The RMA has left the building (sort of): what comes next?

After 35 years, 29 Amendment Acts and a near-miss in 2023, the Resource Management Act 1991 is finally being replaced. This week, in Parliament’s final sitting days, the Planning and the Natural Environment Bills have passed their third readings, soon to become the Planning Act 2026 (PA) and the Natural Environment Act 2026 (NEA).

While the legislation is heading to Royal Assent, most of the new system will not take effect immediately. Instead, the reforms will be implemented through a transition period of around four years, with the RMA continuing to govern most resource consenting during that time.

Our team has been closely following the development of these Bills (see our previous article). This article looks at what happens next, including the key transitional changes and how the new planning framework will be rolled out.

Key changes to the RMA during the transition period

Not all reforms will wait for the new planning system to be fully operational. Some changes come into effect sooner, like the removal of Mana Whakahono ā Rohe, which cease to have effect the day after Royal assent.

Many significant changes take effect one month after Royal Assent, which are generally directed at changing resource consenting practice during the transition from RMA to PA/NEA. These are:

• Procedural principles – Decision-makers now have additional requirements under section 18B of the RMA to use plain language, take a proportionate approach to information requirements, and adopt pragmatic, solution-focused decision-making.
• Scope of effects – Decision-makers will no longer be able to consider a range of effects when assessing district council land use consents under section 104(1A) of the RMA, including effects such as balconies, outdoor living space, internal layout, private views, and project viability. These same “out-of-scope” effects will not be able to be considered for district land use consents under the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024.
• New permitted activity pathway – An alternative pathway will allow district land use activities that do not comply with rules or standards relating to out-of-scope effects to be treated as permitted activities.
• Notification – The “special circumstances” test for public notification is gone under the transitional regime, leaving public notification assessments focused squarely on a proposal’s effects. The out-of-scope effects are also required to be excluded when making public and limited notification decisions.
• New national standards – When initial national standards are promulgated under the PA and NEA, they will prevail over existing RMA national policy statements, national environmental standards, regional policy statements and plans in the event of conflict.

To provide certainty to existing regional consent holders whose consents may expire during the transition, the term is extended by the PA to 24 months after the “specified transition date”, being the date that the PA and NEA are fully “switched on” and the RMA repealed. For consents relating to water, the term expires on the earlier of that date, or 35 years after the date the consent commenced.

Building the new system

While resource consenting will continue under the RMA during the transition period, the heavy lifting of the transition will begin immediately.  National policy direction and standards, the engine-room of the PA and NEA, will be developed alongside regional spatial planning, integrated plans and supporting digital infrastructure

Following Royal Assent, the focus will shift to  preparing the first generation of planning documents under the new legislation:

• National policy direction – National policy direction is essential to the new system. It will guide how the goals of the legislation will be implemented and will be the primary tool for setting outcomes and resolving competing objectives across the planning system.
• National standards – The legislation places greater reliance on nationally consistent standards and is intended to reduce regional variation and increase certainty.
• Regional spatial planning and integrated plans – Spatial planning, land use planning, and natural environment management will be integrated through combined plans, including regional spatial plans, land use plans, and natural environment plans.

 The timeline of these changes is summarised below:

What the new system will look like

Once the PA and NEA are switched on, the key features of the new system include:

• Fewer consents – Greater standardisation through national standards combined with “front-loading” decision-making in regional spatial plans, land use plans and natural environment plans mean fewer resource consents will be required for activities.
• Tighter notification rules – Limited notification will remain available where affected persons can be identified, while public notification will be more restricted under both the PA and NEA. As well as amended notification tests, only “qualifying persons” will be able to submit on applications.
• Narrower effects assessments – Consent decisions will focus on a narrower range of effects, with greater emphasis on compliance with national direction and planning rules. This change will be phased in through new national instruments and plans.
• Regulatory relief – Landowners affected by planning rules with significant adverse impacts on the reasonable use of land may be eligible for relief. This will be available once it is incorporated into plans. Regulatory relief has been a contentious issue in the development of the PA and NEA and is likely to be heavily litigated.

Broader implications

The reforms are intended to replace the current framework with a more nationally consistent system, with national policy direction and standards taking a much stronger role in shaping outcomes.

Delivering that shift will require significant implementation work. Councils must prepare new planning documents, develop digital planning systems, and establish new regulatory frameworks, all within an ambitious transition timetable. The real test of the reforms will therefore not be the legislation itself, but how quickly and effectively the new planning architecture can be put in place.

The volume of concurrent change in the resource management sector is unprecedented. As the new planning framework takes shape, the Wynn Williams Environment and Planning team is well placed to help you understand how these reforms affect your interests.

Mike Doesburg, Partner – Environment and Planning Team

Kate Woods, Special Counsel – Environment and Planning Team

Emma Tod, Associate – Environment and Planning Team

Piper Pengelly, Law Clerk – Environment and Planning Team