RMA consent extensions a major win for farmers

Farmer David Clark said the overhaul was a "tremendous success" for rural communities and their farmers. Anisha Satya

A six year extension on farming consents has ended “a period of uncertainty” for Mid Canterbury farmers.

The extensions were revealed as part of the Resource Management Act (RMA) replacement announcement, which saw the Act ditched for two new bills that separately regulate land use and environmental impacts.

The expiry date for current consents has been extended to around 2031 – two years after the new bills’ transition period is over.

Under-Secretary for RMA Reform Simon Court said the extensions put everyone “on an even keel.”

“We’re effectively doing for consents what we’ve done for council plans through the plan-stop.

“It prevents wasted time, money and effort on a system that is about to be replaced, while still giving applicants the choice to pursue new consents under smoother transitional processes if they want longer-term certainty.”

Minister for RMA reform Chris Bishop said farmers would appreciate the “immediate practical, relief” that the extension brought.

“With the new planning system now progressing through Parliament, it simply isn’t fair to force people into… processes under the old regime.  

“Farmers and other consent holders have been staring down significant uncertainty and unnecessary expense; This legislation provides the certainty they need.”

Mid Canterbury farmer David Clark has spent the last half-year advocating against the “broken” RMA system and regional council structures like Environment Canterbury (ECan).

He said the announcement was a “tremendously good outcome” for farming families across the country.

“The situation we were in was that farmers were required to be reconsenting under the old system; That was unfair, and a waste of money, and time, and effort.

“Our ministers from all three parties and government took the time to listen to our concerns, understand the issues, and do their own research. And then they have taken decisive action and made changes.”

He said the war against overregulation is not yet over – the systems needs to be built back better.

“It's vitally important now that we all engage in the select committee process, as this legislation works its way through the parliament.”

Federated Farmers Mid Canterbury president David Acland gave his kudos to Clark and the other local farmers who’d made their voices heard by parliament.

“This transitional phase does give assurance to those with consents that have just recently expired or come up for renewal.

“That has been the key push for the last 6 months, so it’s pretty satisfying to see that has come to fruition.”

The overhaul will reduce the number of regional plans, reducing the over 100 plans to 17 broadened ones, and will reduce the number of consent categories.

“The lack of… being able to give effect to localism, that does have a cost,” Acland said.

“We're foregoing that cost to have a fast simpler system that's possibly a little bit more prescriptive.”

He encouraged locals to get involved in submitting their expectations and concerns about the new bills as they went through the submissions process.

“There's a lot of work still to be done.”