Bold steps needed to progress Better Urban Planning report

Source: EMA

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The release of the Productivity Commission’s report into Better Urban Planning is a good starting point for a much needed national conversation on urban and natural environments.

Released today, the report highlights that the Resource Management Act is failing the system, and provides a number of recommendations to address this.

"The Productivity Commission is to be applauded for this report, which raises some crucial questions on how the regulation of the built and natural environments touches all our lives," says Kim Campbell, CEO, EMA.

"But, due to the constraints of the terms of references, it does not go far enough in addressing the systemic issues we need to debate as a nation."

He says this includes how the RMA, Local Government Act and Land Transport Management Act intersect.

"We know there’s no quick fix to the wider issues the report has identified. For a long time, we have been saying the wider resource management system needs to be reviewed as a matter of national importance.

I think the key here, is whether the government will be bold enough to use this report as a launching pad to create a much broader, apolitical process, to identify a better way to manage the built and natural environments.

"Either way we welcome the debate this report will trigger and look forward to working towards a more holistic solution to drive much needed reform," says Mr Campbell.

ENDS

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