The market for solar farms is continuing to grow in New Zealand with an increasing number of landowners being approached by solar developers. It is interesting to see the various approaches being taken by solar developers when it comes to documenting land rights with landowners (i.e. option agreement, lease and/or easement). The process for documenting …
The Government intends to introduce its second RMA amendment bill and a suite of changes to national direction to “drive economic growth and productivity”, RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop says. Following the first RMA amendment Bill introduced to Parliament earlier this year, the next stage of the Government’s RMA reform, prior to full replacement, is …
Next steps in the reform of Aotearoa’s Resource Management System Read More »
Holland Beckett is pleased to have assisted Lightsource BP and Contact Energy on the development of the Kōwhai Park solar project and reaching financial close, including property, connection agreement and construction matters. Kōwhai Park Solar Farm is located on the Christchurch International Airport Limited campus and is the first phase of the airport’s renewable energy …
Recent amendments to the NPS-HPL include clearing the pathway for consenting specified infrastructure, greenhouses and indoor primary production on highly productive land. There is now a clear consenting pathway for development of specified infrastructure (e.g. renewable energy), greenhouses and intensive indoor primary production on highly productive land (HPL) following recent amendments to the National Policy …
Clearing the pathway for consenting on highly productive land Read More »
On 7 February 2024 the Supreme Court released its decision in Smith v Fonterra and unanimously agreed to not strike out Mr Smith’s claims against seven of New Zealand’s largest green house gas (GHG) emitting companies. The threshold to strike out a claim is high and requires that there be no reasonably arguable claim. Like …
A step forward for climate change – Smith v Fonterra Co-Operative Group Limited Read More »
Last year, the New Zealand Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) was brought under the spotlight after a High Court hearing and Labour government led review. We have previously explained the ETS here. The ETS is governed by the Climate Change Response Act 2002 (the Act), putting a price on carbon emissions which certain industries must participate …
The Emissions Trading Scheme review was scrapped – what’s happening with forestry? Read More »
The Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) is an extensive and complicated system with an increasing media presence in climate change related topics. The most recent example being a judicial review filed 9 May 2023 by Lawyers for Climate Action against the cabinet decision made by Minister for Climate Change James Shaw on the ETS. But what …
New Zealand is currently seeing another boom in the renewable energy sector but this time in the form of large scale solar farms. There is currently a land grab of existing dairy and grazing farms by national and international solar developers. This is partly due to the high New Zealand wholesale price of electricity and …
The Spatial Planning Bill (SPB) is New Zealand’s first formal framework for spatial planning and requires central government, local government and Māori to work together as a regional planning committee (RPC) to develop a regional spatial strategy (RSS). As an overview, the SPB works in tandem with the Natural and Built Environment Bill (NBE Bill) …
The Natural and Built Environment Bill (NBE Bill) has introduced provisions into the NBE Bill to clarify and improve the management of contaminated land, and introduces a framework for the polluter pays principle. In the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) there are no sections that regulate contaminated land. Instead regulations for contaminated land are located …
RMA Reforms: Contaminated Land and Polluter Pays Principle Read More »
