Published: Friday, 30 May 2025 | Rāmere, 30 Haratua, 2025
What’s happening?
We are working to make it easier for papakāinga to be developed so more whānau are able to experience the benefits of living in warm, dry healthy homes in connection with their land and with each other.
To do this, we’ve worked with Māori planning and papakāinga development experts on a proposed change under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA).
The proposal is for a new National Environment Standard for Papakāinga (NES-P).
If accepted, the NES-P would reduce consenting inconsistencies, remove planning restrictions, and make consenting less costly and complex. For papakāinga of up to 10 homes on whenua Māori, no resource consent would be required.
The new NES-P is part of a series of changes being proposed to the RMA.
The Ministry for the Environment is running the public consultation on the NES-P proposal. Te Puni Kōkiri is encouraging all Māori landowners, iwi and hapū to provide feedback on the proposed NES-P before 27 July 2025.
Why do we want to make these changes?
The proposals are intended to make it easier for Māori to build papakāinga on their ancestral land. This will enable landowners to provide better housing options for whānau and unlock opportunities for their whenua.
Currently some district plan rules only allow for one home per property, particularly in rural areas. Other districts have rules to enable papakāinga - but there is variability across the country with some rules more enabling than others. This means that Māori landowners may have to go through long and costly consent processes to develop papakāinga or may not be able to develop papakāinga at all.
The proposed NES-P will reduce bureaucracy and make it easier for Māori landowners to develop papakāinga, giving them more options for whānau housing.
If the NES-P is accepted, consenting standards would become uniform across the country, regardless of which district plan the land falls under, and small-scale (up to 10 homes) papakāinga would no longer require resource consent.
How can people find out what is proposed and provide their feedback?
We have prepared a short summary of the proposals.
To submit feedback and view the full discussion document go to the Ministry for the Environment website
If you have questions send them to ndprogramme@mfe.govt.nz
Te Puni Kōkiri will host hui so those interested can attend to hear more about the proposals and ask questions about the proposed change.
The dates for the hui will be published shortly.
What happens after the consultation?
Te Puni Kōkiri and the Ministry for the Environment will analyse the feedback received and use it to inform the final proposed NES-P. We will also provide a report summarising the feedback (submissions) received.
We will then provide a final proposal to the Minister for Resource Management Reform.
If the Minister decides to accept the final proposal, the NES-P will be signed-off by the Governor General and take immediate effect.
This is planned for late 2025.