Package deal 1: Infrastructure and improvement The proposed Nationwide Coverage Assertion on Infrastructure (NPS-I)
Background “The Authorities is proposing a brand new and amended nationwide route to enhance the operation of the useful resource administration system underneath the Useful resource Administration Act 1991 (RMA). An up to date nationwide route is required to set national-level useful resource administration coverage and guidelines that inform regional and native plans, coverage statements and useful resource consent selections. Nationwide route includes nationwide coverage statements, nationwide environmental requirements, nationwide planning requirements and laws made underneath part 360 of the RMA.”
As New Zealand redefines its planning frameworks, the proposed Nationwide Coverage Assertion on Infrastructure (NPS-I) offers a vital alternative to reframe infrastructure not merely as a supply device however as a strategic driver of fairness, resilience, and high quality city environments.By offering a extra coherent and enabling coverage setting for infrastructure improvement, the NPS-I creates potential alternatives for constructed setting design professionals to contribute to well-planned, resilient, and sustainable infrastructures that help communities and the pure setting. Nonetheless, we must always proceed to advocate for stronger, specific mandates for design excellence, the mixing of Te Ao Māori and Te Aranga Design Rules, and strong frameworks for environmental safety to make sure that “environment friendly” supply additionally means high-quality, enduring, and culturally acceptable infrastructure.In essence, if the NPS-I facilitates sooner supply of disconnected, environmentally impactful infrastructure, it’s a false effectivity. If it actually permits the accelerated supply of culturally resonant, climate-resilient, and community-integrated infrastructure by means of real partnership, then it is going to be a big and welcome step ahead.
My view is that the NPS -I might additional combine and contemplate the next factors:
Infrastructure should be spatially integratedInfrastructure just isn’t merely reactive—it actively shapes city kind and environmental outcomes. The NPS-I have to guarantee alignment with Future Growth Methods (FDS), the NPS on City Growth, and the Authorities Coverage Assertion on Housing and City Growth. This might affirm the infrastructure’s function in supporting well-functioning city environments.
Infrastructure as a public goodToo usually handled as a technical train, infrastructure ought to be reframed as a public good, enabling well being, fairness, and sustainability. The NPS-I ought to require distributional fairness assessments and integration of inexperienced, blue, and civic infrastructure in each area.
Design high quality just isn’t optionalDesign outcomes should be explicitly included in infrastructure decision-making. Public realm planning, inexperienced networks, and connectivity should be built-in in each main mission. The NPS-I ought to make these outcomes a requirement, not an afterthought.
Te Tiriti commitments and part 6(e) should endureWith the repeal of the RMA, the protections of Part 6(e)—recognising Māori relationship with ancestral lands and taonga—should not be misplaced. The NPS-I have to give impact to Article 2 of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and uphold tino rangatiratanga over land, water, and cultural landscapes. Mana whenua should be companions, not stakeholders.
Funding instruments should align with nationwide outcomesSPVs (underneath the Infrastructure Funding and Financing Act 2020) and fast-track consenting can speed up supply, however with out clear coverage alignment, they danger bypassing environmental, social, and Treaty commitments. The NPS-I ought to explicitly require these instruments to show alignment with regional methods, design rules, and iwi engagement.
We’d like a non-partisan city improvement authorityLarge-scale, built-in city improvement can’t be achieved throughout the political cycle alone. New Zealand wants a nationally mandated, non-partisan city improvement authority with long-term powers to coordinate infrastructure, housing, design, and Treaty obligations. This might guarantee initiatives of nationwide significance are guided by enduring values, not short-term politics.
A nationwide spatial plan is criticalNew Zealand lacks a transparent nationwide spatial route. A Nationwide Spatial Plan might make clear the place and when infrastructure and housing ought to be prioritised, how ecosystems and local weather dangers are managed, and the way regional inequities could be addressed. The NPS-I ought to assist lay the inspiration for this type of spatial readability.
Reframing housing as infrastructureIf infrastructure is what permits wellbeing, housing should be recognised as core infrastructure. Housing just isn’t a downstream impact of infrastructure—it’s a part of the system itself. Recognising housing as infrastructure would shift how we fund, finance, and combine it into long-term planning. It will additionally elevate housing to the identical strategic tier as transport, power, and water, particularly in development areas.
ConclusionThe NPS on Infrastructure generally is a visionary doc—one which reorients the system towards integration, sustainability, and public good. Infrastructure is now not simply pipes and roads however a basis for equitable, high-quality communities. Infrastructure is the brand new structure .Any individual could make a submission on the proposal, by means of the hyperlink beneath by both filling out the suggestions kind or by importing your individual written submission. Submissions shut at 11:59 pm on 27 July 2025.
Make your submission right here earlier than 27 July 2025.
