Hon Dr Nick Smith

Minister for the Environment

22 July 2016
Media Statement

Govt acknowledges ‘herculean’ task

The work of the Judge David Kirkpatrick-led Independent Hearings Panel in successfully reporting the proposed Auckland Unitary Plan back to the council is a herculean task which has to be acknowledged, Environment Minister Dr Nick Smith says.

The panel today sent its report to the council, which will release it to the Government and the public next Wednesday, 27 July.

“This is the largest and most complex plan ever developed in 25 years of the Resource Management Act (RMA). The proposed Auckland Unitary Plan covers nearly a third of New Zealand’s population and economy at a time of record growth pressures, and affects the rules on development of 550,000 property titles. It deals with the full gambit of resource issues, including land use, water, air quality and the marine environment.

“It will have a profound effect on core issues such as housing supply, economic growth, the environment and the quality of life for Aucklanders for the next two decades. It replaces the Regional Policy Statement, four regional plans and the seven district plans of the former councils. It is a tribute to Judge Kirkpatrick and his team of Commissioners and support staff that this huge task has been successfully completed on time.

“The draft Unitary Plan was notified by the Auckland Council on 30 September 2013 under special Government legislation put through Parliament which provided for a streamlined process, a Government-appointed hearings panel and the deadline for completion by today. The council has 20 working days to adopt the plan and no appeals to the Environment Court are available if the council makes no changes.

“We had to strike a balance in designing the process between the urgent need for Auckland to have a new plan on issues such as housing, and sufficient time for the more than one million people affected to have a fair say on rules that will affect their property, lifestyles and jobs. We have used Special Housing Areas (SHAs) to bypass the old planning documents and enable progress to be made on housing in the short term but the new plan is pivotal to the long term solution.

“The Government has respected the independence of the panel and process. Government agencies made submissions on their issues, as did more than 13,000 other submitters. My only contact with Judge Kirkpatrick has been to discuss amending legislation passed last year to enable multiple hearings to be held simultaneously and additional commissioners so as to ensure the process was completed on time.

“We acknowledge the reported back unitary plan poses a major challenge for the council. Auckland previously could not resolve the tension between the old regional council wanting a tight metropolitan urban limit and the district and city councils wanting more growth outwards. This confusion resulted in too little provision for growth and the current housing challenges. The strength of a single Auckland Council is that this issue has to be resolved. The Government’s bottom line is that the new plan must provide sufficient growth capacity to meet Auckland’s needs.

“The Government receives the recommendations from the panel at the same time as it is reported to the council. Ministers and officials have no knowledge of its contents. We will be considering the report carefully with officials when it is made public next Wednesday. It is important that the council is given clear air to carefully consider the recommendations and to meet the deadline for a decision by 19 August.

“Our interest is in seeing the process successfully concluded, and that we ensure a smooth transfer from the SHAs to the new plan. There will also be important lessons from the panel’s report and recommendations for the RMA reform bill that proposes greater use of streamlined planning processes and for the National Policy Statement on Urban Development, both of which are to be finalised this year.”

ends

© Scoop Media