The major overhaul of the Resource Management Act (RMA) introduces two replacement laws: the Planning Bill, focused on enabling development and land use, and the Natural Environment Bill, dealing with environmental protection and management. We’re now at the start of a process that will probably take four years before the new bills become fully operational and embedded in law.

What will this mean for farmers?

This is great news for farmers. One of the major benefits is that you’ll need fewer consents. The idea is that more activities, such as farming land use, will largely become permitted activities. This will significantly reduce delays, red tape and costs. Because no consent will likely be required for farming, it is likely that more emphasis will be put on Freshwater Farm Plans and the auditing process. As such, there is potential for compliance costs to increase, although this should not be significant, compared to the costs that have been incurred with securing consents.

With more emphasis on Freshwater Farm Plans, there may be the opportunity for farmers to have a greater part to play in the formulation of these plans and how resources are managed at a localised level. Because there will be more national standards – meaning central government will put tighter controls on what local authorities can do – it is vital that communities have a say in how limits are set and how resources are managed. We need to ensure that this process does not result in “one size fits all” limits and controls being put in place at a national level. To assist with this, it will be important that we have a clear understanding of catchments. This means gathering pertinent information, records and data so this can feed into this process.

Another benefit should be that the consents that are still required for activities related to farming should be easier to secure, costs should be lower and the time taken to obtain a consent should reduce. This is because the limit-setting process should have been done during the creation of Regional Plans, and if applying for an activity within those limits the process should be straight forward.

In addition to these two replacement laws, an additional law has been passed, called the Resource Management (Duration of Consents) Amendment Act. This automatically extends existing consent expiry dates to two years after the end of the transition period for the new planning system. Based on current expectations, this means most expiring consents will be extended to around 2031. However, the same length of extension is not provided if it means that the duration of a water consent extends beyond 35 years.

Applications to renew consents can still be made during the transition period, which will be important for some farmers. For example, Aqualinc are already dealing with replacement consent applications where the applicant wants to carry on with the application process because there is potential to sell the farm in the next few years. In situations like this, where there is a need for certainty of consented activities, some will decide to push on with consent replacements despite the opportunity to extend the existing consent.

These RMA reforms represent a transformative recalibration: seeking the right balance between enabling on‑farm development and upholding environmental stewardship. For farmers, the promise is a system that’s simpler, faster, and fairer—with resource consents for many routine activities becoming a thing of the past.

If you have any questions or concerns regarding these changes, contact your preferred and trusted advisor.

Resource Consents & Compliance On-Farm Water Management