Bernard Hickey: Cut it out, you RMA spoilsports
The RMA Knights who say no have been a shadowy tribe until now and it's been hard to pin much damage to the economy on them, writes Bernard Hickey.
The RMA Knights who say no have been a shadowy tribe until now and it's been hard to pin much damage to the economy on them, writes Bernard Hickey.
The strength of Nick Smith's language in his savaging of the RMA prompted immediate concern in the environmental lobby he was trying to manufacture a crisis where there wasn't one.
What took hold of Nick Smith when he claimed the Resource Management Act added $30 billion to housing costs and stopped 40,000 new houses in the past decade?
Local Government NZ welcomes proposed changes to the RMA but NZ First leader Winston Peters says it will do nothing for house prices in Auckland.
Got a problem? Then blame it on the Resource Management Act, writes John Armstrong. "Nick Smith is using the RMA as a smokescreen. The Auckland housing crisis is really a crisis of insatiable demand."
The Government has spelled out its masterplan for reversing skyrocketing house prices across the country - but will the 10-point plan work?
Government has outlined its plans to dramatically reform the Resource Management Act in an effort to combat the skyrocketing price of housing in NZ.
Property developers say the failure to quickly resolve Auckland's housing crisis is not their fault - lack of infrastructure is one of the biggest impediments to more building.
A suggestion by the Finance Minister councils are increasing poverty through poor planning rules that drive housing costs higher has been labelled 'simplistic'.
Property and construction bosses want the Government to reform the Resource Management Act, an extension of Special Housing Areas, the creation of more affordable housing in Auckland and Christchurch and perhaps the introduction of some form of capital ga
As with any law, improvements could be made. Forest & Bird, and other community groups, have no issue with providing for better planning processes, writes Claire Browning.
The Government has just set best-practice guidelines for fracking in various parts of the country.
New Act leader Jamie Whyte will today announce that Act wants the entire 826-page Resource Management Act to be dumped.
An Auckland man jailed for serial polluting crimes must turn up at court on Friday to begin his prison sentence after losing an appeal against his conviction.
Forest and Bird says efforts to rehabilitate the Stockton Plateau after open-cast coalmining has missed the point, with bright green grass sown rather than restoring the natural tussock landscape.
The Waitakere Ranges Protection Society celebrates its 40th anniversary, knowing its battle to keep a wilderness on Auckland's doorstep is still far from over.
For nearly 20 years, solo mum Ginny Walker has had to keep a watchful eye on her son Jarrod, almost 24 hours a day.
The Law Society is urging the Government to drop plans to give itself extraordinary powers to change the Resource Management Act in order to establish "special housing areas" intended to fast track affordable housing.
A leading business group has joined environmentalists in calling on the Government to ease back on changes to the Resource Management Act.
The RMA exists to help work out the right conditions, as well as manage effects, which under O'Reilly's approach would not occur, writes Claire Browning.
In the coming weeks, the Government will be making its decision on the future of the Resource Management Act.
Auckland Council's draft Unitary Plan is under attack as people engage with its implications for their backyards and neighbourhoods, writes Joel Cayford. The question confronting city planners and councillors should be how to fix the plan,
"Who wins when the Auckland Council and the Government do not agree on the approach to affordable housing?" asks Mai Chen. "Or when Auckland's unitary plan should take effect?"
Editorial: Two recent events ought to have injected some urgency into the quest for cleaner, fairer and better use of New Zealand's most valuable resource, water.