The role of central government in resource management : less extraordinary under the Resource Management Act 1991?

Abstract

This thesis examines the relative roles of central and local government in resource management in New Zealand over time and as they have evolved to the present day. Prior to the Resource Management Act, a fragmented and poorly integrated body of resource management legislation was implemented by a myriad of disjointed and ad hoc local government bodies, with central government playing an increasingly dominant, but mostly inconsistent role. The insufficient and disparate conventional run of resource management therefore led or allowed central government to intervene in decision-making as a means to remedy limitations, perceived problems or gaps in the law. The resource management law reform, as part of wider government restructuring sought to address these deficiencies, and an all-encompassing review led to the enactment of the Resource Management Act 1991.

The Resource Management Act created an integrated planning framework, with active management responsibilities devolved to a reformed and reorganized local government. This devolution was balanced against a recognition- clearly manifest in the Act- that central government should continue to play a key role in resource management decision-making on a day-to-day basis. Thus central government "ordinary" activity was anticipated and provided for by the Act. However, this thesis argues that the pervasive failure of central government to adequately fulfil this role has undermined the aim of the Act, and impacted negatively on the quality and success of planning at the subordinate levels. Furthermore, this has enabled or forced central government to intervene in resource management decision-making in unnecessarily extraordinary ways.