Green Party comment on Govt's announced RMA changes
Green Party comment on Govt's announced RMA changes
“Any changes to the Resource Management Act should not undermine the act’s original principles: environmental protection and public participation,” said Green Party RMA spokesperson David Clendon in response to the Government’s announced RMA changes.
“The amendments National made to the RMA earlier this year shifted the balance away from environmental protection and community involvement, and towards unsustainable development, and we are concerned that RMA changes announced by National today will do more of the same.
“Providing a deadline for consent processing times could hurt the public’s ability to have their say unless extra resources are given to assist the community’s involvement.”
There was one aspect of the Government announcement that Mr Clendon supported: “We welcome changes that will give more power to local authorities to say no to developments that have unacceptable earthquake risk,” said Mr Clendon.
ENDS