Purpose
The purpose of this inquiry is to review New Zealand’s urban planning system and to identify, from first principles, the most appropriate system for allocating land use through this system to support desirable social, economic, environmental and cultural outcomes.
The review should identify options to align the priorities of actors and institutions within these regimes, where possible; improve economic, environmental and community outcomes through urban planning; and to deliver optimal efficiency in the delivery of these outcomes.
This will include identifying the most effective methods of planning for and providing sufficient urban development capacity including residential, commercial, industrial and place-based amenity uses, supporting infrastructure and linkages with other regions.
The review should look beyond the current resource management and planning paradigm and legislative arrangements to consider fundamentally alternative ways of delivering improved urban planning, and subsequently, development.
It should also consider ways to ensure that the regime is responsive to changing demands in the future, how national priorities and the potential for new entrants can be considered alongside existing local priorities and what different arrangements, if any, might need to be put in place for areas of the country seeing economic contraction rather than growth.
Methodology
To ensure that the inquiry’s findings provide practical and tangible ways to improve the performance of the urban planning system, the Commission consulted with Local Government New Zealand, the Society of Local Government Managers and the wider local government sector.
The Commission also consulted with the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment, non-governmental organisations, resource management practitioners and lawyers and affected industry groups; taking note of the significant bodies of work already produced by many of these groups.
Public consultation included:
- Submissions - individual or organisation
- Engagement meetings - individual or organisation
- Better Urban Planning wānanga
- Engagement meetings in Australia
- Seminars
- Presentations
Key Results
Recommendations
R7.1
In a future planning system, the government should (through the proposed National Policy Statement on Planning and the Treaty of Waitangi) provide guidance to local authorities on planning provisions for papakāinga and other kaupapa Māori residential and non-residential developments, whether situated on Māori land or elsewhere.
Because there are differences in local tikanga and preferences, guidance should encourage local authorities to reach agreement with mana whenua and other local Māori communities in their district on planning for kaupapa Māori developments.
R7.2
In a future planning system, the government should provide clear guidance (through the proposed National Policy Statement on Planning and the Treaty of Waitangi) to local authorities on how to work with mana whenua to identify and protect sites and environmental features of significance to mana whenua.
Guidance should cover processes to reach agreement with mana whenua on the threshold for, the conduct of, and fee setting for cultural impact assessments for proposed developments that may impact on such sites and features.
R7.3
A future planning system should carry forward and build on current regulatory provisions to give effect to the Crown’s Treaty of Waitangi obligations by enabling the expression and active protection of Māori interests in the built and natural environments.
R7.4
In a future planning system, the government should, with the advice of the proposed National Māori Advisory Board on Planning and the Treaty of Waitangi, and after consulting collaboratively with Māori communities more generally, provide clear guidance to local authorities through a mandatory National Policy Statement (NPS) on Planning and the Treaty of Waitangi. The NPS should set out the Crown’s expectations on recognising and actively protecting Māori Treaty interests in the natural and built environments.
That NPS should respect and provide scope for local differences in tikanga, environmental and planning issues and community preferences.
R7.5
In a future planning system, central agencies with stewardship responsibilities for the system should, with the advice of the proposed National Māori Advisory Board on Planning and the Treaty of Waitangi, establish policies and methods to help mana whenua develop the capability to participate effectively in planning processes.
Policies and methods should include training; secondments of staff between mana whenua, central government and local government agencies; assistance with technical issues; and grants.
The Government should provide clear guidance (through the proposed National Policy Statement on Planning and the Treaty of Waitangi) to local authorities on their responsibilities to help mana whenua develop the capability to participate effectively in planning processes. The National Māori Advisory Board should review local authority initiatives to develop mana whenua capability as part of its triennial Treaty of Waitangi audit.
R7.6
In a future planning system, the government should provide clear guidance (through the proposed National Policy Statement on Planning and the Treaty of Waitangi) to local authorities on identifying opportunities for, and putting into place agreements with, mana whenua for the co-governance and joint management of sites and environmental
features of significance to mana whenua.
The guidance should set out the circumstances that favour such agreements; and the practices that make them successful.