Latest / Early Edition with Ryan Bridge / Bruce Weir: Urban planner and strategic development expert on the RMA reforms

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Bruce Weir: Urban planner and strategic development expert on the RMA reforms · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Well, the government's dropped a two hundred and fifty page
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: monster to replace the RMA, the Resource Management Act. It
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: wants two new laws, one for planning, one for the environment,
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: and it wants clearer rules and what councils can and
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: can't regulate. It's estimated this will have the number of consents.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: It's estimated this will save thirteen billion dollars in costs
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: over thirty years, but some people are worried that the
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: environment could still could get down damage. Bruce Weir is
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: an independent urban planner and strategic development expert, and it
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: joins me. Now, good morning to you.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Andrew, so very good.
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: This is a generational change and everyone's been talking about
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: reform of the RMA forever, ever since they came in
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety one. So what's your reaction to it.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Oh, it's great, it's awesome, fantastic.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Yeah, no downside at all.
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: Ah. Look, there will always be coups of these things
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: when they come in. You know, the stuff about compensation
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: is going to be a bit of a headache. But
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: no med league people. There's been so much nonsense going
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: on in planning and people have rightly been frustrated with
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: what's been going on.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: So the very first email I got in my inbox
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: yesterday after the announcement at one o'clock came from Forest
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: and Bird who said this will negatively impact on New
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: Zealand's environment and that there's not enough safeguards and that's
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: why the RMA was that was developed and made so
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: monstrously huge in the in the first place. What do
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: you reckon to that?
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: Oh, look, I think the main thing that I see.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: The biggest improvement here is that there's a planning tribune
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: that you can go to a few if everybody's unhappy
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: and there's a big issue, there's there's somewhere you can
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: go to. The problem we have at the moment is
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: it sort of almost gets so lit tous that it
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: favors those who have a lot of money. And so
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: what happens is that you can get help. And there's
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: cases I've been involved with for years, years and years
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: going through where those who have a lot of capital
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: can canstall a process. It's really frustrating even for councils.
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: No I understand, I understand. I know a number of
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: planners for them as well. So there we go, But
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: what about the risk of people now feeling that they
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: can put up whatever they want, wherever they want on
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: their property, and we end out with a terrible cave
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: creek scenario.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: You know, look, there's if you take an urban environments,
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: what we've done is we're in a strange sort of way.
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: We've gone back to where we used to have a
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Town and Country Planning Act, way way way back, and
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: we've gone back to that. We've said, now an urban areas,
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: there's certain rules out on the countryside. There's a different
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: process fundamentally, that's how it goes. And if you take
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: the former, you have a volumetric control, you have a
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: box and we already have that. You know, you have
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: recession controls and height limits, and you go for it.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: You know, build it, do it all right, brutals limited constraint.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: I gotta go Brice for more from early edition with
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: Ryan Bridge.
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: Listen live to News Talks it'd be from five am weekdays,
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.