The Canterbury Mayoral Forum wrote to Parliament’s Environment Committee earlier this week to express its deep concern and disappointment with the inadequate timeframe to provide submissions on the Natural and Built Environment Bill and the Spatial Planning Bill.

“The Forum strongly feels that the timeframe the Committee has set does not provide for communities to have a real say on these large and complex pieces of legislation. We have therefore requested that the Committee revise the timeframe to the end of February 2023,” Chair of the Mayoral Forum, Timaru Mayor Nigel Bowen says.

“As we note in our letter, the Minister for the Environment has said previously that the reform is a once-in-a-generation opportunity, and we must get it right. This legislation is too important to rush – if the timeframe of 30 January remains, we simply won’t get it right”.

A copy of the Forum’s letter to the Committee is available on request.

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The Canterbury Mayoral Forum is the primary mechanism for local government communication, co-ordination and collaboration in Canterbury. The regional forums secretariat is hosted by Environment Canterbury.

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