Category: Submissions

The NZ Parliament Environment Committee is calling for public submissions on the Fast-track Approvals Amendment Bill.

The bill would amend the Fast-track Approvals Act 2024. The bill seeks to:

• amend the Act to improve certainty that grocery retail competition is a relevant factor in deciding whether a project has significant regional or national benefits, with the aim of improving competition in the grocery sector.
• make technical and operational changes to the fast-track approvals process aimed at improving the efficiency of the process by reducing time frames, duplication, and unnecessary costs, and providing clarity for applicants to the fast-track approvals process by addressing ambiguities.

Under Local Water Done Well, the Government has said the way we manage water services (drinking water, wastewater and stormwater) in Aotearoa needs to change. This is the most important decision we’ll make for our city in decades – we need to change the way water services are delivered in our region, and we want to hear your views.

Proposed Plan Change 1 to the Natural Resources Plan (PC1) is currently paused effective from 26 June 2025. The plan change process will resume when there is greater certainty on the direction of the amended National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (which may be post-Cabinet decisions and prior to gazettal).