Time to put nature and liveable communities at the centre of planning under RMA

A comprehensive review of the Resource Management Act are both well overdue and welcomed by the Green Party.

Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said:

“A comprehensive review and overhaul of our resource management law will ensure that we prioritise the environment and protect quality of life, create liveable cities and protect nature for present and future generations”, Green Party Co-leader James Shaw said today.

“We need an RMA which ensures that our towns and cities foster strong communities with healthy green spaces and effective transport networks.

“Our environmental and planning law needs to promote climate change mitigation. Having this considered at a planning level right across the country would be ground-breaking. We’ll be pushing to include climate change consideration as soon as possible.

Green Party environment spokesperson Eugenie Sage said:

“The RMA is a key part of environmental management. Instead of just tinkering around the edges and adding to the RMA’s length and complexity, as the previous Government has done, this review could be transformational.

“The Greens want to ensure our environmental and planning law protects nature, ensures a healthy environment, enables people to participate in decision making and achieves increased community and social wellbeing.

“We’ve seen declining water quality and continued loss of indigenous vegetation and habitats over the last 25 years. Changes are needed to improve the law and our resource management system and the review is an opportunity to do this.”

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