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Natural Environment Bill

Foundations - National instruments - National instruments

72: National instrument may direct plan provisions in natural environment plans

You could also call this:

"A national rule can guide local councils on environment plan rules"

Illustration for Natural Environment Bill

A new law is being proposed that says a national instrument can tell regional councils what to include in their natural environment plans. You will be affected by this if you live in an area with a regional council that has to follow these plans. The national instrument can say what provisions the council must include in its plan. The national instrument can also give the council some choices, like where to apply a provision or which provision to use. You can think of provisions like rules that help keep the environment safe. The council might be able to choose from a few different options, or decide not to include a provision at all. The proposed law also says that the national instrument can include rules about how the council should include a provision in its plan. If you want to know more about how this works, see section 95, which talks about what councils can and cannot do with standardised provisions. This is all part of a bigger plan to protect the natural environment in New Zealand.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=LMS1551599.

This page was last updated on 14 December 2025 — View changes

Topics:

Environment and resources > ConservationEnvironment and resources > Town planningGovernment and voting > Local councils

71: Regional council must implement national instrument, or

"Regional councils must follow new national rules and update their plans to match"

73: Withdrawal of proposed national instrument, or

"The Minister can cancel a proposed rule at any time before it's approved."

Part 2Foundations
National instruments: National instruments

72National instrument may direct plan provisions in natural environment plans

A national instrument may contain direction relating to the inclusion of plan provisions in a natural environment plan or proposed plan. A direction—
may require or authorise a regional council to include a plan provision contained in the national instrument itself; or
may authorise a regional council to include a plan provision prepared by the regional council.

For the purpose of subsection (1)(a), a national instrument may—
contain a plan provision—
1. that the regional council must include in its natural environment plan; and
2. in relation to which the regional council has no discretion to determine its spatial application; or
contain a plan provision in relation to which the regional council may do 1 or more of the following:
1. determine the spatial application of the provision:
2. select the provision from 2 or more alternatives set out in the national instrument:
3. determine any content specified by the national instrument but only from within parameters set out in that instrument:
4. choose not to include the provision.

A national instrument may include substantive or procedural requirements about how a regional council may include a plan provision required or authorised under this section.
See section 95 (which provides that a regional council must not amend a standardised provision).