Environment Court may face increase in workload

New laws and policies in the pipeline may increase the Environment Court's workload in coming years.

The annual report tabled in Parliament shows the number of outstanding cases was 1566 in the year to June compared with 1848 in the 2003-04 year.

The court's caseload - partly blamed in recent years for delays in getting consents under the Resource Management Act - peaked in 2000-01 at 3137 cases.

In the face of the criticism, the Government ploughed more resources into the court.

The caseload is now at a "manageable level", the report says.

However, new legislation and policy proposals could affect the court's work in coming years, it says.

The measures include the Foreshore and Seabed Act, changes to the Resource Management Act, new aquaculture rules, and inclusion of national policy statements and environmental standards in local government planning documents.

"It is not possible to predict at this stage the precise timing of, or the levels of, impact of these, but they all have potential to impact the work of the court." 
  
Coming down

Environment Court outstanding cases
1999       2914
2000       3017
2001       3137
2002       2813
2003       2158
2004       1848
2005       1566
*Year to June