New Environment Minister needs to deliver on RMA promises

Monday, 6 October 2014

Statement by James Kellow – Director of New Zealand Mortgages & Securities

New Environment Minister now needs to deliver on RMA promises

Auckland property financier James Kellow says the new Minister for the Environment Dr Nick Smith should waste no time implementing the re-elected National Government’s well-flagged proposed amendments to the Resource Management Act.

The director of New Zealand Mortgages & Securities says the Government has got a great mandate to now deliver on what it promised during the campaign. He says reforms to speed up the consenting process are long overdue and were stalled this year given the election. The Minister must now prioritise these promised legislative changes.

“Property developers just want to get cracking and build people houses. We have investors and buyers lining up but again and again unnecessary hold ups only cause frustration and end up costing the end purchaser more. Delays cost money and many in Wellington forget that those costs simply get passed on to consumers which does nothing for the country’s housing affordability,” says Mr Kellow.

Mr Kellow says he hopes the new Minister will take some serious action on the current publicly notified provisions. Given anyone can submit on a publicly notified consent, too often outside parties involve themselves and if they don’t get their way, then drag the applicant through a lengthy Environment Court appeal.

“There’s got to be some limitations applied to the current status of public notification. At the moment there’s too many tails wagging the dog. I’m all for genuinely affected parties and communities being able to have their input but at the moment third parties can disproportionately wield too much power.

“Developers and investors want greater certainty from the outset. In fact as the old adage goes most would actually prefer a quick no to a long yes. The process needs to provide greater certainty, fairness and efficiency for all. At the moment it doesn’t. Things need to change if we’re going to build as many houses as we need to and overcome the commercial building shortage in the likes of central Auckland.”

Mr Kellow says Auckland Council has done well improving its consent times and better managing its relationships with some of the city’s developers, but councils of course can only operate within the confines of the current law.

“It’s not as though National don’t have a mandate for reform. In fact quite the opposite given the decisive election result. And let’s not forget they passed the Resource Management Act (Simplifying and Streamlining Act) in 2009. What’s more last year they released a discussion document which provided a lot of detail on exactly where they wanted to head.”

The Government’s 2013 discussion document identified that while progress had been made there were still areas for improvement to ensure the RMA was simpler, less costly and more effective. It proposed to make a number of improvements to the RMA across planning, consenting and appeals and was genuinely well received by the development community.

Mr Kellow believes the Prime Minister has chosen wisely in the selecting Nick Smith to be Environment Minister as well as appointing him in charge of housing affordability and construction issues.

“Nick is smart, can cut through the red-tape, and has shown he can make genuine changes that do make a difference on the ground. His Special Housing Areas have been an elegant solution to help with the current shortage but the legislation probably should be extended both in tenure and the places it could apply. It remains a little too Auckland-centric and three years will not be long enough, particularly given we’re in year two already.”

“Nick Smith needs to keep harnessing this momentum and now push the promised changes through.”

Mr Kellow said there was some concern that last year’s Housing Accords & Special Housing Area Act has created two types of consenting classes in some of the bigger councils – with a lot of resource and effort going into the likes of Auckland’s Housing Project Office overseeing Auckland’s SHAs while other consents continued to experience delays and staff focus.

“That’s another reason why we need these further RMA reforms implemented to actually support the latest development upswing, create more jobs, shave off some costs to housing, and give greater certainty to everyone all while protecting the environment and affected parties’ rights. Who doesn’t want that?

“Frankly the RMA is 23 years old and it’s held New Zealand back for too long. Further overhauls are required and can now be easily done given the election result.

“This John Key re-elected government now has a huge mandate to deliver on National’s big campaign promise of speeding up the consenting process. The new Minister now needs to get cracking in Wellington so we in the likes of Auckland can just get on with it. Here’s hoping we actually see some progress before Christmas. There’s now no excuse,” says Mr Kellow.

ABOUT NZMS: New Zealand Mortgages & Securities (NZMS) is a joint venture between Mansons TCLM and Mr Kellow, a Specialist Property Financier. Mansons TCLM, helmed by Ted Manson, is one of New Zealand’s most successful and long standing developers whose business has built more Green Star rated commercial buildings than anyone else in the country. The privately owned NZMS mortgage business is actively providing development, bridging and mezzanine finance to property developers throughout Auckland and is capable of supporting the largest transactions in the region.

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