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The Environment Committee at Parliament has received two submissions from the Urban Design Forum on each of the two bills that would go towards replacing the Resource Management Act:
- The Natural and Built Environment Bill – Submission PDF here.
- The Spatial Planning Bill – Submission PDF here.
Both are also accessible in the UDF Submissions Archive.
In addition a pre-submission briefing to the Committee on 7 February is available to view here: https://fb.watch/iNkvm5bDvm/
The Natural and Built Environment Bill submission was a combined effort between David Hattam, Ekin Sakin, Eva Zombori, George Weeks, Graeme Scott, Farzad Zamani and Lisa Mein. Thanks for drafting the Spatial Planning Bill submission goes to Jos Coolen and Tim Church.
‘HEADLINE’ SUMMARIES
The Spatial Planning Bill submission challenges the lack of clarity between the various pieces of legislation and their hierarchy. It calls out the conflicting diagrams currently provided (from the Ministry for the Environment – Initial briefing). The UDF’s recommended replacement is:Â
An at-a-glance extraction of the chosen headings and challenges put to the Environment Committee for improving the Natural and Built Environment Bill is:
- Where is the Built Environment in the ‘Natural and Built’ Environment Act?
- Purpose: Clarify and strengthen the purpose of the Bill to include national aspirations
- System outcomes must be prioritised
- Urban environments must integrate the natural and the built
- Reduction of emissions or ample land supply? | Section 5(c)(ii)
- ‘Built Environment and Urban Environment’, rather than ‘Urban Area’ | Section 5(c) Well-functioning urban and rural areas
- Quality must be an outcome sought for the urban environment
- Quality, the inseparable partner of density (Quantity)
- The case for Quality: Quality is not a matter of taste in context of the Urban Environment
- A note on the Building Act
- Limits and Targets needed for the Built Environment | Part 3 – National Planning Framework, Environmental Limits and Targets
- Missing Key Reference in the Bill: Urban Design must be referenced
- Collaboration between New Zealand’s Built Environment professionals.
UDF Member comments are welcomed.
