New planning laws are now in place. The Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions & Transport is publishing guidance, tools and updates on this website as the new planning system is introduced in stages.
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Property development
Find out what the new planning system means for property developers, including housing growth, subdivision, consenting and development opportunities.
Overview
The new planning system is intended to provide clearer and more consistent planning settings for housing and land development, while managing environmental limits, natural hazards and the effects of development on other people.
For developers, this means clearer national direction on housing growth, more consistent planning rules, and clearer information about where land may be made available for housing, business growth and infrastructure.
More issues will be addressed earlier through national instruments and regional planning, allowing consent and permit processes to focus on what still needs to be considered for individual developments.
What the new planning system means for residential property developers
Clearer national direction for housing growth
National policy direction and national standards will set expectations for councils when they plan for housing and urban growth.
The Planning Act includes a goal to enable competitive urban land markets by making land available to create abundant opportunities for residential and business use. This may result in emerging opportunities for development and growth in both new and existing urban areas.
The new system will also establish an independent statutory officer to monitor how well urban land markets are functioning and advise councils and central government on where improvements may be needed.
If an urban land market is found not to be competitive, councils will be required to take action to address the issue.
This should provide clearer information about where development opportunities are available and where further action may be needed.
Planning for more development opportunities
Councils should consider land and infrastructure needs to support housing and business growth as part of their planning. This will include monitoring whether enough development opportunities are available.
Plans may identify land where future zoning provisions will apply, subject to specific requirements being met. This provides greater certainty about where housing and business growth is expected.
The requirements could relate to matters such as infrastructure, natural hazards, environmental limits or other requirements in the plan.
Working through these issues earlier should reduce the need to revisit them through later plan changes or consent processes.
Better links between development and infrastructure
Regional spatial plans will help councils and infrastructure providers identify where future housing, business growth, infrastructure and natural hazard constraints need to be considered together.
This should make it easier to see where growth is expected and where infrastructure will be needed to support it.
National standards will provide clearer direction on how infrastructure capacity is considered in planning and consenting decisions.
More consistent rules across the country
National standards will help translate national direction into more consistent plan content and rules.
Standardised zones and overlays should make planning rules more consistent across most of the country.
A smaller set of more flexible zones should support housing and mixed-use development in a more consistent way.
This should make it easier to compare requirements across council areas and understand what rules apply to a development. It may also reduce the need to change designs or applications for different council areas.
Subdivision may be simpler in some cases
Subdivision will have a more permissive starting point. Some subdivision may be simpler under the new system, particularly where national standards provide consistency.
More types of subdivision may be enabled through national standards and land use plans, subject to relevant requirements.
Subdivision may still need to meet requirements that manage risks such as flooding and other natural hazards, and show that roads, pipes and other infrastructure are available or planned.
Some development may not need consent/permit
Some residential development may be able to go ahead without a consent if it meets the relevant rules and standards.
Whether a consent or permit is needed will depend on the rules that apply to the site and the type of development proposed.
Rules may still manage effects on neighbours, infrastructure, natural hazards and the wider area.
More focused consent processes
Where a consent or permit is still needed, decisions will focus on the effects and issues that still need to be considered under the relevant rules and legislation. This may include:
- more standardised rules and requirements in plans
- a narrower range of effects and matters being considered where required by the legislation or relevant rules
- fewer consents or permits being publicly notified or notified to fewer people
- fewer opportunities to reopen matters that have already been settled through national instruments, spatial planning, land use planning or natural environment planning.
Planning information, disputes and support
Over time, digital tools and a future planning platform will make it easier to find planning information, apply for consents and track application progress.
A new Planning Tribunal will consider specified disputes, such as some disputes about further information requests, notification decisions and consent conditions.
What happens next
The new planning system will be introduced in stages. Existing RMA plans, consents and council processes will continue during the transition. Developers should continue to check the rules that apply in each council area before progressing projects.
A transitional consenting framework will apply before the full system is in place. This will introduce some changes to consent and notices of requirement processes while existing RMA plans continue to apply.
Over time, new national policy direction, standards and regional combined plans will set out more detail about where development is expected, what activities can happen without a consent, when a consent is needed, and what rules apply to subdivision and other development.
Residential property developers and other interested groups will have opportunities to take part in relevant national policy direction, regional spatial planning and plan-making processes. The Acts set out the public engagement requirements for each instrument and generally encourage participation earlier on in the process.
We will add more information over time, including guidance on planning, consenting, subdivision and development opportunities.