Council reviewing new Resource Management Amendment Act and its implications

A new law will have several implications for how we operate, and for the region’s communities, natural environment, resource users, consent holders and Papatipu Rūnanga. 

At a briefing on Wednesday, 3 September, Councillors received an update on the Government’s new Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Act that became law on 21 August 2025.  

The Amendment Act is part of the Government’s broader reforms to replace the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). It introduces a number of changes that will affect:

• regional planning
• resource consenting
• compliance and enforcement.

It also shifts some local decision-making powers to central government.  

Chair Craig Pauling said the Council has concerns but the Government is also introducing some positive changes. 

“Changes such as being able to consider past compliance history when making a decision on a consent application and higher RMA fines will help achieve better outcomes for our environment, ratepayers and communities.” 

The Council also welcomes the change to make it easier to recover costs for its incident response work and monitoring of some permitted activities. Until now these had to be recovered through general rates. 

Although the Council welcomed these changes, Chair Pauling said he was concerned about changes that impact local governance and the ability for councils to reflect their communities’ interests.  

Under the new rules, the Government now has the power to remove or amend regional policy statements or plans that impact on economic growth and employment. 

“This new power introduces a financial risk, especially if councils are required to fund unbudgeted changes to existing plans. The potential burden for communities and our rates is worrying. 

“We are elected to represent the specific needs of our communities. We have an important role in bringing together local councils from across the region to address challenges affecting our communities and environment," said Chair Craig Pauling.

“Shifting some of this decision-making power to those who are not closely connected to our communities is a risk.  I hope we will have an opportunity to work with the Government to address this concern as part of the next round of local government and resource management reform taking shape.” 

Amendment Act implementation

Council staff are now implementing the changes as they come into effect. While most are in force already, some have staggered start dates; for example, most day-to-day consenting-related changes will apply from 21 October 2025. You can find more information on the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Act.

Watch the full Council presentation on our YouTube channel to see how the Amendment Act affects Waitaha Canterbury.