RMA reform: navigating New Zealand’s new planning system
New Zealand’s Resource Management Act 1991 is being replaced by a new planning and environmental management system under the Planning Act 2026 and Natural Environment Act 2026.
The transition will take time. Existing RMA plans, consents and processes will continue while new national direction, regional spatial plans, land use plans and natural environment plans are developed. The decisions made during this period will influence future development, infrastructure, resource use and environmental management across Aotearoa New Zealand.
Tonkin + Taylor has been engaged in the reform from the outset, tracking legislative developments and advising clients on the implications for their assets, projects and long-term interests. We can help organisations navigate the transition, influence emerging plans and policies, secure approvals and manage implementation.
Read more about the reform in our thought leadership article: RMA reform: the plans being written now will shape decades of development – Tonkin + Taylor
What RM reform could mean for your organisation
The implications of the reform will depend on your organisation’s assets, projects, location and timing.
You may need to understand:
- how new legislation could affect your development or investment plans.
- whether emerging regional spatial plans could influence your land or infrastructure interests.
- how to engage in national, regional and local plan-making processes.
- what technical evidence may be required to support your position.
- how to manage consenting, conditions and compliance during the transition.
- whether existing RMA, new-system or Fast-track approval pathways are most appropriate for consenting.
Early advice can help you identify the decisions that matter, understand when opportunities to engage will arise and avoid being locked out of future planning outcomes.
Navigating a changing planning system through integrated expertise
Resource management decisions extend beyond planning. Complex projects need planning leadership combined with multidisciplinary technical expertise.
Our planners work alongside Tonkin + Taylor’s specialists in infrastructure, transport, water science, ecology, hydrogeology, geotechnical and civil engineering, contaminated land, acoustics, natural hazards, climate resilience, air quality, landscape and Te Ao Māori advisory. This integrated approach connects strategic planning advice with the technical evidence, consenting pathways and implementation requirements needed to deliver projects in practice.
We support clients throughout the project lifecycle. From robust regional spatial plans and scientifically credible environmental limits to integrated consent applications and effective implementation through consent conditions, monitoring, environmental management plans and adaptive responses.
How we can help
- Understanding the reform: helping clients understand the reform landscape and its impacts and implications.
- Navigating transition: guiding clients through the complexity of the transitional provisions to assess impacts on their assets, develop strategy that secures opportunity and manages risk, and identify approval pathways that work for their projects.
- Spatial planning: supporting Councils needing specialist assistance with developing their spatial plan, or individuals wanting to engage with the plan making process.
- Policy and plan development: supporting Councils with their work responding to national direction and establishing their spatial plans and land use and natural environment plans.
- Engaging in policy and plan development – future proofing your assets and interests: supporting clients engage in the planning process with submissions and engagement on the National Instruments, regional spatial plans and land use and natural environment plans to future proof their assets for years to come.
- Consenting and designation applications: gaining planning consents, natural environment permits and designations for projects under the new framework (and navigating applications through the transitional period).
- Fast Track Approvals Act: providing proven experience, expertise and specialist resource to help clients navigate the Fast Track Approvals Act.
- Project implementation and compliance: drawing on practical and pragmatic experience in complex construction projects to deliver conditions management, monitoring, environmental management plans and adaptive responses.
Understand what RM reform means for your organisation
Talk to our planning and resource management specialists about your project, assets or long-term interests. Our regional contacts are:
Andrea Brabant – Auckland
Grant Eccles – Hamilton
Romae Calland – Tauranga
Kate Searle – Wellington
Sara McMillan – Nelson
Tim Ensor – Christchurch
