27 August 2013

Green Party seeks support for practical changes to RMA Bill and Auckland Plan legislation

The Green Party have put forward several reasonable and practical amendments to the Resource Management Reform Bill and the Government can show a commitment to local democracy and pleasant urban areas by supporting them in Parliament today.

“The first change would mean that the Auckland Council would appoint the Hearings Panel jointly with Ministers, and not just the Ministers for Environment and Conservation,” Green Party local government spokesperson Eugenie Sage said today.

“The Auckland Plan belongs to the city, not to the Ministers in the Beehive, so Auckland’s representatives should be involved in appointing the Hearings Panel on plan submissions.

“A joint appointment process better represents a partnership between central and local government rather than the Bill’s current command and control approach of central government.

“The second is a practical change to reduce the costs to councils and make it easier to protect our precious urban trees by allowing them to be identified through the use of aerial photographs.

“The Bill currently requires councils to identify urban trees by individual legal descriptions if they are to be protected. My amendment would also allow councils to use aerial photographs as a cheaper, more practical method of identifying the trees that rules apply to.

“New Zealanders love urban trees that give character help create a more pleasant urban environment and want to be able to protect them. We can make that easier with my simple amendment.

“These supplementary order papers are reasonable changes.

“I hope that the Government can show a commitment to better law making by supporting these practical amendments.”

To download copies of Eugenie Sage’s supplementary order papers:
http://www.legislation.govt.nz/bill/government/2012/0093/latest/versions.aspx
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