Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment - Te Kaitiaki Taiao a Te Whare Pāremata

A review of the environmental planning and management carried out to ensure the sustainable development of peri-urban areas in New Zealand. The report highlights the complexity and variety of approaches adopted and seriously questions the adequacy and effectiveness of these in achieving desirable environmental outcomes.

Commissioner's preface

I am convinced that we have a very serious sustainable development challenge around our towns and cities, where there is a continuing push outward into the low-density "peri-urban areas". The tensions are not simply about the process of subdivision, or the way people are occupying the land in greater numbers. They are also about the pattern of development in these environments.

Executive summary

In July 2000 the Parliamentary Commissioner for the Environment reported on an enquiry into a series of issues arising from actions taken by the Waitakere City Council to implement the Resource Management Act 1991 with respect to the subdivision of land in the Waitakere Ranges.

The enquiry indicated that the environmental planning and management systems for ensuring the sustainable development of peri-urban areas with significant natural heritage, landscape and cultural heritage values were perceived by parts of the community to be inadequate. This raised the possibility that the current environmental planning and management systems may not be effective in retaining these values. As a result, it was decided to carry out a more detailed investigation to see whether the issues highlighted by the Waitakere Ranges investigation applied in peri-urban areas generally.

What are peri-urban areas?

In the context of this investigation, the term "peri-urban" is used to describe areas that are in some form of transition from strictly rural to urban. These areas often form the immediate urban: rural interface, and may eventually evolve into being fully urban. Peri-urban areas are places where people are key components - they are lived-in environments. The majority are on the fringe of established urban areas, but they may also be clusters of residential development within rural landscapes.

This investigation has chosen to focus on peri-urban areas that have significant ecological, biodiversity, landform, natural character, landscape and/or cultural heritage values. These values intensify the pressures on these areas, illuminating the issues more clearly. Six case studies are included: the Wakatipu Basin, Queenstown; Waiheke Island, Auckland; the Waitakere Ranges, Waitakere City; Long Bay-Okura, North Shore City; Banks Peninsula, Canterbury; and the Pauatahanui Inlet and catchment, Porirua.

Sustainable development

This investigation has reviewed the effectiveness of environmental planning and management carried out by public authorities in terms of its capacity to promote the sustainable development of peri-urban areas. In this report, sustainable development is acknowledged as a process of evolutionary improvement rather than a defined state.

Environmental management and planning of peri-urban area

The environmental management and planning framework surrounding peri-urban areas is complex. There are a number of agencies employing a range of statutory and non-statutory instruments to promote the sustainable development of peri-urban areas. This investigation highlights this variety of approaches to environmental planning and management.

Conclusions & recommendations

The effectiveness of the planning processes evaluated in the case studies varied considerably. Effectiveness tended to equate to the quality and quantity of the inputs: inadequate inputs led to inadequate outputs while adequate inputs sometimes led to acceptable outputs. In all cases the long-term environmental outcomes are at best unclear or problematic, and at worst very probably poor.

The investigation highlights a range of issues that seem to be compromising the effectiveness of the environmental planning and management processes.

• There is a limited capacity of the planning processes to identify and manage tensions and conflicts.
• Local and regional communities feel there has been poor leadership from national agencies.
• Local vision and leadership has at times been inconsistent, subject to re-litigation and lacking in long-term consensus.
• Institutional capacity to promote the sustainable development, both intellectual and financial, is variable.
• There is a tendency to rely on the RMA (district plans) as the primary tool for managing the sustainability of peri-urban areas.
• Accountability for agencies carrying out statutory responsibilities adequately is weak.
• Baseline resource information is not particularly good.
• Tangata whenua do not feature strongly in the debates.
• Capability to define and manage cumulative effects is variable and the tools to do so are weak.
• Monitoring of implementation and environmental outcomes is not particularly good.

The investigation has thrown up far more troubling questions than answers. It is clear that planning for the sustainable development of peri-urban areas is complex and approaches vary considerably around New Zealand. It is less clear which of these various approaches, if any, will lead to more sustainable development and retain the characteristics and 'sense of place 'valued by the community while allowing some development to occur.

Evidence from this investigation suggests there is reason to be concerned that the current system of environmental management and planning may not be capable of promoting the sustainable development of peri-urban areas. However, given the number of questions thrown up by the investigation, we considered it inappropriate to be offering solutions at this stage. Instead, we considered it would be more useful to identify key questions, and thereby stimulate debate around a range of possible solutions and set an agenda for on going dialogue.

Finally, this report makes a recommendation to the Minister for the Environment to undertake a substantive review of experience to date in preparing the first generation of plans prepared under the RMA.The purpose of this review would be to ensure that lessons learned are available for the preparation of the next generation of plans. As a result, the implementation of the RMA could be expected to improve, leading to improved environment outcomes. A review should also identify the full range of factors affecting implementation of the RMA and identify solutions. It should address the questions raised by this investigation because they are relevant to the whole spectrum of environmental management, not just peri-urban areas.