Appendix 2: National Policy Statements and National Environmental Standards
89. National policy statements and national environmental standards are two of the principal ways central government can provide guidance on resource management decision making that is otherwise almost entirely devolved to local government.
90. The Government can use national policy statements or national environmental standards when there are matters of national significance at stake and where it can be demonstrated that they are the most appropriate, efficient and effective mechanisms. Before a national policy statement or a national environmental standard is adopted, the Government must carry out an evaluation to demonstrate that the statutory 'cost benefit' tests of section 32 of the Resource Management Act are met.
National policy statements
91. National policy statements can set out objectives and policies that local authorities must 'give effect to' in their local and regional policies and plans. Local authorities must change their local district and regional plans in order to give effect to these national objectives and policies. Local authorities must also have regard to what the national policy statement says when they make decisions on individual resource consents or designations (a special form of consent for network utilities and public works). A national policy statement can specify a time period within which plans must be changed to give effect to the national policy statement.
92. National policy statements can influence both the local and regional policy environment and decisions on individual development projects. They do not, however, have the effect of a regulation in the sense that they cannot take direct or immediate effect on the individual citizen. They must be translated into a policy statement or plan (which may in turn include regulation designed to implement a national policy statement), or as an input to a regulatory decision.
93. The Resource Management Act sets out two options for statutory public consultation when developing a national policy statement: the Board of Inquiry process and an alternative process. In a Board of Inquiry process, the Minister appoints a board to inquire into and report on the proposed national policy statement. The second process allows for statutory public consultation through submissions on a draft national policy statement, but it does not require a Board of Inquiry to consider the draft statement. If a national policy statement is developed via the second process, it cannot require automatic changes to policy or plan documents; in that case the changes must go through a notification and hearing process. [As per the process set out in the Resource Management Act First Schedule.]
National environmental standards
94. A national environmental standard is a regulation that prescribes technical standards, methods, or requirements in relation to the control of land, the coastal marine area, the beds of rivers and lakes, discharges to water or air, and noise. National environmental standards can take various forms - from absolute prohibitions and requirements, to standards that work in association with rules in district and regional plans. They can specify the performance standards required in relation to specific activities, or specify how particular activities are to be regulated at the local or regional levels.
95. National environmental standards can have direct effect on individuals. They do not necessarily need to be translated into a regional policy statement or plan before taking effect. Rules and resource consents cannot be more lenient than a national environmental standard. They can, however, be more restrictive than a national environmental standard if the national environmental standard specifically provides for that. National environmental standards can also require conditions of water, coastal and discharge permits to be reviewed by a council under section 128(1)(ba) of the Resource Management Act.
96. In preparing a national environmental standard, the Minister must establish a process that gives the public and iwi authorities adequate time and opportunity to comment on the proposed subject matter. Those comments and subsequent recommendations must be reported to the Minister and the report publicly notified. Figure 1 provides the process for developing a national policy statement or national environmental standard.
Figure 1: Process for developing a national policy statement or national environmental standard
See figure at full size with text description
