Big Changes are coming with the new RMA - How things will be done will be different - but it's not that easy to work out the detail.
A major overhaul to the Resource Management Act is proposed and submissions to the Government close on Friday 13th February at 4.30pm. These changes will have major impacts on all New Zealander’s, whether residential or business.
The system is being heavily centralised, with a set system for the entire country, and every region delivering exactly the same rules. Spatial Planning will be done every ten years. The good news is all of the community must be listened to when spatial planning is done, but after that, all of the community must comply with anything in a spatial plan and have no grounds to appeal any rules or zones.
National Instruments – which are the fine print of rules that will apply - will be consulted on, but will mostly be set by central government with little input from everyday people. Iwi will have input with making those decisions. National instruments have not yet been finalised as we consult on this new system.
The legislation with actual detail of how this will affect everyone is around 750 pages long.
We are told in short documents from the Government this will be so much better for us than the current system, but very few people will actually know what is in the details, and much of the detail will actually be worked out after the consultation has finished on the new RMA.
This link is the short marketing blurb put out by the Ministry for the Environment for everyday people. It is extremely light on any detail, and only mentions the planning system, not any limits with environmental rules.
From the 9th to 18th of December 2025 the Ministry for the Environment released 39 documents relating to the new RMA.
Who on earth would have the time to go through these documents. So, how many Kiwi’s will have any idea what the detail is in these documents ?
Our Councils also need to take in all this information and make sense of it and then provide their submissions on our behalf. How can they consult on this and know what is actually going to be delivered, and how they will implement that ?
Trying to piece together what people need to know about the new RMA has not been easy.
In short
- We thought there would be less rules and people being able to make more of their own decisions with their own land use – but it sems instead there is a one size fits all approach which be heavily legislated across the entire country – with heavy involvement of the Government setting how we can all live – with a new enforcement system.
- Whichever government of the day is in place will set what national instruments they prefer – so rules are likely to change from one government to the next.
- It seems the old RMA system has been rearranged rather than scrapping all that was bad and creating a fresh approach with less Government intervention.
- The environment planning arm of the RMA is very light on detail about what the rules will be. It is extremely hard to submit on a system where you have no idea what rules will be implemented that you will need to follow.
- The intention is to reduce the amount of consents being needed to make it easier and cheaper to get things done. This will reduce income from charges for Local Councils. Already some councils across the country have come up with new charges to make sure they keep their income at the level it is now.
- An example of how the amendments play out in real life, the National Policy Statement for Electricity Networks has been amended. The power price on some power bills have gone up twice in the last 6 months to cover the increased costs associated with this document. Social, economic and cultural well being have been added to this document, increasing the costs for power companies to operate. The link is here: https://environment.govt.nz/assets/publications/RMA/Amendment-2025-NPS-Electricity-Networks-v2.pdf
Because there is way too much detail to take in we decided to use Perplexity AI to help.
We use Perplexity as they offer a broader range of facts in their answers than Google does. To the right of each bullet point is a link to where on the web Perplexity got their information. Some of this goes back to the 2023 submissions called for before Chris Bishop started on the new RMA. This is the link to this AI search page:
This is the summary from Perplexity AI
New Zealand is in the middle of a major overhaul of the Resource Management Act (RMA), shifting toward a more centralised, faster, and more “enabling” planning system that will eventually be run under two new laws: the Planning Act and the Natural Environment Act.propertynz+1
Big picture: what’s happening
- The RMA 1991 is being replaced, not just tweaked, with a new planning system intended to be fully in place by the late 2020s.cooneyleesmorgan+1
- Two core replacement statutes – usually referred to as the Planning Bill/Act and the Natural Environment Bill/Act – are working their way through Parliament, with the aim of passing them by around mid‑2026.harristate+1
- There is a transition period: for now, most consents are still technically under the RMA, while the new system’s national direction, standards, and regional plans are built in the background.cooneyleesmorgan+1
Structural changes to the system
- The new system uses a “funnel” architecture:
- High‑level statutory goals,
- National Policy Direction set by Ministers,
- National Standards that translate that direction into concrete rules.[propertynz.co]
- Councils and decision‑makers are legally bound to implement these national instruments, with far less local reinterpretation than under the RMA, which is intended to remove regional inconsistency and reduce litigation over policy at consent stage.harristate+1
- Local authorities will move toward combined regional plans rather than every council having its own highly bespoke plan, with a target of the new system being fully operational by about 2029.[cooneyleesmorgan.co]
Substantive shifts in how consents work
- Strong shift toward more permitted activities: if a proposal complies with the plan and stays within environmental limits, it should generally proceed without needing a resource consent.propertynz+1
- The range of “effects” to be regulated is narrowed, “less than minor adverse effects” must not be considered by decision‑makers, and there is a higher bar for notification and public involvement (more tightly focused on those directly affected).cooneyleesmorgan+1
- Debate is expected to move upstream into plan‑making (where rules and limits are set once) rather than being repeatedly relitigated at individual consent hearings.[propertynz.co]
The Planning Bill includes effects that decision-makers must disregard, including (notably):
- the internal and external layout of buildings on a site (for example, provision of private open space)
- the demand for, or financial viability of, a project (with some exceptions)
- the visual amenity of a use, development, or building in relation to its character, appearance, aesthetic qualities, or other physical feature
- the social and economic status of future residents of a new development
- views from private property
- effects on landscape
- the effect of setting a precedent
However, the clause is explicit that it does not restrict the management of:
- areas of high natural character within the coastal environment, wetlands, lakes, rivers, and their margins
- outstanding natural landscapes and features
- sites of significant historic heritage
- sites of significance to Māori
- effects of natural hazards
Institutions, enforcement and processes
- A new Planning Tribunal will deal with lower‑level disputes and process issues, aiming for faster and more consistent decisions, while the Environment Court remains for more complex or high‑stakes matters.[propertynz.co]
- Compliance and enforcement will be more centrally overseen and standardised, with a broader tool‑kit and a model more like modern regulatory regimes (for example, aligning with approaches seen in health and safety law).[dlapiper]
- Before full replacement, the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Act 2025 has already introduced faster consenting pathways, fewer procedural steps, and more flexibility to support housing and infrastructure.[harristate.co]
What’s already changed “on the ground”
- National direction under the current RMA has been updated (ten new or amended national direction instruments took effect in January 2026) and is designed to slot into the new system later.[environment.govt]
- The Government has made specific changes such as:
- Allowing small “granny flats” to be built without building or resource consents in many situations.
- Extending durations of many existing resource consents to give short‑term certainty during the transition.
- Introducing and expanding fast‑track pathways (for example for some infrastructure and supermarket projects).beehive+1
Criticisms of the RMA replacement bills cluster around four big themes: centralisation and democracy, costs and complexity, environmental protection, and property rights and uncertainty.nzinitiative+2
Centralisation and loss of local voice
- Critics say the new system doubles‑down on prescriptive central government direction, “gutting” local government autonomy and shifting real power away from communities.[nzinitiative.org]
- Decision‑making bodies are seen as vulnerable to conflicts of interest and one-sided appointments, with concern that local knowledge and preferences will be sidelined in favour of nationally driven priorities.[nzinitiative.org]
Costs, process, and complexity
- Some economists argue the Government’s claimed net economic benefits are overstated and rest on optimistic assumptions about reduced process costs and better infrastructure coordination.[nzinitiative.org]
- Others warn that the new framework introduces another very complex regime, with long lead‑in times and heavy transition costs, rather than the genuinely simpler system that was promised.environment+2
Environmental and planning concerns
- Environmental advocates worry that separating “development” planning from core environmental management and narrowing what counts as “effects” risks weaker protection of ecosystems and cumulative effects.cooneyleesmorgan+1
- Provisions that require decision‑makers to ignore “less than minor” adverse effects are described as controversial because many small impacts can add up to significant degradation over time.[cooneyleesmorgan.co]
Property rights and legal certainty
- Some commentators argue the bills effectively keep, or even extend, a model where land‑use rights are heavily contingent on changing political priorities, making long‑term investment and land‑use decisions less certain.[nzinitiative.org]
- They also criticise the bills as lists of competing aspirations without clear methods to weigh trade‑offs, suggesting that inconsistent decisions and ongoing litigation will remain a feature of the system.[nzinitiative.org]
The replacement of the RMA gives central government a significantly stronger steering role over planning and environmental management, mostly through new national instruments, ministerial powers, and oversight bodies.rnz+2
Stronger national direction and standards
- Government ministers will be able to issue binding National Policy Direction and National Standards that all regional combined plans must follow, with less scope for local variation than under the RMA.dlapiper+1
- Central government decides the sequence and content of these instruments (rolled out in stages from about 2026–2027), effectively setting the detailed rules on what activities are allowed, controlled, or prohibited nationwide.environment+1
Expanded ministerial and central oversight powers
- Ministers gain a broader role in “shaping and overseeing” the system, including powers to approve or amend key instruments and to decide who can be designated as infrastructure or “core infrastructure” operators with planning powers.minterellison+1
- Central government agencies are given a coordinating and monitoring role over how councils implement environmental limits, national direction, and compliance, aiming for much more consistent enforcement and fewer regional differences.dlapiper+1
Powers over plans and local authorities
- Existing more than 100 local plans and policy statements are being collapsed into about 17 Regional Combined Plans whose structure and key content are heavily prescribed by national direction, which central government controls.rnz+1
New tribunals and decision structures
- A new Planning Tribunal is created (as part of the Environment Court system) with powers to review decisions under the new Planning and Natural Environment Acts, including the legality and reasonableness of planning decisions and some notification decisions.simpsongrierson+1
- By reshaping which matters go to which forum (Environment Court vs Planning Tribunal), central government effectively redesigns how disputes are dealt with and how much scope there is to challenge decisions.[dlapiper]
For iwi and Māori, the new RMA replacement package changes both how the Treaty is referenced in the law and the practical role iwi have in planning and consenting.rnz+2
Treaty and cultural provisions
- The specific RMA sections that dealt with Māori relationships and Treaty principles (s6(e), 7(a), 8) are removed and replaced with a single descriptive Treaty of Waitangi clause in the new laws.[cooneyleesmorgan.co]
- That Treaty clause focuses on how the Crown will meet its obligations, including requirements to consult iwi authorities and customary marine title groups, and to have regard to iwi planning documents and statutory acknowledgements, rather than embedding “partnership” style language throughout the Act.otodc+1
Role in national direction and plans
- Iwi authorities are given a defined input role into national instruments (National Standards and National Policy Direction) and into regional spatial plans and land‑use plans, mainly through consultation and recognition of iwi management plans.rnz+2
- Central government still sets the overall direction and priorities; iwi input is one voice in these processes, rather than having shared decision‑making or veto powers over national settings.environment+1
On‑the‑ground influence and decision‑making
- Existing Treaty settlements and related arrangements are expressly preserved, so any bespoke co‑governance or joint‑management arrangements in settlements are intended to continue under the new system.[otodc.govt]
- Outside settlement arrangements, Māori involvement is largely consultative: iwi are to be engaged in plan‑making and their planning documents considered, but final decisions sit with councils and central government‑designed bodies.teaonews+1
The current reform package adds (and strengthens) a set of emergency and natural‑hazard powers around land use, consent decisions, and rules taking immediate effect.beehive+1
Human health limits in environmental standards
- Central government (via the responsible Minister) must now set explicit national human health limits in National Standards, directly informed by Ministry of Health guidelines on things like water quality, air discharges, and contaminants.dlapiper+1
- These limits override local discretion and require regional councils to implement them in natural environment plans, shifting health safeguards from vague RMA "effects" assessments to hard, nationally uniform biophysical thresholds.[dlapiper]
If you would like to send a submission about the new RMA the link is here:
If you are in to the detail, this link takes you to the page with all the documents the Ministry for the Environment puts out. Scroll down to December on this page if you want to see the 39 documents.
https://environment.govt.nz/publications/?offset=25
This link is the long version from the Ministry for the Environment – with a bit more detail – but still light on the finer points people may want to know about:
For anyone interested in the 750 pages of proposed legislation – the links are here:
Planning Bill
Environment Bill
Posted: Sun 08 Feb 2026