“A fast-track resource management consent process could become a permanent legislative feature, says environment minister David Parker… A law was passed in 2020 to shorten timeframes and cut out many of the consultation and appeal processes in the Resource Management Act (RMA)… It was presented as an emergency measure to inject life into the economy when it was feared covid and the associated lockdown restrictions would strangle activity. As a result, it had a sunset clause… Now, minister Parker has indicated the fast-track could become a permanent feature of the resource management system after the government completes reform of the RMA… ‘Consideration will be given to whether some form of the fast-track system should be carried forward into the new system. If it is, there needs to be a person in authority taking the somewhat subjective decision of what projects ought – and ought not – to be able to use the fast-track process. “Currently those screening decisions are taken by the minister for the environment, but that may not be practical for the future, and other ideas are welcomed,’ Parker said… The law change had the support of National, but its MPs said it showed the flaws in the RMA that the minister could short-circuit the process and still believe he could retain the integrity of the resource and environmental management protections… The extension of the fast-track law last year was only opposed by the Greens in Parliament, but almost all the submitters on the law change were opposed. Among the concerns is that resource management consents and planning are meant to involve the communities they have an impact on and the process reduces that. There are also worries that it aggravates one of the problems with the RMA – the inability of the consent process to consider cumulative impacts… Most of the applications which have been placed on the fast-track process have been approved without too much public controversy…”
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Source: BusinessDesk, Ian Llewellyn, Mon, 07 Feb 2022 [Paid content]