Jane Nees BOP Regional Councillor www.janenees.co.nz

Government has just released a discussion document on Improving our Resource Management System.

This is the second phase of their Resource Management Act reforms and there is quite a lot in the discussion document that I applaud.

While I am not so keen on the minister's proposed ability to require specific changes to an existing local plan, a proposed national template for resource management plans with consistent definitions will save a lot of time. The proposed greater degree of clear national direction on a range of matters will prevent costly reinvention of the wheel across the country.

Another proposal is the encouragement of a single integrated plan for each district or area. While this is proposed to be discretionary and can be independent of how regional and local government is structured, the concept of one integrated plan containing regional and local policies and rules makes a lot of sense from a public viewpoint. The idea of earlier public collaboration in plan development and lessening of the ability for appeals to drag out the whole plan development process also gets my vote.

Other proposals include more efficient and effective consenting, better natural hazard management, clarifying the role of iwi in the consenting process, and the development of a standard approach across local authorities to enable benchmarking and identification of best practice.

The discussion document can be found on the MfE website and submissions close April 2, 2013. Since the reforms are likely to affect us all, it is worth having a say.

If you have any views on this or any other issue, please email me neesj@xtra.co.nz or phone 07 579 5150. Or you can check out my website: www.janenees.co.nz