Councils sparked change to tree-trimming rules

Nick Smith. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A last-minute decision to chop tree-trimming rules was prompted by councils telling the Environment Minister changes to tree laws would create too much work for them.

The minister, Nick Smith, said it had been decided to let people trim most trees without a resource consent from October 1 to save work after councils raised concerns about the time it would take them to list trees for protection following changes to the Resource Management Act.

From January 2012, rules protecting trees over a certain height or size will be defunct and councils must list the trees they want protected individually or in small groups.

They are expected to use the next two years to lengthen their lists of protected trees.

"I had a number of approaches from councils that were concerned about the work that was going to need to go in to the scheduling [listing] of trees," said Dr Smith.

"The suggestion was made to me ... [that] the removal of the requirement for consents for trimming trees [would] free up council resources so they could get on and do the important work of identifying trees that need protection."

Dr Smith said figures from Government officials suggested 60 per cent, or about 3000, of the resource consents for tree work each year were for trimming, not felling.

By relieving councils of the need to process trimming permits, officers would have more time to grow lists of protected trees, he said.

"There has been concern, including from some of my colleagues [in the National Party], that councils may not diligently get on and deal with the trees," said Dr Smith.

The Government had planned to give councils two years to work on lists of individually protected trees before scrapping rules covering trimming. That was cut to three weeks on the day the law was passed.

"We took the judgment to bring that forward to October 1 and get the change in law as quickly as possible to free up councils' resources," said the minister. Dr Smith said concerns about the time taken to list trees were raised after the select committee hearings but before the bill had its final reading.