There is one particular quote from Upton that stands out.
“Keeping things simple and focused is the best way you can protect against this Act becoming a lawyers paradise,” he said.
That’s an irony, I’m sure, that is not lost on anybody who has been involved in an RMA process, given how this imperfect system is steadily becoming more unfair and biased.
If you have deep pockets, can afford specialist RMA legal representation and have a tenacity to see things through to the bitter end you might get the outcome you want though it’s not always easy to pick a winner.
I’m reasonably sure that after 12 Environment Court decisions and more than 10 years of costs, stress and delays no parties in the Mackenzie District Council’s Plan Change 13 saga felt like winners.
In August 2017, it was reported that stoush had cost Mackenzie ratepayers more than $1.2 million. Mackenzie District has a small ratepayer base and huge infrastructure issues, largely because of tourism, which has them repeatedly looking to central government to help cover costs, aka taxpayers’ money.
While this is perhaps an extreme example it is, sadly, not a one-off.
Stage one of the Queenstown Lakes District Council’s District Plan review had more than 100 Environment Court appeals lodged and more than 1125 s274 notices to join those appeals. More than a year will be spent on mediation and hearings and we are still to see out stages 2, 3 and 4.
You might think that doesn’t affect you, however, if you’re a ratepayer that’s your money being spent on council staff, expertise, evidence and travel time and it’s all money not being used for roading, water and the other services councils provide.
Non-local groups and non-government organisations can also undermine the spending ability of your rates money.
The West Coast Regional Council’s Regional Policy Statement Environment Court mediation is about to begin.
Forest and Bird submitted and further submitted during the consultation, as anyone has the right to do.
However, it did not attend the hearing or submit evidence so by then appealing against the decision it is making a mockery of a local process and wasting council resources, aka ratepayer money, not to mention the resources of those parties who duly followed the appropriate process.
Is your Forest and Bird subscription and/or donation actually going to protect the penguins or is it funding the lawyers and experts in an RMA process elsewhere in the country?
Inundating the RMA process with cut-and-paste submissions also achieves nothing but more resource wastage.
That approach was well used by Fish and Game in the Lindis Integrated Water Management Process in Otago.
As part of that process, Fish and Game encouraged its supporters nationwide to lodge pro forma templates based on the organisation’s views and swamped the case with anti-farming messages.
Another example of the broken system is that even if a party has not submitted on a consultation it is possible to join an appeal if it can be shown to the court the party has an interest greater than the public in general.
At Feds what we’ve seen with a number of plan reviews across the country is that so much time, resources and money are spent on fighting cases that often the workability or practicality is lost when it comes to final plan wording.
But, by then, all the consultants, lawyers and planners have climbed back onto their planes and jetted away and local councils, farmers and communities are left with trying to implement plans that are often quite unworkable.
The RMA system should be about finding local solutions for local people.
It is an environmental statute and its original intent was voiced by Upton in that video to councillors:
“You have to develop a meaning for sustainable management for your area,” he said.
The RMA has grown into an unpredictable behemoth, which supports an ever-growing support system of lawyers, planners, experts and the like.
Sadly, it shows no signs of being reined back in line with its founding principle, that being for local councils to promote the sustainable management of natural and physical resources, enabling people and communities to provide for their social, economic and cultural wellbeing.
