Govt approves discounts for late resource consents

Environment Minister Nick Smith today released details of regulations that provide a discount when councils are responsible for late processing of resource consents under the Resource Management Act.

"These new regulations incentivise prompt processing of resource consents and are a response to the consistent deterioration in timeframes over the last 10 years," Dr Smith said.

"The Environment Ministry's biennial RMA surveys have shown this problem got progressively worse over the past decade with late consents increasing from 18% to 31%, despite a nine-fold increase from 3% to 28% in consents where Councils granted themselves a 20-day extension."

"When the processing of a resource consent exceeds the timeframes in the RMA, the regulation will now provide that a council must apply a discount of 1% per working day, up to a maximum of 50%."

The Government passed the Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Act in September 2009, which included a requirement to prepare regulations to provide for a national default discount policy for late resource consents.  The Ministry for the Environment is producing guidance material to assist councils in applying the regulations.  The Ministry will also hold presentations on the regulations with local authorities in early July.

"Decision making processes under the RMA must become more efficient. These regulations will provide welcome support to businesses and households and add strength to other government measures to stimulate the economy. Slow consent processes come at a cost to both the economy and the environment.

"I want councils to work harder to improve their processes and meet the timeframes in the RMA.  I also want the public and businesses to feel confident that consents will be processed within timeframes and, when they're not, that costs to the applicant are recognised."