Resource Management Amendment Act 2020
Resource Management Amendment Act 2020
Friday 31 July, 2020
The Resource Management Amendment Bill received Royal assent on the 30 June 2020. This article provides a recap of the significant provisions and when they come into force.
Provisions which come into force the day after Royal assent (1 July 2020):
- The new freshwater planning process comes into force immediately which all freshwater planning instruments are required to undergo. This replaces the collaborative planning process, which is repealed immediately.
- Regional policy statements are added to the matters which can be called in by the Minister of the Environment (“the Minister”) and referred to a Board of Inquiry or the Environment Court for a decision. When considering a plan change or regional policy statement “called in” by the Minister, the relevant decision-maker can have regard to climate change, specifically emissions reductions plans and national adaptation plans made under the Climate Change Response Act 2002.
- Consent authorities can review the conditions of multiple resource consents concurrently for the purpose of managing activities carried out by those resource consents.
- Regulation making powers of the Governor-General to exclude stoke from water bodies extend to the margins of those water bodies, estuaries, and coastal lakes and lagoons are available.
- Regulation making powers of the Governor-General relating to freshwater farm plans and sales information on nitrogenous fertilisers are available.
- Powers of the Governor-General to make regulations that:
- prohibit or overturn rules in council plans which duplicate, overlap or deal with subject matter included in other legislation under section 360D;
- prescribe activities as fast track under section 360G; and
- relate to notification of consent applications under section 360H are repealed.
- Submitters can appeal matters outside of the scope of the matters raised in their original submissions.
- Subdivision activities revert to the original presumption of being “restricted”.
- The time to lodge retrospective resource consent applications for emergency works undertaken under the Civil Defence Emergency Management Act 2002 is extended to 60 working days.
- Provisions of the Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017 which removed the ability to impose financial contributions as conditions of resource consents and required financial contributions provisions in RMA plans to be removed, set to be implemented in 2021, are repealed.
- Where, for a notice of requirement, the requiring authority is the Minister of Education or the Minister of Defence, financial contributions are unable to be recommended or imposed by the Court as a condition.
- The Environmental Protection Agency is able to initiate its own investigations under the RMA where a council is not already investigating the matter, assist councils in their investigations, and intervene in cases to become the lead agency of investigation and subsequent enforcement actions.
- The limitation period to file charges in respect of offences against the RMA is extended to 12 months.
Provisions which come into force on 29 September 2020
Several provisions come into force on the day that is 3 months after the date on which this Act receives the Royal assent.
- From late September, applicants will be able to suspend the processing of their non-notified resource consent applications for up to 20 working days. Consent authorities will also be able to suspend applications from statutory time periods for the length of time during which fixed administration charges for lodgement and notification remain unpaid.
- Some criteria for public notification preclusions under section 95A will be repealed, and changes to appeal rights relating to consents under section 120 will commence.
Provisions which come into for on 31 December 2021
- From the end of 2021, Councils must have regard to emissions reduction plans and national adaptation plans under the Climate Change Response Act 2002 when making and amending regional policy statements, regional plans and district plans.
- Provisions prohibiting councils from considering discharges to air of greenhouse gas emissions will be repealed so that Councils will also be able to have regard to such discharges when considering applications for discharge permits or coastal permits and when making rules to control discharges to air of greenhouse gas emissions.
