Nats pledge to repeal RMA

National want to repeal and replace the much-maligned Resource Management Act (RMA) if elected next year, the party’s planning spokeswoman Judith Collins has announced.

Collins said the party would repeal the RMA, New Zealand’s main planning law, and replace it with transitional legislation while it worked out a longer-term ‘‘developer-friendly’’ solution that provided predictable outcomes.

This could include splitting the act into two different parts: one dealing with building planning and another with the environment, something the Government is also considering as part of its review.

This is not the first time the RMA has been up for discussion and virtually every part of the political spectrum agrees something needs to be done to speed up consenting.

National campaigned in 2008 on reforming the RMA, with Nick Smith saying at the time ‘‘New

Zealand will not achieve the ambitious goals John Key has for our country if we do not have the courage to reform the Resource Management Act.’’

Some reform was managed in its first term in Government, including the creation of the Environmental Protection Authority in 2011, but more serious reform was stymied after National couldn’t get its support parties on board.

The Government for its part is undertaking reform of the RMA currently, with Environment Minister David Parker promising to speed up urban development while retaining environmental protections.

In its discussion document National set out examples from Scotland, South Australia, and Queensland where development and environmental laws are split up.

‘‘There is simply no need for environmental protection mechanisms to apply to every planning decision, despite what district, regional, and unitary plans from New Zealand’s 67 Territorial Authorities provide.’’

‘‘The environment is not, for instance, in peril if a bedroom is extending in a suburban home, even if the district plan says the environment must be considered and that a resource consent and a building consent applied for.’’

The document also suggests that central government could have a greater role in setting standards.

The only iron-clad commitment is to repealing the act however.

National leader Simon Bridges said ‘‘boldness’’ was required with RMA reform.

‘‘The RMA has been amended

80 times since first legislated in

1991 to become an 800-page monster.

‘‘Along with planning rules, it is largely the reason why home ownership has become and continues to get harder,’’ Bridges said.

‘‘As Judith has said, the dream of home ownership is drifting further away as regulations and red tape replace building homes with filling out forms. But it’s even worse than that, with the RMA failing to deliver either development or environmental protection.’’