within the rural environment should not adversely affect the open space or visual elements of rural character
• to require certain conditions to be satisfied before an effect will be considered acceptable: rural subdivision in the high quality soil area is generally only acceptable when adverse effects of soil loss are offset by the formal protection of significant indigenous vegetation and/or the re-vegetation or restoration of indigenous vegetation
• to ensure that something is achieved or satisfied: to control rural subdivision in areas of high soil quality and ensure that the adverse effects are avoided, remedied or mitigated.

Policies "to ensure" will usually need to be supported by the more specific "not accept" or "require" policies. For example, the "to ensure" policy above doesn't give any guidance about the basis of control, or when avoidance, mitigation or remedy are acceptable.

If a policy is to "control" or "limit" some form of activity, further policies need to give direction on how that control or limit will be exercised. [Hawke's Bay Regional Council et al (1998) Regional Policy Statements and Plans: A Guide to their Purpose, Scope and Content.]

Procedural policy

Procedural policy concerns how, and by whom, things will be done. A procedural policy might be a statement about methods to be used, or about processes to be followed. Some procedural policies may relate to administrative objectives.

What is a method?

A method is the way a policy is implemented. As noted earlier, a method could be described as a specific form of policy. However, the RMA chooses to "tease out" methods from policies, consistent with the public policy cycle.

Methods can be distinguished from policies by the fact that their purpose is purely explanatory. They provide no decision-making guidance, and merely state how the relevant policy will be implemented.

Broadly speaking, methods are either regulatory or non-regulatory.

Regulatory methods

Regulatory methods involve the use of specific coercive powers provided by the RMA or other legislation. They include the specific regulatory measures available to local authorities under the RMA: rules, resource consents and conditions, designations, heritage protection orders, enforcement orders, and abatement notices.

Regulatory methods also include different techniques for implementing policy. Examples include zoning, classifying water ways for specific uses, and requiring documents such as structure plans and network management plans.

Non-regulatory methods

Non-regulatory methods are either operational programmes (such as education, funding or grants schemes, or technical assistance), or economic instruments (mainly rating policy, financial contribution policies, or transferable rights or permits regimes).

The Local Government Act 2002 places little restriction on operational methods The Local Government (Rating) Act 2002, the Resource Management Act, and other legislation limits the use of economic instruments.

What is an ERA?

Environmental Results Anticipated (ERAs) are closely related to objectives. They reflect what might be achieved from the combined effect of the objectives, policies and methods.

The general purpose of ERAs is to encourage policy makers to specify their expectations in a way and with a transparency that might not be appropriate in the objectives themselves. They also provide milestones against which progress can be measured.

ERAs can have any one of three distinguishing features that make them valuable additions to plans. These features are:

• ERAs are measurable in a clear outcome sense. They focus on what will be observed during the life of the plan, whereas objectives may be longer term and less precise. ERAs link directly to future monitoring and provide indicators to measure the plan's success.
• ERAs may include outcomes that are not consistent with the RMA's purpose, but that are relevant to the design and implementation of policy. These might include social and economic conditions, such as the continued operation of a particular industry.

The RMA's definition of "environment" includes social and economic conditions that affect or are affected by ecosystems, resources or amenity values.

• ERAs may also relate to outcomes that are incidental or contributory to the primary objective. For example, an objective of maintaining or reducing nutrient levels in a water body might be expected to result in limited land development in a particular catchment. That development outcome might be identified as an anticipated result, even though it is not the specified purpose of the provisions.

What are principal reasons?

The RMA also requires local authorities to identify the principal reasons for adopting objectives, policies and methods. This requirement links directly to section 32.

Identifying principal reasons provides an opportunity for local authorities to state why one provision is more appropriate than another in its efficiency and effectiveness.

Principal reasons should focus on key issues and key alternatives. They might focus on concern for the social and economic costs of an alternative provision. They might explain that the local authority believes the environmental costs or risks of the alternative provisions outweigh the social and economic costs of the proposed provisions.

Principal reasons should not merely repeat the issue. They should focus instead on explaining why particular provisions have been included. This can be an opportunity to introduce some of the corporate issues and administrative objectives discussed earlier.