By Oliver Hartwich

This week, the Government unveiled its blueprint to replace the Resource Management Act. This is not just another policy tweak – it is a game-changer for New Zealand’s economy.

By splitting planning and environmental laws, the reforms directly target the RMA’s growth-strangling red tape that has driven up housing costs, blocked infrastructure, and held back our economic potential for decades.

The reforms put property rights front and centre. This shift has been a core recommendation from the Initiative since our founding and represents a fundamental reorientation of our planning system.

Instead of controlling every aspect of land use, the new system will only step in when activities truly affect neighbours or the environment in material ways. While it will still regulate so-called highly-productive soils – a practice we have consistently criticised – normal activities on your own land will face fewer hurdles overall, reducing compliance costs.

The reforms will stop councils from regulating things that do not matter. The new system establishes a higher threshold for when effects require management, focusing only on substantive impacts rather than minor or theoretical concerns that currently delay worthwhile projects.

Common sense will replace complexity. Rather than the current patchwork of 1,175 locally defined zones across the country, New Zealand will move to standardised national zones. Japan has just 13 zones nationwide – New Zealand may well adopt a similarly straightforward approach.

This standardisation means most everyday building activities will follow clear, preset rules. Though we normally favour localism, nationwide consistency in this specific area will free local authorities to focus on genuine local priorities instead of reinventing the wheel over and over again.

In any case, when councils want to create their own rules beyond national standards, they will be able to do so. But they will need to explain why – a welcome accountability mechanism that should prevent unnecessary restrictions.

The new spatial plans will define growth areas and future infrastructure corridors years in advance, with real legal weight behind them. Such early designations are significant because they allow for more coordinated long-term investment.

Some questions remain about implementation. The national compliance regulator and planning tribunal – which will enforce standards and resolve disputes, respectively – will not be in the first round of legislation. While these mechanisms deserve careful design, they should not be unduly delayed.

Success depends on staying the course through the drafting process. The government must resist pressure for complicated exceptions that would recreate the very maze we are trying to escape.

These reforms represent the most significant positive change to New Zealand’s planning system in a generation. With proper implementation, they will deliver the affordable housing, efficient infrastructure and economic growth our country has needed for decades.

The Initiative strongly welcomes this bold step forward.

Originally published on The New Zealand Initiative.