The Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill received Royal assent on 30 September 2026, and the transition to a new resource management system is underway.
The new system will not commence immediately. A transition period starts on 30 October 2026 and will continue for the next four years. During this period, new planning instruments will be prepared, and an amended version of the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) will continue to operate.
At the end of the transition period, the RMA will be repealed, and the new system will become fully operational. The exact end date will be set by Order in Council once regional spatial plans have been decided and land use plans and natural environment plans have been notified. This may happen nationally or region by region.
The diagram below shows an indicative timeline. New planning instruments will be prepared in phases, including national standards which will be issued in stages.
Some changes to the RMA system have already taken effect. For example, the statutory bar on insurance and indemnities has also changed. Previously, the RMA had been amended to make insurance and all indemnities against fines unlawful, whereas now only contracts of insurance that include indemnities against fines are unlawful.
Most amendments to the RMA will take effect when the transition period starts on 30 October 2026. Below explores some of those key changes.
Initial national standards
National standards are among the new planning instruments to be prepared during the transition period. The Minister may identify some of these standards as initial national standards that are relevant to decision-making under the RMA during the transition period. Such standards will operate in a similar way to national environmental standards and will prevail over plans and policy statements prepared under the RMA.
RMA planning instruments
The RMA had already been amended to largely stop councils notifying new or amended plans or regional policy statements until 31 December 2027. This will be extended to the end of the transition period, so that most new planning instruments cannot be prepared under the RMA. The restriction will also apply to private plan changes from 1 January 2028, and councils will not need to carry out their ten-yearly planning reviews during the transition period. There continues to be some exceptions.
Regional spatial plan designations
Regional spatial plans will also be prepared during the transition period, and can incorporate new designations. Any designations confirmed through this process must be incorporated into land use plans prepared under the new system, and existing district plans prepared under the RMA. This allows those designations to operate under the existing RMA system during the transition period.
Procedural principles
The new legislation introduces procedural principles that will eventually replace those in the RMA. Some of these principles will be brought into the RMA during the transition period and will apply to decisions on resource consents and designations. Broadly, these new principles require documents to be succinct and use plain language, guide the level of information required to make decisions, and require decision-makers to act in a pragmatic way that supports practical solutions.
Scope of effects
The Planning Act 2026 narrows the scope of effects that can be managed under the new system. During the transition period, the RMA will be amended to adopt some of those changes in a modified form. As a result, the following adverse effects will be out-of-scope:
(a) any of the following where they relate to residential activities (except in relation to the protection of historic heritage):
(i) the area of glazing:
(ii) the presence or absence of balconies:
(iii) the outdoor living space:
(iv) the internal layout:
(v) the size of a residential unit:
(vi) the size of landscaped areas (except in relation to permeability):
(b) negative effects of development on trade competition, including on competing providers of input goods and services:
(c) effects on retail distribution:
(d) in relation to a project,
(i) any lack of demand for the project; or
(ii) the fact that the project is not financially viable:
(e) the type of residents to be housed in a new development:
(f) views from private property.
These effects will no longer be managed under the RMA during the transition period. Regional and district plans can be amended to remove the out-of-scope effects, and they will not be assessed during consent and designation processes. Where an activity needs consent due to non-compliance with rules regulating an out-of-scope effect, the consent authority can give notice that the activity is permitted.
Resource consents and designations
New resource consent applications and notices of requirement will be processed under the amended RMA and brought through to the new system. The Fast-track Approvals Act will continue to operate during the transition period.
Subject to some exceptions for wastewater networks and consents that relate to water, the duration of expiring resource consents was automatically extended under the Resource Management (Duration of Consents) Amendment Act 2025 to 31 December 2027. The new legislation increases that extension to two years after the end of the transition period, and enables regulations to increase the extension for a further two years.
New enforcement tools
The new legislation introduces new enforcement tools, including adverse publicity orders, civil penalties, and monetary benefit orders. The RMA will continue to be enforced during the transition period, but authorities will also be able to use adverse publicity orders for non-compliance. Essentially, requiring offenders to publicly disclose their non-compliance.
The Environment Court continues during the transition period, and the new Planning Tribunal will be established. Once it is set up, objections to decisions made under the RMA will be determined by the Planning Tribunal.
If you have any questions about this article, please get in touch with the contacts listed or your usual Bell Gully Adviser.
Disclaimer: This publication is necessarily brief and general in nature. You should seek professional advice before taking any action in relation to the matters dealt with in this publication.
