Minister for the Environment Nick Smith announced on 9 August 2017 that the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2014 (NPSFM) would be amended and gazetted on 10 August 2017. This represents the third set of amendments to the NPSFM since it was first gazetted in 2011 and then replaced in 2014. Much of the …
National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management: Take 3 Read More »
The government announced funding yesterday for freshwater improvement projects totalling $44M, with over $8M of that going to projects in the Bay of Plenty region. The grants are the first tranche of funding from the $100M Freshwater Improvement Fund announced last year and were made following a bidding process for the fund which opened on …
Urban Development Authorities – a fresh approach to urban development The Government is proposing new legislation to introduce Urban Development Authorities (UDAs). The proposal focuses around urban development projects – these are not limited to residential and can be in greenfield or brownfield areas. Under the proposal, a framework is provided to enable an urban …
An interesting response to New Zealand’s urban planning problem is recommended in the Productivity Commission’s Report, Better Urban Planning, which was released on 19 August 2016. Historically, New Zealand’s urban planning has developed without a great deal of guidance from central government, but this is about to change if the recommendations in the Report are …
The Environment Court has sent a sharp lesson to expert witnesses (and counsel) about the dangers of failing to comply with the Expert Witness Code of Conduct in two recent decisions. Britomart extension case The first case, Tram Lease Ltd v Auckland Council [2015] NZEnvC 137, involved an appeal by Tram Lease Ltd (TLL) against …
The Tram Lease cases – a salient reminder of an expert witness’ obligations Read More »
Papakāinga development – turning aspiration into reality This article was published in the November 2014 edition of the Resource Management Journal. Introduction The recently announced Māori Housing Strategy cites planning restrictions as a key aspect of why Māori are under-represented in housing ownership. This article explores the increasing push by tāngata whenua for papakāinga housing …
Section 122(1) of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) states that a resource consent is neither real nor personal property. However, resource consents are often treated as property given that a resource consent is inherently valuable to the consent holder. This is commonly witnessed in the practice of resource consents being bought, sold and leased …
