Update on The Fast-track Approvals Bill
- Resource Management
Earlier this year, we summarised key aspects of the Fast-track Approvals Bill (the Bill), how the proposed fast-track process would work and how eligible projects could apply to be listed in the Bill. You can read our summary again here.
Since then, we have assisted clients to submit their projects for inclusion into Schedule 2 of the Bill and we continue to watch the Bill’s progress.
Recommended changes to the Bill
Over the weekend Cabinet announced that it is recommending the following changes to the Environment Committee:
- Instead of the previous 3-Minister gateway, the Minister for Infrastructure alone will refer projects to an expert panel. The Minister will also be required to consult the Minister for the Environment and other relevant portfolio Ministers as part of that referral process. We expect the Ministers for Transport and for Regional Development would be included in that process
- Final decisions on projects will now sit with the expert panel, not with Ministers. This is the same as the previous Labour government’s COVID-19 fast-track process.
- That the membership of each appointed expert panel must include:
- expertise in environmental matters
- an iwi authority representative only when required by Treaty settlements
- Māori development expertise in place of mātauranga Māori
- When applying to the Infrastructure Minister for referral to an expert panel, Applicants will be required to include information about previous decisions by approving authorities, including previous court decisions.
Certain timeframes at the referral and panel stages will be extended in order to give parties, including those impacted by a proposed project, more time to provide their comments.
The Environment Committee will now consider these changes and decide whether to accept them into the Bill.
Overview of the 384 projects
The Government released a 1-page summary of the projects that applied to be listed within the Bill. It is not surprising to see projects relating to housing (40%), infrastructure (24%) and renewable energy (18%) making up the lion’s share of the 384 projects that applied.
The Government also released a per-region tally of projects but fell short of confirming what the distribution of project types is per region – a detail that is still being demanded by commentators. It will be interesting to see whether the distribution of project types matches the known regional and district pressure points.
You can access the 1-page overview here: https://www.beehive.govt.nz/re...
Over the coming months Cabinet will consider which of the projects will be listed in Schedule 2 of the Bill. A paper will be put before Parliament once the Fast-track Approvals Bill returns to the House later this year, but Cabinet will still have the final say on which projects get listed.
Any projects listed in Part A of Schedule 2 will be able to apply directly to an expert panel to enter the fast-track approvals process.
Alexandra Isherwood
alexandra.isherwood@tp.co.nz
021 023 03482
Johanna King
johanna.king@tp.co.nz
021 917 140
Sam Chidgey
sam.chidgey@tp.co.nz
021 221 1388