Parliament Repeals Natural and Built Environment Act and Spatial Planning Act

New Zealand's Parliament has repealed the Natural and Built Environment Act and Spatial Planning Act as part of the government's 100-day programme, according to RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop.

Despite the Labour government's attempts to modernise the country's resource management legislation, the National Party has stated that the prior regime's reforms were as protracted and complicated as the legislation itself.

Bishop claims that the new legislation will preserve the environment while also making it easier to accomplish goals in New Zealand.

The second and third phases of the reform will involve simplifying the country's RMA to facilitate infrastructure development, enable agriculture, and increase housing construction.

Federated Farmers, which had pushed for the repeal, said the prior government's reforms would have led to costly litigation, less local accountability and more complexity.

The group has urged the government to draft replacement legislation early in 2023.

The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union has welcomed the repeal, saying it will keep planning decisions in the hands of local communities.

The union argued that the previous government's resource management reforms would have centralised power in the hands of unelected regional planning committees, à la the failed Te Pukenga reform of the health service and the costly Three Waters programme.

While celebrating the rollback of centralisation, the union has also called for wider reforms to the Resource Management Act to solve New Zealand's "crippling housing and infrastructure crisis.