PLANNING AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN NEW ZEALAND

Work by planners toward economic growth in New Zealand is shaped by the structure and nature of the planning system and regulations. 

The Resource Management Act adopted in 1993 and amended in 2015 governs the NZ planning system and aims to promote the sustainable management of natural and physical resources.  This Act represented a significant departure from previous – British-style – planning legislation, in that it moved away from land use zoning to establish an ‘effects-based’ system,  in which ‘any land use or activity could be permitted so long as it did not undermine the sustainable management of natural and physical resources (NZ Productivity Commission 2015).  In one sense this Act represented a radical departure from traditional approaches to planning, potentially enabling a more flexible and permissive approach to development.  It set out to break away from conventional British-style land use planning that allocated specified types of activity to designated regions, and instead apply an approach that sought to judge each development on its merits, appropriateness and impacts.

In New Zealand considerable prominence is given to Maori people and their wellbeing in national and regional development. As Davies et al (2005) noted, development for Maori peoples in New Zealand is simultaneously an economic, cultural and political project. It is one with important economic development and planning implications as the Maori make up more than 25 per cent of the population in regions such as the southern part of the South Island, the northern-most part of the North Island (Northland) and around the Bay of Plenty. Unlike other parts of the New World, the Maori retained significant tracts of productive land through colonisation and sustained significant rights under the Treaty of Waitangi of 1840. Critically, issues of Maori development have significant implications for regional wellbeing and advancement, while economic development programs are significant for the Maori in turn.  Economic development for the Maori needs to reflect their values, including their desire to preserve their heritage while moving to improve quality of life and real incomes.  Often this is best achieved by enabling Maori groups to guide and take control of their own economic future and the development of their land and other assets (Harmsworth 1997).

References

Davies, P. Lattimore, R. and Ikin, K. 2005 Maori Economic Development: Overview and Prospects, pp 107-26 in 105 in Rowe, J. (ed) Economic Development in New Zealand, Ashgate, Aldershott.

Harmsworth, G. 1997 Maori Values for Land Use Planning, Newsletter of the New Zealand Association of Resource Management, Feb, pp. 37-52.

OECD 2017 New Zealand, in Land-Use Planning Systems in the OECD: Country Fact Sheets, OECD Publishing, Paris.