The Ministry for the Environment has recently introduced the
Draft National Planning Standards, which are open for comment until
Friday 17 August 2018. This article outlines the general purpose of
the Standards, and some issues we have identified which may
undermine considerable concessions which have been made in the
recent Christchurch District Plan review – and will apply to
other Regional and District plans around the country.
Purpose of the Standards
The Standards aim to improve consistency of planning documents
(Regional Policy Statements, Regional Plans and District/City
Plans) across New Zealand. The intention is that the consistency
across all planning documents will make it easier to use plans in
different regions, and also reduce costs for local authorities, as
each statement / plan is pre-designed, and so new or replacement
documents do not need to 'reinvent the wheel'.
