Agency should 'speed' consent process

Environment Minister Nick Smith hopes the new Environment Protection Agency will speed up the process for large consents.

The Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Act came into effect late last week, after National, Labour, United and ACT voted in favour of the bill.

Dr Smith told The Herald he introduced the bill with the intent of "simplifying" an act he believed was "overly cumbersome".

He said the EPA's establishment would alleviate the burdensome process by enabling the Government to "call in" projects of national significance.

According to the act, the EPA would deal with consents that could contribute to changes to the environment, use a lot of natural resources or are likely to involve more than one region.

Dr Smith expected about 20 projects each year could fall under the category. Large infrastructure projects such as prisons could also qualify as "projects of national significance", he said. "There is currently a large backlog of consents which affect more than one region, and may require the expertise of people who might not necessarily work within council," he said.

"You find with a lot of these major projects that they end up going to the Environment Court anyway, so we should start being upfront about this, rather than having a cumbersome two-step process," Dr Smith said.

"The irrigation projects going on in Canterbury and South Canterbury are a classic example of this."

District or regional councils would be able to appoint at least two local representatives to the EPA to oversee the consent process.

Dr Smith was concerned that consents handling had become "too devolved".

"You have more than 80 local authorities that deal with consents. When projects get called into the EPA, regional and district councils will take on a submission and advisory role, rather than an enforcement and administration one."

The Resource Management (Simplifying and Streamlining) Amendment Act was only the first stage of a "major overhaul". Dr Smith hoped the EPA would take on a greater legislative role, particularly in regards to emissions targets.

Environment Canterbury chief executive Bryan Jenkins said he awaited details on how the EPA would work, but did not foresee it greatly affecting regional councils' roles or responsibilities.

- © Fairfax NZ News