The meeting schedule was only notified last Wednesday, but that did not stop people attending and making their feelings known on both the consultation process and the proposed reforms.
Many expressed disappointment the Minister for the Environment Amy Adams did not attend the meeting - she had a cabinet meeting instead - to answer questions about the reforms.
Reforms proposed range from changing the purpose of the Act to give greater weight to economic development over environmental considerations; giving new controls to central government, including the ability to take individual consent decisions off local councils and place then with a new national body, and insert new provisions in local council plans without consultation; reducing the Environment Court to hearing cases only on points of law rather than additional evidence; bringing all planning documents, regional and district, into a single resource management plan for each area; and making non-notification a standard for some activity types, such as mining and mineral exploration.
About 20 people asked the panel - National Party list MP Aaron Gilmore, Ministry for the Environment deputy policy secretary Guy Beatson and Libby Masterton, also from the Ministry for the Environment - questions ranging from queries about changes to specific sections (including why
clauses such as the maintenance and enhancement of amenity values are proposed to be dropped) to who decided the community's values had changed so much the Act needed reviewing; issues around public access; having to go through a round of interpretation through Environment Court all over again; time frames for consultation and decision-making; political imperatives; the availability of the document; whether decision making would be local or national; planning processes; costs; and the impact on housing affordability.
Mr Gilmore said he wanted to make it clear the consultation process was just that. The Government had a genuine desire to seek people's views and opinions on the proposals.
The consultation time frame was tight, but there was no set time frame on getting the legislation through Parliament, and this was the first stage of a long process. People would also have other opportunities to comment, for example, at the select committee stage.
''There is a desire and willingness to put changes in place, but we are not going to run a bull at the gate just to get changes through. If you genuinely don't agree with our opinion, submit, '' Mr Gilmore saidMr Beatson said the Government wanted to address the hard issues ''right up front'' through the consultation process, so those issues did not end up being fought out through the Environment Court, he said.
The proposals were on the ministry website. Submissions closed on April 2, he said.
