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Planning Bill

Foundations - Key instruments - Relationship between national rule and other instruments

39: How instruments are more restrictive or enabling than national rule

You could also call this:

"How local rules can be stricter or more lenient than national rules"

You will learn how some rules can be more restrictive or enabling than national rules. This is for sections 40 to 43 of the Planning Bill. You need to understand what this means for the law. You can think of an instrument as being more restrictive than a national rule if it classifies an activity more strictly, imposes extra conditions, or prohibits something that is allowed. This helps you see how instruments can affect what you can and cannot do. It is part of the proposed Planning Bill. An instrument can also be more enabling than a national rule if it allows something that is not normally permitted. This means you might be able to do something that you could not do before. It is good to know how instruments can change the rules. In this context, an instrument refers to a range of things like rules in plans, planning consents, or bylaws. These are all types of rules that can affect you. You should be aware of what they can do.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1546492.

This page was last updated on 12 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Environment and resources > Town planningGovernment and voting > Local councils

38: Permitted activity rules, or

"Rules for activities that are allowed in your area"

40: Relationship between national rules and plan rules, or

"How local rules can override national rules in planning"

Part 2Foundations
Key instruments: Relationship between national rule and other instruments

39How instruments are more restrictive or enabling than national rule

This section applies for the purpose of sections 40 to 43.
An instrument is more restrictive than a national rule if it does 1 or more of the following:
classify an activity more restrictively than the national rule:
impose conditions on an activity that the national rule does not impose or authorise:
prohibit or restrict an activity that the national rule permits or authorises.

An instrument is more enabling than a national rule if it permits or authorises an activity that the national rule prohibits or restricts.
In this section, an instrument means a rule in a plan, rule in a proposed plan that has legal effect, a planning consent, a designation, a construction project plan, or a bylaw.