The Select Committee Report on the Natural and Built Environment (NBE) Bill and Spatial Planning Bill was released on 27 June 2023. Close to 3,000 submissions were received on the Bills. The Environment Committee recommended by majority that both Bills be passed.
The Report contained a restructuring of both the NBE Bill and the Spatial Planning Bill, to improve their flow and readability. The Report also recommended a number of amendments to the NBE Bill, which include:
- Purpose: Having one single, clear purpose, being to uphold Te Oranga o te Taiao. The Committee has also recommended that the meaning of Te Oranga o te Taiao be further expanded and clarified.
- System outcomes: New section 5A to clarify how the National Planning Framework (NPF) and NBE Plans should provide for the legislation’s various system outcomes.
- Decision-making principles: Decision-making principles to apply to all aspects of decision-making for the NPF and NBE Plans, and the “polluter pays” principle to be incorporated at a higher level.
- Effects management framework: Only allowing exceptions to the effects management framework in a narrow range of circumstances, to address concerns about overregulation or “perverse” outcomes.
- NPF: Amendments to the NPF provisions, including:
- The first NPF is required to carry over existing national direction as at 31 May 2023 to the extent compatible with the new legislation, but should not be required to incorporate: the National Environmental Standards for Plantation Forestry, the National Environmental Standards for Sources of Human Drinking Water, the National Policy Statement for Renewable Energy Generation 2011, the National Policy Statement on Electricity Transmission 2008, and the National Planning Standards.
- The first NPF is required to provide direction for the development of regional spatial strategies (RSSs).
- The NPF is required to provide direction on protecting urban trees.
- The NPF can provide that an NBE regulator other than a local authority is responsible for enforcing a framework rule and require the NPF to state which is the appropriate consent authority for each framework rule.
- Fast-track: The NBE Bill’s fast-track provisions will come into force on the day the NBE Bill is passed. Fast-track consents granted under the NBE Bill will also now have a maximum five-year lapse date instead of two.
- Consenting: Amendments to the resource consenting provisions, including:
- Renaming “controlled” activities as “anticipated” activities.
- No certificate of compliance if permitted activity notice is needed.
- Enable consent applications under the RMA to continue to be received and processed in each region until the regional transition date.
- Notification: Clarification of notification requirements, including amendment to the “affected person” test, and rules determining when certain consents would be publicly or limited notified. In summary:
- The “affected person” test now includes an additional requirement: the person was likely to experience adverse effects that are more than minor compared to that anticipated in the NPF/NBE Plan, i.e. wording closer to that used under the RMA.
- Non-notification is presumed when the application is for an anticipated (controlled) activity or the NPF/NBE Plan does not require notification, and there are no affected persons.
- Limited notification is presumed when the application is for an anticipated activity or the NPF/NBE Plan required limited notification, and there is at least one affected person.
- Public notification is presumed when the application is for a discretionary activity or the NPF/NBE Plan requires it, or the applicant has requested public notification.
- Status of NBE Plans: Clarification that NBE Plans are secondary legislation under the Legislation Act 2019.
- Permitted baseline: Exclusion of the “permitted baseline” test, such that:
- There is presumption that a consent authority considering the effects of an activity must have regard to the adverse effects of activities permitted by the NPF or a plan.
- There is a discretion to disregard those adverse effects, as long as they are consistent with relevant outcomes.
The Environment Committee has not recommended any significant amendments to the Spatial Planning Bill. Recommendations included changes to improve consistency with the NBE Bill and clarity to provisions.