For over three decades, the Resource Management Act has been a significant hindrance to New Zealand's economic growth. It promised sustainable management but delivered housing crises, infrastructure delays, stifled productivity and environmental decline. Successive governments tinkered while the fundamental problems festered. 
 
This week, the Government introduced legislation to finally address the disease. 
 
The Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill represent the most significant planning reform since the RMA's enactment in 1991. The Initiative has advocated for many of these changes for over a decade: property rights as a guiding principle, a narrowed scope of regulable effects, standardised zones and rules, competitive urban land markets and higher thresholds for objections.  
 
Visual amenity, trade competition, retail distribution effects and private views are explicitly excluded from regulation. A new Planning Tribunal offers low-cost recourse against council overreach. 
 
The ‘funnel’ architecture is a strong feature. Under the current RMA, every decision can be relitigated at every level, including national policy statements, regional plans, district plans and consents. The new system locks decisions in at higher levels. Once national instruments determine how competing goals are balanced, councils will not be able to revisit those questions.  
 
This strong direction from the centre is inconsistent with our preference for localism, but should reduce uncertainty and delays plaguing development. The Government claims there will be a 46 percent reduction in consents required and $14.8 billion in savings over 30 years.  
 
The environmental limits framework is hard-edged - councils must avoid breaching limits once set. But Ministers will decide those limits. A future government could easily tighten them, transforming a permissive system into a restrictive one. 
 
The ‘regulatory relief’ framework is also concerning. Ministers have promised that councils will finally have to confront costs they impose on society. That is great intent, but the draft Bills are weak on this point, only allowing relief if there is ‘significant impact’. Relief should be available for any material reduction in land value caused by a new restriction imposed largely for the benefit of others or the community in general. 
 
Overall, the Bills are positive. But they are long and complex with plenty of devil in the detail. Meanwhile, their operational substance - environmental limits, national standards, planning methodologies – are still to come.  
 
Whether the new system enables growth or frustrates will depend heavily on getting all this right. And, crucially, for it all to stick.