Submission on RM (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill

^{Whanganui from Durie Hill. russellstreet, Flickr.}

The Commissioner has made a submission to the Environment Committee on the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill. He is broadly supportive of the Bill, particularly changes regarding cost recovery and the compliance regime, but has recommended various amendments. These include:

• ensuring that the public can be heard at consenting process hearings so that citizens can challenge the information which authorities use for decision-making
• ensuring the new section on reviewing draft consent conditions allows for a collaborative process between consent authorities and applicants, with submitters able to comment on the process
• focusing on reducing adverse effects of discharges and other activities at the catchment or sub-catchment scale
• ensuring farm plans can be based on free, high-quality information and created for local contexts, ideally by catchment groups at the catchment or sub-catchment level
• including decision-making criteria and a review process to restrict the scope of the proposed regulation-making power for emergency response regulations
• ensuring that reviews of coastal permits for ports are publicly notified and that consent authorities have discretion to invite submissions from anyone considered appropriate
• retaining the current renewable energy consent lapse date to five years, as the extended period of 10 years could lead to land banking.

Read the full submission.