
Resource Management Act reforms: Chris Bishop tells councils to stop plan changes
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop holding up a copy of the RMA. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Chris Bishop has told councils to stop changing their plans, saying that plan changes ahead of the Government's Resource Management Act reforms will only waste ratepayers' money.
Bishop, the Resource Management Act (RMA) Reform Minister, said the Government will 'suspend councils' mandatory RMA requirements to undertake plan and regional policy statement reviews every 10 years, and the requirement to implement national planning standards'.
'We will also extend the restriction on notifying freshwater planning instruments which we put in place last year,' he said.
This will take some of the burden off councils to change their plans ahead of the new RMA system taking effect in 2027.
'The Resource Management Act has crippled New Zealand for decades, and the Government's planning system reforms are well under way to make it easier to get things done in New Zealand,' Bishop said.

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