Infrastructure, development and primary sector national direction

The Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) is a direct cause of New Zealand’s infrastructure deficit. It drives up costs, slows projects down, and has become a complicated nightmare for developers, councils and applicants alike.

Addressing this deficit is a critical part of this Government’s plan to boost growth and improve productivity in New Zealand.

Turning our economy around requires changing the culture of ‘no’ that has existed in New Zealand’s planning system for decades. Whether its new roads connecting our growing cities, new windfarms to electrify the country, or new telecommunications sites to deliver faster internet speeds to our cell phones, the RMA has obstructed growth instead of enabling it.

As a Government, we have been laying the groundwork to create the highly performing infrastructure sector New Zealand needs. We want to fundamentally shift the way we plan, select, fund and finance, build, and look after our infrastructure.

Next year we’ll replace the RMA with new legislation premised on property rights. Our new system will provide a framework that makes it easier to plan and deliver infrastructure and energy projects, as well as protecting the environment.

But we aren’t willing to wait until then. New Zealanders need relief from an overly burdensome planning system now. This is why we are proposing targeted changes to a suite of National Direction this year to realise immediate economic gains.

The infrastructure and development proposals in this discussion document are one of four packages of changes to National Direction being consulted on. It is the largest change to National Direction in New Zealand’s history.

These National Direction changes have been designed to minimise the implementation burden for local government and have been developed with the new system in mind, with these changes expected to carry over and transition into it when the time comes.

I encourage you to provide your thoughts on these proposals through a submission.

Hon Chris Bishop
Minister Responsible for RMA Reform

What are we proposing?

The Government is proposing new and amended national direction¹ to improve operation of the resource management system under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA). Updated national direction is needed to set national-level resource management policy and rules which inform regional and local plans, policy statements and resource consent decisions.

The national direction programme proposes:

• targeted amendments to 12 existing national direction instruments and introduction of four new national direction instruments, through a combined statutory consultation process
• consultation on options to amend two existing national direction instruments on freshwater
• consultation on national housing and urban policy (currently part of national direction under the RMA) to inform development of the new resource management system.

For efficiency and integration across related topics, the programme is grouped into four ‘packages’.

Package 1: Infrastructure and development and Package 2: Primary sector comprise new instruments and amendments to existing national direction instruments. These packages are open for public consultation and submissions as part of the statutory process to prepare and amend national direction under section 46A (1) and (2) of the RMA.

Package 3: Freshwater is open for feedback on options to amend existing national direction instruments for freshwater. Submissions are invited on freshwater proposals, which include some broad options. Further consultation will be undertaken through an exposure draft.

Package 4: Going for Housing Growth includes a discussion document for consultation and submissions on key aspects of the Going for Housing Growth Pillar 1 policy proposals, and an indicative assessment of implementation options for different components in the new resource management system. Further consultation will be held as the detailed design of the new system progresses.²

Table 1: National direction instruments proposed for development or amendment³

Package 1: Infrastructure and development

• New National Policy Statement for Infrastructure 
• Amendments to National Policy Statement for Renewable Electricity Generation 2011
• Amendments to National Policy Statement on Electricity Transmission 2008 (proposed to be renamed National Policy Statement for Electricity Networks)
• Amendments to Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Electricity Transmission Activities) Regulations 2009 (proposed to be renamed National Environmental Standards for Electricity Network Activities) 
• Amendments to Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Telecommunication Facilities) Regulations 2016
• New National Environmental Standards for Granny Flats (Minor Residential Units) 
• New National Environmental Standards for Papakāinga 
• New National Policy Statement for Natural Hazards

Package 2: Primary sector 

• Amendments to Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Marine Aquaculture) Regulations 2020
• Amendments to Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Commercial Forestry) Regulations 2017
• Amendments to New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement 2010
• Amendments to National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land 2022
• Amendments to Resource Management (Stock Exclusion) Regulations 2020
• Amendments to mining and quarrying provisions in: 
  • National Policy Statement for Indigenous Biodiversity 2023
  • National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land 2022
  • National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020
  • Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Freshwater) Regulations 2020

Package 3: Freshwater 

• Amendments to National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management 2020
• Amendments to Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Freshwater) Regulations 2020 

Package 4: Going for Housing Growth

This package focuses on:

• obtaining public feedback on key aspects of the Going for Housing Growth Pillar 1 policy proposals 
• providing an indicative assessment about implementing different components in the new resource management system.

^{1 National direction comprises national policy statements, national environmental standards, national planning standards and regulations made under section 360 of the RMA.}

^{2 See Ministry of Housing and Urban Development. Going for Housing Growth programme. Retrieved 28 April 2025.}

^{3 The packages do not propose amendments to other regulations made under section 360 of the RMA, or to the following national direction instruments:}

• ^{National Policy Statement for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Industrial Process Heat}
• ^{National Environmental Standards for Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Industrial Process Heat}
• ^{National Environmental Standards for Air Quality}
• ^{National Environmental Standard for Assessing and Managing Contaminants in Soil to Protect Human Health}
• ^{National Environmental Standards for Sources of Human Drinking Water}
• ^{National Environmental Standards for Storing Tyres Outdoors.}

Why are we changing national direction?

The proposals in the national direction programme are intended to contribute to the overarching goals of the Government’s resource management reform programme, namely:

• unlocking development capacity for housing and business growth
• enabling delivery of high-quality infrastructure for the future, including doubling renewable energy
• enabling primary sector growth and development, including aquaculture, forestry, pastoral, horticulture and mining.

Proposals in infrastructure and development package

The proposals in this package have been chosen to better enable infrastructure and development where they are needed and can be developed safely, while appropriately managing effects on people and the environment. The proposals are intended to:

• improve efficiencies and outcomes by supporting fit-for-purpose infrastructure, coordinated with development that meets the longer-term needs of people, communities and our environment
• enable opportunities and choice for housing to support a range of people and circumstances, including young people and seniors, and to support Māori living on ancestral land in papakāinga
• support development in areas with a reduced risk to people, communities and property from natural hazards.

The proposals include new and amended rules to clarify which activities would be permitted as of right, and which would need a consent in district⁴, or regional plans. The proposals also provide more targeted national policy direction to support resource consent and plan-making processes, with a focus on better enabling infrastructure and development.

The proposals complement other government initiatives such as the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024 and other targeted amendments to the RMA.⁵

^{4 References to district plans in this document also include the district plan components of combined plans, including unitary plans, prepared under section 80 of the RMA.}

^{5 Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill.}

Role and content of this discussion document

Through this discussion document, the Government invites submissions on the proposals. Submissions will inform advice the Government considers before making final decisions or drafting any national direction instruments.

This discussion document explains the suite of national direction proposed in the infrastructure and development package and includes material on the proposals to create or amend national policy statements and national environmental standards under section 46A(1) and (2) of the RMA. Proposed new provisions for national direction are provided in section 6 of this document and form part of the proposals for the infrastructure and development package.

Section 2 of this document outlines the scope and content of each new or amended national direction instrument relating to infrastructure. Section 3 provides the same outline for the development part of the package. These sections include an overview of the potential impacts of each proposal on various parties, describing how the proposal is intended to be implemented and how it incorporates Treaty of Waitangi and Treaty settlement considerations.

Section 4 outlines tools available to implement the national direction proposals in the infrastructure and development package.

Section 5 explains how you can make a submission.

Section 6 contains proposed provisions for each new or amended instrument in the infrastructure and development package. The attachments provide details about the scope and indicative content proposed for each instrument.

Further information on the proposed changes to national direction, including Interim Regulatory Impact Statements, can be found on the Changes to resource management web page on the Ministry for the Environment’s website.