The Otago Regional Council has taken issue with new wide-ranging ministerial powers included in the Government's proposed changes to the Resource Management Act.
A report to be tabled at today's Otago Regional Council meeting outlines recent submissions by the council to the Government over the proposed Resource Legislation Amendment Bill.
Several proposed amendments addressed ‘‘deficiencies'' in the RMA Act, and should be put into effect ‘‘as soon as practicable'', said the report, under the name of director policy planning and resource management Fraser McRae.
But there were several significant amendments that ‘‘cut into local decision-making powers by creating ministerial opportunities to intervene in local plan-making and consenting processes''.
There were also proposed powers ‘‘to negate rules in operative plans that have been through full plan-making and consultation processes''.
And the Bill set ‘‘no clear limits on the extent to which the minister may intervene''.
Instead, rights were reserved to ‘‘intervene in matters affecting any part of a district or region''
‘‘Further, such powers of intervention give only limited opportunity for public involvement.''
The proposed extension of regulation-making powers, combined with the proposed provisions for national planning templates, national policy statements and national environmental standards would ‘‘change the fundamental principle of the RMA that individuals and local communities had the ability ‘‘to identify effects of development in their local community, even for nationally significant proposals''.
The council supported the addition of significant natural hazard risk as a matter of national importance. But the combined effect of a range of changes effectively ‘‘disempowers local authorities from effectively reducing community exposure to new risk''.
For example, subdivision control was ‘‘an important tool in avoiding the creation of new risk'' but the proposal reduced the ‘‘ability to control this matter'', the report said.
Last week, Dunedin city councillors also voiced concern about proposed changes to the RMA.
The city councillors warned that under the changes members of the public would have to pay for costly consultants if they wanted to have a say on development.
Cr David Benson-Pope, who is chairman of the DCC planning and regulatory committee, said the proposed Bill was ‘‘poisonous'' and removed people's right to participate in the RMA process.
