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Planning Bill

Foundations - Core provisions for decision making

15: Considering adverse effects of activities

You could also call this:

"Thinking about how to reduce harm to the environment from activities"

Illustration for Planning Bill

When you are looking at how an activity will affect the environment, you must think about how to avoid or reduce any negative effects. You should try to fix any problems that might happen, if it is possible to do so. If you cannot avoid negative effects, you should think about how to balance them out. A national instrument can provide guidance on how to manage negative effects. It can say how and when to avoid or reduce negative effects, and when to balance them out. It can also explain when it is reasonable to expect negative effects to be slight or barely noticeable. You do not have to consider very small negative effects unless they add up to make a bigger problem. The order of steps to manage effects does not mean some steps are more important than others. A negative effect is considered 'less than minor' if it is acceptable and does not make a big change to the environment.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1557642.

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Part 2Foundations
Core provisions for decision making

15Considering adverse effects of activities

  1. A person exercising or performing a function, duty, or power under this Act who is considering the effects of an activity—

  2. must consider how—
    1. adverse effects are to be avoided, minimised, or remedied, where practicable; or
      1. adverse effects are to be offset or compensated for, where appropriate; and
      2. must not consider a less than minor adverse effect unless the cumulative effect of 2 or more such effects create effects that are greater than less than minor.

        1. A national instrument may specify—

        2. how, and in what order, adverse effects are to be avoided, minimised, or remedied, offset, or compensated; and
          1. when it is practicable for adverse effects to be avoided, minimised, or remedied; and
            1. when it is appropriate for adverse effects to be offset or compensated; and
              1. where specific effects are managed under this Act and under the Natural Environment Act 2025.

                1. The order in which an approach to managing effects appears in this section does not assign an order of importance to how effects are managed.

                2. In this section, a less than minor adverse effect means an adverse effect that is acceptable and reasonable in the receiving environment with any change being slight or barely noticeable.