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Your Guide to the Resource Management Act

Preface

1 Introduction

2 Who, How and What

3 Understanding the Resource Consent Process

4 Getting Involved in Resource Management Decision-making

5 Taking Action to Protect the Environment

6 Where to Go for Further Guidance

Appendix 1: Matters of National Importance and Other Matters

Appendix 2: Administrative Boundaries for City, District and Regional Councils

Appendix 3: Administrative Boundaries for the Department of Conservation

Appendix 4: Glossary of RMA Terms

Appendix 5: Glossary of Māori Terms

2 Who, How and What

2.1 The decision-makers

One of the RMA's underlying principles is that decision-making is best left to those who are directly affected by the results of those decisions. It therefore devolves the authority for making decisions to the most appropriate level. Where there is some advantage in setting consistent policy at a national level, this role lies with the Minister for the Environment and the Minister of Conservation. Decisions that directly impact on local communities are made by councils, which, under the RMA, are called local authorities. Local authorities are responsible for implementing the bulk of the RMA, and are divided into two tiers (district/city and regional councils) for this purpose. A map of the administrative boundaries of New Zealand's local authorities is provided in Appendix 2.

2.1.1 District and city councils

There are 73 district and city councils in New Zealand, including unitary authorities (which are districts with regional functions - see Section 2.1.3). These are collectively referred to as territorial authorities in the RMA and include authorities as diverse as the Wellington City Council and the Kaipara District Council. Under the RMA, territorial authorities are primarily responsible for controlling:

• the effects of land-use (including hazardous substances, natural hazards and indigenous biodiversity)
• noise
• the effects of activities on the surface of lakes and rivers.

Subdivision can also be controlled under the RMA, though only to the extent that it forms a method of carrying out the functions specified above.

To enable them to carry out these functions, territorial and unitary authorities are charged with preparing district plans, issuing resource consents, taking enforcement action, and monitoring the state of the environment and the effects of their own decisions.

2.1.2 Regional councils

There are 12 regional councils in New Zealand including, for example, the Auckland and Otago Regional Councils, and Environment Bay of Plenty. Regional councils are responsible for controlling:

• the taking, use, damming, and diversion of surface water, groundwater and geothermal water
• the discharge of contaminants to land, air or water
• the effects of activities in the coastal marine area (together with the Minister of Conservation)
• the introduction of plants into water bodies
• maintaining indigenous biodiversity
• land-use for matters such as soil conservation, maintaining and enhancing ecosystems in water bodies, water quality and quantity, and controlling natural hazards and hazardous substances
• the strategic integration of infrastructure with land-use.

Regional councils are responsible for preparing regional policy statements and regional plans, issuing resource consents, taking enforcement action, and monitoring the state of the environment and the effect of their own decisions, all within the context of their functions under the RMA.

Under the RMA, local authority responsibilities overlap to enable them to establish the most appropriate arrangement. For example, both regional and district/city councils are responsible for controlling land to manage hazardous substances and natural hazards.

Local authorities can transfer some of their RMA functions to public authorities such as city and district councils, iwi authorities, or government departments - although to date few have chosen to do so. Councils can delegate their functions to an internal committee, community boards, officers or commissioners. Most councils make special committees responsible for hearing and deciding consent applications and submissions on policy statements and plans. Most also allocate the power to make decisions on less significant resource consents to delegated officers.

Local authorities can also enter into joint management agreements with public authorities, iwi authorities and groups that represent hapū for the purpose of the RMA. A joint management agreement may provide for the joint performance or exercise of any function of the council and may apply to the whole or part of a district or region.

2.1.3 Unitary authorities

The Chatham Islands Council, the Gisborne, Marlborough and Tasman District Councils and the Nelson City Council have the functions of both regional councils and territorial authorities under the RMA. They are known as unitary authorities.

2.1.4 The Minister of Conservation

The Minister of Conservation has statutory responsibilities for managing the coastal marine area. This area extends from the mean high water springs mark to the limit of the territorial sea (see Figure 2). The Minister is responsible for preparing the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement and shares an administrative role with regional councils on particularly significant developments in the coastal marine area. The Department of Conservation furthers the Minister's interests.

Appendix 3 illustrates the administrative boundaries of the Department's local conservancy offices. Separate to the RMA, and under the provisions of the Conservation Act 1987, the Department administers land under various acts, and assumes the role of a conservation advocate.

2.1.5 The Minister for the Environment

The Minister for the Environment maintains an active overview and monitoring role of the implementation of the RMA. The Minister has some direct areas of responsibility which include:

• making recommendations on the issue of national policy statements, national environmental standards and water conservation orders
• the 'call-in' of proposals of national significance
• making recommendations for the approval of applicants as requiring authorities and heritage protection authorities.

The Minister is also able to investigate a local authority's performance and provide recommendations to the local authority for action, direct local authorities to prepare plan changes/variations or parts of plans to address resource management issues, appoint people to carry out the duties of councils where councils are not performing their functions properly, make grants and loans, and require councils and other authorities to supply information relating to their activities. The Ministry for the Environment is responsible for helping the Minister in carrying out their functions under the RMA.

2.1.6 The Environment Court

The Environment Court is a specialist court established by the RMA which has jurisdiction over environmental and resource management matters. It hears appeals and references on the decisions made by councils, and considers applications for declarations and enforcement orders. Its Judges sit in the District Court to hear prosecutions under the RMA. The Environment Court has the powers of a District Court and the Ministry of Justice delivers administrative support to it. The Court's membership is comprised of Environment Judges (who also are warranted as District Court Judges) and Environment Commissioners.

As well as fulfilling a primary function as a court, the Environment Court has a pivotal role in the resource management process. The RMA confers primary powers on local authorities and the Court. In general, policies are locally generated and are interpreted and applied by the Court.

The Court has the power to order changes to policy statements or plans, overturn the decisions of councils on applications for resource consent, and award costs in favour of one or other of the parties involved. When considering appeals to decisions on resource consent applications, private plan changes and notices of requirement, the Environment Court must have regard to the decision that is the subject of the appeal. A right of appeal against Environment Court decisions, on points of law only, may be heard in the High Court. Generally the RMA prevents anyone seeking a judicial review when a right of appeal is available.

2.2 The plans

To address their responsibilities under the RMA, regional councils and the Minister of Conservation have the ability to prepare and implement policy statements. Regional councils may also prepare and implement regional plans, and district councils must prepare and implement district plans. The Minister for the Environment also has the ability to prepare and implement national policy statements and national environmental standards.

Policy statements and plans set out the requirements for people who wish to carry out activities, set up a business, or build something. They may also set out other, non-regulatory, approaches that councils will take to deal with environmental issues. Because plans and policy statements can impact on people's day-to-day activities and expectations, agencies preparing these documents must consult with members of the public who may be affected.

The different types of policy statements and plans are described below. How these are prepared, and your opportunities to influence their contents, are described in Section 4 of this guide.

2.2.1 National environmental standards

The RMA enables the Minister for the Environment to prepare national environmental standards (NES). These standards have the force of regulations and are binding on local authorities. Local authorities cannot grant resource consents that would breach the standards and cannot impose stricter requirements through rules or resource consents (unless the NES says they may). However, new standards will not affect existing resource consents. They can be established for any of a number of matters, including the disposal of hazardous wastes or minimum water flows in rivers or subdivisions. Public involvement is required in developing such standards and to achieve this, a report and recommendations on particular proposals to establish standards must be publicly notified. There is currently only one set of national environmental standards, those recently developed for air quality and toxics. The Ministry for the Environment is currently looking at other potential standards.

2.2.2 New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement

The RMA requires the Minister of Conservation to prepare a coastal policy statement for New Zealand. The New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement (NZCPS) came into force on 5 May 1994 and guides all coastal management. It sets out a series of general principles for the sustainable management of New Zealand's coastal environment and national priorities for the preservation of its natural character. It directs how activities in the coastal marine area (particularly those with significant or irreversible effects) must be dealt with in regional coastal plans, and indicates how tāngata whenua values in the coastal environment should be protected. Review of the NZCPS began in 2002.

2.2.3 National policy statements

When deemed necessary, the Minister for the Environment can issue national policy statements to guide local authorities on matters of national significance. Statements might be issued where, for instance, a new technology or activity has a potentially significant environmental impact across the country as a whole. Proposed national policy statements must be advertised for public input, and the Minister can appoint a board of inquiry to investigate and report on the proposal. Anyone may make a submission on a draft national policy statement. Once approved, local authorities must ensure their own policy statements and plans give effect to a national policy statement, including the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement, and make public their decisions on the actions they propose to take. To date, no national policy statements (other than the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement) have been prepared.

2.2.4 Regional policy statements

The RMA also requires each regional council to prepare a regional policy statement, which provides an overview of the region's resource management issues and facilitates an integrated approach to dealing with those issues. The regional policy statements establish a directional framework for regional and district plans. Regional policy statements must give effect to national policy statements (see Section 2.2.3 of this guide). Regional councils must also take into account any planning documents prepared by iwi authorities. All regional councils now have operative regional policy statements.

The Resource Management Act requires regional councils to begin a review of their regional policy statements no later than 10 years after the statement became operative. Many regional councils are now reviewing their regional policy statements. These new policy statements are likely to be more specific and directive as district and city council plans must now give effect to regional policy statements.

2.2.5 Regional plans

The RMA allows regional councils to prepare regional plans to address any issue relating to their functions under the RMA. Regional plans may be produced as and when the need arises. To reflect the importance that New Zealanders attach to the coast, regional councils are obliged to produce a regional coastal plan for the entire coastal marine area under their jurisdiction. All regional councils have therefore prepared regional coastal plans, which are now either operative or nearly operative.

For other parts of the environment, most regional councils have chosen to prepare a suite of documents under the RMA, relating to their various functions. Each plan describes the significant resource management issues facing a particular area or resource within the region, and sets out objectives, policies and rules to address these issues. The information that must be submitted with applications for resource consents is specified, and the plans also outline the environmental results that are anticipated from their implementation. Regional councils must ensure their plans give effect to any national policy statements including the NZCPS, and to regional policy statements. Plans must not be inconsistent with any other regional plans for the region and must also take into account planning documents prepared by iwi authorities (eg, iwi/hapū management plans).

As with district plans, regional plans have a lifespan of 10 years. Most regional councils have assumed responsibility for regional planning documents prepared under previous legislation. They include such instruments as water classifications, general authorisations and certain types of bylaws. Under the RMA, these are known as transitional regional plans, and continue to have legal force before they are replaced by operative regional plans prepared under the RMA. Most regional councils now have operative regional plans and many are starting their 10 year reviews.

The RMA enables councils to work together to prepare combined plans, where the cross-boundary nature of a particular issue demands it. Otherwise councils can consider preparing such plans jointly at any other stage and for any other purpose. Carterton, Masterton and South Wairarapa have prepared the South Wairarapa Combined District Plan. Other examples include the four unitary authorities (see section 2.1.3) that have sought to comprehensively address all their functions, both regional and territorial, under the RMA with combined plans.

2.2.6 District plans

The RMA requires district and city councils to prepare district plans for all of the area for which they are responsible. District plans help district and city councils carry out their functions under the RMA and must give effect to regional policy statements. Each plan describes the district's significant resource management issues, and sets out objectives, policies and rules to address these issues. The information that must be submitted with applications for resource consent is specified, and the plans also outline the environmental results that are anticipated from their implementation. District plans must give effect to any national policy statement including the New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement, and give effect to regional policy statements. District plans must not be inconsistent with any regional plans. District and city councils must also take into account any planning documents prepared by iwi authorities (eg, iwi/hapū management plans) where these have a bearing on the resource management issues of the district.

Under the RMA, district plans have a life of 10 years. After this time they must be reviewed to keep pace with the changing environment. However, changes to district plans can be made at any time within that period.

Under previous legislation, district and city councils were required to produce what were known as 'district schemes'. Although they were developed in a way similar to district plans, the subjects they covered reflected the focus of that legislation which was quite different to the RMA. It was therefore necessary to replace district schemes once the RMA was enacted. This has been a gradual process as preparing district plans can take more than three years. In the interim, district schemes have been given the status of transitional district plans, and continue to carry legal weight until district plans become operative. Most district plans are now fully operative, and many councils are embarking on their 'second generation' plans.