The Planning Bill and the replacement of the RMA

The Planning Bill will replace the parts of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) that deal with land use and subdivision. It passed its third reading in Parliament on 22 September 2026 and, as at the date of this guide, is awaiting Royal Assent. The RMA continues to apply to resource consent applications until the new system takes effect.

Status of the Bill

The Planning Bill and the Natural Environment Bill were introduced on 9 December 2025 and passed their third readings on 22 September 2026. Together they will replace the RMA. The Planning Bill deals with the use, development and subdivision of land. The Natural Environment Bill provides for natural environment plans, which will sit alongside the new land use plans in each region.

This guide is based on the text of the Bill as reported from the committee of the whole House on 25 August 2026, which is the latest version published on the New Zealand Legislation website. The section numbers in a Bill usually change when it becomes an Act, so this guide does not refer to them. It will be updated once the Act and its commencement dates are published.

Purpose

The purpose stated in the Bill is "to provide for the enjoyment of land by establishing a framework for planning and regulating the use and development of land".

The Bill also sets out goals that the key planning instruments must seek to achieve. They include ensuring that land use does not unreasonably affect others, enabling economic growth and the use and development of land, creating well-functioning urban and rural areas, enabling infrastructure, protecting identified natural character, outstanding natural features and landscapes and significant historic heritage from inappropriate development, safeguarding against natural hazard risks, and providing for Māori interests. The Bill states that the goals are not listed in order of importance, and that a planning instrument is not required to achieve every goal in every place at all times.

New planning documents

The key instruments under the Bill are national policy direction, national standards, regional spatial plans and land use plans.

• A regional spatial plan sets "the strategic direction for growth and change in a region for a time frame of 30 years or longer". Every region must have one.
• A land use plan will be prepared for each district, to enable and regulate the use and development of land, including subdivision. Land use plans must include standardised provisions directed by national instruments.
• Each region will have a combined plan, made up of the regional spatial plan, the natural environment plan prepared under the Natural Environment Bill, and the land use plans for the region.

Consents under the new system

Resource consents for land use and subdivision will become planning consents: a land use consent or a subdivision consent.

The Bill provides for four classes of activity: permitted, restricted discretionary, discretionary and prohibited. There are no controlled or non-complying activity classes. Some permitted activity rules may require the activity to be registered.

The Bill lists effects that decision makers must disregard. They include the internal layout of a building, trade competition, the character, appearance and aesthetic qualities of a use, development or building, views from private property, effects on landscapes that are not outstanding or of high natural character, and the effect of setting a precedent.

Notification

The Bill uses targeted notification in place of limited notification. Public notification is required where the applicant requests it, where a rule requires it, or in the other circumstances specified in the Bill. Otherwise, if the council decides that the activity will have, or is likely to have, adverse effects on the built environment that are more than minor, the application is notified to the affected persons, or publicly notified if the affected persons cannot all be identified.

Processing time frames

The Bill sets maximum processing time frames for planning consents, ranging from 45 working days for a non-notified consent without a hearing to 130 working days for a publicly notified consent with a hearing. The time frames are subject to regulations that set out when processing is suspended.

Transition from the RMA

Most of the Bill will not apply to consents straight away. The transition period begins one month after Royal Assent. During that period:

• the RMA continues to apply, with the amendments set out in the Bill;
• a resource consent application lodged during the transition period "must be processed and determined under the RMA as in force at the time the application is lodged"; and
• national instruments will be issued, regional spatial plans prepared and decided, and land use plans prepared.

The amendments to the RMA that take effect one month after Royal Assent include the removal of the step that allows an application to be publicly notified because of special circumstances.

The new system will take effect on a date set by Order in Council, either nationally or region by region, once the regional spatial plans have been decided and the new plans notified. Land use and subdivision consents granted under the RMA that have commenced and are current on that date will be treated as planning consents under the new Act, with the same terms and conditions.

What this means for current projects

For now, resource consent applications are prepared and decided under the RMA and the operative district plan, together with any proposed plan changes that have legal effect, such as the natural hazard rules in Auckland's Plan Change 120. The changes to the RMA that take effect during the transition period should be considered for applications lodged after that date. Existing consents will carry over into the new system.

How RPI can help

RPI can advise on how the transition affects the timing of an application, whether it is better to lodge under the current rules, and how an existing consent will carry over into the new system.

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