Government Pushes Regional Councils To Ease Off Consent Rules

Friday, 3 October 2025, 4:33 pm
Article: Jonathan Leask - Local Democracy Reporter

The Government is pushing councils to ease the current consenting burden until the RMA replacement is made law. 

RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop sent a letter to Environment Canterbury and other regional councils requesting they use “sensible judgement” in managing consents. 

“We continue to hear reports that many resource consent processes are unduly complex, characterised by excessive information requests and conditions that impose unnecessary cost and administrative burden on applicants. 

“These reports are concerning to us, particularly given our clear intention to replace the Resource Management Act 1991 and create a more simplified system.” 

“We are writing to set clear expectations of you as the local authorities who oversee the use of land, water, and discharges.” 

Environment Canterbury confirmed it had received the letter and would be responding. 

“We received the letter [on Tuesday] and are currently considering our response to Ministers,” an ECan spokesman said. 

“We continue to meet and undertake our responsibilities under the RMA.” 

Bishop said in his letter he expects councils to be “seeking opportunities to streamline consenting processes, reduce onerous requirements wherever possible, and ease the consenting burden” while we get the system changes in place. 

“Where appropriate, this will mean exercising discretion available to you under the RMA, which can include extending consenting timeframes and working with individual applicants to reach pragmatic solutions.” 

Councils will receive a detailed transition plan after the legislation is passed later this year he said.

“Until then, we expect you to exercise sensible judgement.” 

The Government has already made some interim changes to smooth the transition he said. 

These include putting a pause on plan changes, changing the consent process requirements and clarifying considerations for proportional information requests. 

“We have also introduced a temporary regulation-making power which allows plan provisions to be modified or removed if they unjustifiably restrict development, employment, or economic capacity. This provides an opportunity to fix localised issues.”

Bishop’s letter was co-signed by Agriculture Minister Todd McClay and Environment Minister Penny Simmonds. 

Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour welcomed the letter. 

On his recent visit to Mid Canterbury, where he met frustrated landowners, he had vowed to “go back to Wellington and ask how a pause could be put on councils, like ECan, punishing their residents with vexatious enforcement of rules”. 

“We understand that councils must follow the law like everyone else.

“That's true even if they're zombie laws that will soon be removed. However, there's a question of priority, and working with the community instead of against them.” 

-LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.

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