Environment Court workload levels out

The New Zealand Law Society this week reported that a 12-page Report of the Registrar of the Environment Court for the year to 30 June 2017 has been tabled in Parliament.

The total number of appeals and applications filed in the Environment Court have stabilised over recent years to a level the Court can manage efficiently, notes Environment Court Registrar Harry Johnson.

The report indicates that the special directions to enable service of appeals arising out of the Auckland Unitary Plan process via electronic lodgement on to the Court’s web pages, has been effective. The Court anticipates that no more than a handful of cases will need hearing time, and plans are being made for that work to proceed promptly as cases are identified.

The report notes that a total of 485 matters were filed in the reporting year, with 453 disposed, with a clearance rate of 93%.

The volume of resource consent appeals is linked to the volume of notified applications processed by local authorities, and plan appeal numbers fluctuate as planning instruments undergo change.

At 30 June 2017, there were 207 plan appeals outstanding and 80 resource consent appeals outstanding.

Cases filed and disposed in Environment Court, year to 30 June

Year	Plans Appeals	ResourceConsents	DirectReferrals	Misc	Total Filed	Total Disposed
2008	404	558	187	1149	1051
2015	153	113	2	124	392	415
2016	203	103	2	120	428	422
2017	101	112	4	268	485	453

The report highlights that section 268 of the Resource Management Act 1991 empowers the Environment Court to arrange mediation and other forms of alternate dispute resolution. It says the Court actively encourages this "and consequently the majority of cases will undergo mediation".

Court-annexed mediation volumes and outcomes, year to 30 June

Outcomes	2017	2016	2015
Total mediation events	244	232	164
Agreement reached in full	103	69	63
Agreement reached in part	65	84	49
Agreement not reached	48	53	42
Mediation vacated	21	26	10