Canterbury’s regional council is turning its attention to developing a new planning regime which will govern resource consents, following the passing of the Natural Environment and Planning Acts last month.

Environment Canterbury (ECan) chairperson Dr Deon Swiggs says the focus now shifts to what the changes mean in practice and how it might impact on landowners and rural consent holders.

“Some changes will happen relatively quickly, while others will take several years.

“Our job is to make that transition as clear as possible so people understand what is changing, when it is changing, and what it means for them.”

The new legislation will eventually replace the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), but the changes will be phased over time.

Existing regional plans and many existing processes will continue during the transition.

Some of the first changes will affect resource consenting.

Around 6000 existing Canterbury resource consents, many of them on-farm consents, will have their durations extended as part of the transition to the new system.

However, ECan staff are waiting for further direction from Government on what the new expiration dates will be before those consents can be extended.
ECan is identifying the affected consents and will contact consent holders with more information.

In the meantime, farmers and landowners should continue to apply for resource consents using existing processes and comply with existing consent conditions and regulatory obligations.

“Through the transition, our focus remains the same - looking after Canterbury’s environment, while enabling our communities and economy to thrive,” Dr Swiggs says.

“We have a lot of change ahead of us, and we will work alongside the city and district councils, mana whenua and government to make sure we get the implementation right.”

ECan is working through the implications of the new legislation and will provide further information to resource users, farmers and communities as changes take effect.