[image]
In the diagram above, the use of dashed lines represents documents and relationships that have no explicit legal mandate. More detail on the relationship and purpose of documents that influence RMA plans is provided in the text below.
Under the Local Government Act 2002, local authorities are required to facilitate a process to identify community outcomes for the immediate to long-term future of their district or region every six years. The process enables parties such as local authorities, central government agencies, and the community as a whole to determine what they consider important to that community.
The outcomes from this process in turn form the basis on which local authorities will develop their Long Term Council Community Plans (LTCCPs).
Prepared by each local authority, LTCCPs are ten-year strategic planning documents that cover all local authority functions from financial planning and economic development initiatives, to social service provisions such as libraries, housing and community facilities. LTCCPs must be reviewed every three years.
The LTCCP does not override the provisions of RMA plans (or other statutory documents), nor is there a legal requirement that any new plans must conform to a LTCCP that is in force. However, because the LTCCP both records the outcomes identified by the community and identifies how the local authority will contribute to these, it is anticipated that local authorities will use this process to inform and coordinate RMA plans and other plans and strategies.
RMA plans can be used as a means to achieve environmental outcomes under the LTCCP. This could either be done directly through the alignment of objectives, policies and rules, or coordinated regionally through a regional policy statement. Conversely, the LTCCP can be used as a means of coordinating methods other than rules for RMA plans (where they are aligned). Of particular note should be the policy on the development of contributions and financial contributions and financial strategies contained in LTCCPs, which provide direction to a local authority Annual Plan (among other things it sets out funding for particular services, programmes and capital works for the financial year, and the two years following).
Note that sections 61(2)(a)(i), 66(2)(c)(i), and 74(2)(b)(i) of the RMA require that regional policy statements, and regional and district plans have regard to management plans and strategies prepared under other Acts.
It is worth noting also the weighting that proposed plans, plan variations, or plan changes may have by virtue of their relationship with a LTCCP. In Mapara Valley Preservation Society Inc. v Taupo District Council [2007] A083/07, the Court noted in relation to two variations based on and informed by an urban growth strategy, that while the urban growth strategy was not a statutory document, it:
“…was publicly notified for consultation with the 2006–2016 Long Term Council Community Plan using the special consultative procedures under the Local Government Act 2002. We thus find that the Variations should be given substantial respect and weight” [when making decisions concerning the resource consent that was the subject of the appeal].
For more information on the relationship between the RMA and LGA see "What is the relationship between community outcomes and long term council community plans (LTCCP) under the LGA, and Resource Management Act (RMA) plans and national instruments under the RMA?"
Annual Plans are developed under s.95 of the Local Government Act 2002. As part of their purpose they:
As all local authority work programmes are funded by, or have implications associated with operational or capital expenditure, linkages with Annual Plans (either directly of via the funding strategy in the LTCCP) become important during the years between reviews of LTCCPs when considering:
Regional Councils are responsible for Regional Land Transport Strategies. RLTSs have a significant part to play in transport funding and planning. They are a mechanism to broadly look at current and future conditions within the region, and identify problems, issues and opportunities. Once completed, the RLTS establishes a longer-term transportation strategy for the region.
An RLTS must avoid, to the extent reasonable in the circumstances, adverse effects on the environment, thereby providing a direct linkage to Part II of the RMA.
An RLTS can inform district plan development by:
Note that sections 61(2)(a)(i), 66(2)(c)(i), and 74(2)(b)(i) of the RMA require that regional policy statements, and regional and district plans have regard to management plans and strategies prepared under other Acts.
See the Land Transport Guidance Note for more information.
The Biosecurity Act 1993 sets the framework for the management of plant and animal pests. Regional and Unitary authorities may prepare regional strategies that cover pest management over a period of five years or more. Strategies must be reviewed at least once every five years.
Each regional pest management strategy will normally:
Sections 61(2)(a)(i), 66(2)(c)(i), and 74(2)(b)(i) of the RMA require that regional policy statements, and regional and district plans have regard to management plans and strategies prepared under other Acts.
While many regional pest management strategies pre-date LTCCPs, they can be used to assist regional and unitary councils in addressing community outcomes (especially those relating to environmental and economic wellbeing).
The objectives contained in regional pest management strategies and the ways in which they are met may overlap or assist the objectives in RMA plans (such as objectives and policies relating to maintaining indigenous biodiversity). In this regard pest management strategies can be used as a method (other than a rule) for implementing RMA objectives and policies.
Conversely, RMA policy statements and plans can assist in increasing the effectiveness of pest management.
In Forest and Bird Protection Society v Northland Regional Council [1998] A033/98, the Court found that reliance on the Biosecurity Act alone did not provide regional councils with the ability to effectively carry out pest management as well as cater for overlaps with other environmental protection through pest management strategies.
“The limitation on the range of species to which they [pest management strategies] apply, and the exclusion of land use controls, leaves their effectiveness incomplete. We find that it is necessary in achieving the purpose of the Resource Management Act and the objectives and policies of the regional policy statement to have a method of implementation and plans and consents under the Resource Management Act. The relevant rules, criteria and conditions in those instruments and those in [pest management] strategies would be complementary of natural and physical resources and of controlling use of land for soil conservation….”
Consequently, in allowing the appeal from the Forest and Bird Protection Society the Court added two policies to the Northland Regional Policy Statement, and an additional method:
Policies:
Method:
Reserve management plans are required under the Reserve Act 1977, while some residual requirements with respect to regional parks also survive in sections in the Local Government Act 1974.
Reserve management plans are required to “provide for and ensure the use, enjoyment, maintenance, protection, and preservation, as the case may require, and, to the extent that the administering body’s resources permit, the development, as appropriate, of the reserve for the purposes for which it is classified”. They are also required to incorporate and ensure compliance with the principles relating to the management and purpose of the type of reserve to which they apply.
Under the Reserves Act 1977, reserves are designated one or more of seven types:
Access and use of reserves may be controlled through bylaws, licenses, permits, covenants and other similar means as appropriate to the type to reserve.
Reserves and reserve management plans can be used as a methods (other than a rule in a plan) to meet the objectives and policies of RMA plans although they may not have been developed for that purpose. For example, a historic reserve classification under the Reserves Act could be used to assist in the management of a historic site under council control in place of some RMA plan controls.
Note that sections 61(2)(a)(i), 66(2)(c)(i), and 74(2)(b)(i) of the RMA require that regional policy statements, and regional and district plans have regard to management plans and strategies prepared under other Acts.
Growth strategies and their respective plans are not required under legislation but are increasingly being used by local authorities as a means to coordinate the land use planning, infrastructural, and financial needs associated with urban growth.
Implementation of growth strategies will of necessity be through several plans simultaneously. The LTCCP could be used to set the broad framework required to coordinate social, environmental, economic and cultural aspects of managing the growth. The financial strategy in the LTCCP could then be used to guide annual plans that set the year-byyear funding for infrastructure. Community outcomes and objectives in the LTCCP could also provide an input into objectives and policies in RLTSs, reserve management plans, regional policy statements, regional plans, and district plans that would implement the growth strategy.
A regional policy statement can coordinate and direct the plans of both the regional council and territorial authorities in the region so as to provide for consistent and integrated outcomes (for example in regard to land use and key infrastructure) when implementing a growth strategy. Alternatively, a growth strategy may be implemented at a sub-regional level through a combination of RMA plan provisions (for example land use), reserve management plan provisions (if new reserves are required or changes need to be made to the management of existing reserves) and annual plan programmes (for infrastructure and services, for example).
Civil Defence and Emergency Management plans (CDEM plans) are prepared under the Civil Defence and Emergency Management Act 2002 for each CDEM group. While these plans cover matters associated with emergency response and recovery, they can also cover material associated with hazard risk reduction (such as avoidance of hazard-prone land, making provision for infrastructure that mitigates flooding risk or planning evacuation routes). In this way that can inform and provide an input into RMA plans either directly, or through a regional policy statement (in which case regional and district plans may have to give effect to any policy or method in the RPS that may have been derived from a CDEM plan).
Note that sections 61(2)(a)(i), 66(2)(c)(i), and 74(2)(b)(i) of the RMA require that regional policy statements, and regional and district plans, have regard to management plans and strategies prepared under other Acts.
Conservation management strategies are prepared by the Department of the Conservation under s.17D and s.17F of the Conservation Act 1987. Conservation management strategies are the primary method of implementing general policies produced by the Director-General of Conservation and of establishing objectives for the integrated management of natural and historic resources, including any species, managed by the Department of Conservation under the:
Conservation management plans are prepared under s.17E of the Conservation Act 1987 (but can also be prepared under other Acts such as the Reserves Act 1977). The purpose of a conservation management plan is to implement conservation management strategies and establish detailed objectives for the integrated management of natural and historic resources within any area for recreation, tourism, and other conservation purposes.
In a manner similar to reserve management plans, conservation management plans can have regulatory effect through bylaws (such as those relating to access).
Sections 61(2)(a)(i), 66(2)(c)(i), and 74(2)(b)(i) of the RMA require that regional policy statements, and regional and district plans have regard to management plans and strategies prepared under other Acts.
Conservation management strategies and conservation management plans can provide useful information for RMA plans through identifying or recording:
