Changes to the proposed Natural Environment and Planning Bills would give the environment minister greater control over regional development, according to a Select Committee report.
The revised system required councils to follow ministerial priorities across competing goals, including development and conservation, without a clear hierarchy.
The Committee said the Bills were a “wholesale rejection of localism” which gave “no particular priority to environmental outcomes”. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop rejected that assessment, but also acknowledged the legislation still needed work. Read more at Newsroom and from Dr Greg Severinsen.
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All councils are ‘subsidiary companies’ of the New Zealand Company. The 1993 Companies Act was where localism, by locals for locals, was replaced with artificial entities called Corporations. The enactment determines the New Zealand Company to be a subsidiary company itself with powers and control over the corporations registered and incorporated within it.