Resource Legislation Amendment Bill gains Royal Assent

The legislative process for the Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017 is now complete. The Bill obtained Royal Assent on Monday, 18 April 2017,  and under section 2(4), Part 1 of the Act came into force on 19 April. The RLAA is now on the Legislation NZ website: Resource Legislation Amendment Act 2017.This means that the consenting changes (subpart 2 of Part 1) and amendments to the Conservation Act 1987 (Part 4) will come into force on 18 October 2017.Over the coming days, the Ministry for the Environment (MfE) will be publishing fact sheets with detailed information on the changes, checklists for councils and timings for when the changes will come into force.MfE is also finalising arrangements to set up LG Connect, which is run by SOLGM, for council staff to ask us any questions about the changes and share information between councils. This subscription service will soon be available.More detailed information relating to Mana Whakahono a Rohe, the streamlined planning process, consent exemptions and boundary activities, and changes to consent notification will soon be available and RMLA will keep members updated accordingly.More information about the Bill can be found here.