The appointment of Mr Jeremy Lightfoot as Secretary and Chief Executive for the new Ministry for Cities, Environment, Regions and Transport has been announced, a position he will hold from 27 April for five years. Mr Lightfoot is currently Secretary for Corrections and Chief Executive of the Department of Corrections,...
A fundraiser has been started for a Court of Appeal hearing on 15 April to challenge the reinstatement of a resource consent to fell 278 trees on Ōtāhuhu Mt Richmond. Costs were covered in full by the community for the successful judicial review in 2023 where the High Court cancelled...
No. 245 Ponsonby Road (pictured) was demolished on 7 March. Ponsonby Heritage commented on their Facebook page: “Surely this was an excellent candidate for relocation …. For those interested to see just what structures are protected by being scheduled – this is the list of Heritage items: there are only...
EDS has lodged its final submission on the Planning Bill and Natural Environment Bill, including detailed tracked-change drafting to address significant weaknesses in the legislation. “This is the most significant and complex environmental law reform in decades. There is no more appetite for constant legislative upheaval, so the framework must...
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga is running the Documenting Our Heritage photo competition for Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland. Photographers of all skill levels are invited to capture Heritage New Zealand listed places across Auckland. Submissions are open until Friday 13 March. Categories: Best Overall, Best Junior (17 and under), and Popular...
The project is progressing steadily and is currently at the final stage of the Detailed Design phase. Documentation required to support the Building Consent (BC) application is being compiled, with the BC application anticipated to be lodged in February. Resource Consent has been successfully obtained. Soft demolition works and temporary...
Plan Change 113 was officially withdrawn on Friday 12 December 2025. PC113 sought to provide greater protection to trees that had been identified as having significant historical, botanical or amenity values. It proposed adding 174 new individual trees and 29 new groups of trees to the Auckland Unitary Plan’s Notable...
The Environmental Defence Society is pleased to see that the government is no longer pursuing several terrible proposed amendments to the Fast-track Approvals Act. It has released an Amendment Paper to the Fast-track Approvals Amendment Bill today which strikes through most of the bad ideas. Independent decision-making Panels still have...
The government has today introduced legislation to parliament to replace the Resource Management Act 1991. There are two Bills – a Natural Environment Bill and a Planning Bill – a split which marks an abrupt end to more than three decades of integrated environmental management under the RMA. Collectively, they...
Recent weeks have seen ecocide law reach the UN Security Council, the Vatican, and the climate COP’s opening ceremony. International law is now evolving to meet the crisis it should have prevented. Ecocide law was raised three times during the UN Security Council’s session on environmental impact of armed conflict and climate-driven security risks,...