Activity #:
Activity Title:
4c - Resource Management Act
(RMA) basics
(Parts of this activity were adapted from Cubitt, Irvine and Dow, Top Tools for
Social Science Teachers, 2000)
Learning outcome(s):
 Explore the fundamentals of the RMA and its role in the
planning and decision-making process.
Key words:
Resource Management Act (RMA) 1991
Materials:
 Copies of the RMA PowerPoint(see PowerPoints folder)
 RMA basics worksheet
Approximate time required:
Activities are broken into 20 minute segments. Each numbered
activity below takes approximately 20 minutes. Completing all
activities in this topic will take approximately an hour.
Suggested prior learning:
1a Western Bay of Plenty sub-region – Population change over
time
2e Urban change and design – accommodating growing housing
demand
4a How natural and cultural geography inform our planning for
growth
Possible learning activities:
NOTE: Review the PowerPoint slides (see PowerPoints folder)
before showing them to students.
Bus Stop Activity
1. Print out PowerPoint slides (one per page). In this activity
students rotate around the room reviewing and answering
questions from six sets of slides (bus stops). Create 6 ‘bus
stops’ around the room. At each ‘bus stop’ place one of the
following sets of slides: RMA Intro (slides 5 and 6); resource
consents (slides 7-9); and types activities (slides 10 and 11)
and the consent process (slide 12); how decisions are made
(slide 13) and who is involved (slides 14 and 15). In groups
students rotate around each ‘bus stop’ answering the
questions on the RMA basics worksheet (see next page).
4c
Activity Title:
RMA basics
Curriculum Level:
Level 8 (can be adapted for
Level 6 and 7)
Curriculum Links:
Social Science
Achievement objective
8.2 Understand how
people’s diverse values
and perceptions influence
the environment, social and
economic decisions and
responses that they make.
Curriculum:
Key competencies:
Thinking
Principles:
Future focussed
Values:
Community and
participation
Geographic Key
Concepts:
Processes
Geographic skills:
Valuing skills
Māori geographic
concepts:
Tino rangatiratanga;
Kaitiakitanga; Taonga
Assessment
opportunities:
Geography Achievement
Standards: 3.3; 3.6
Sustainability tip!
Laminate
slides.
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2. Share and discuss the answers from each group for this activity as a class.
Complete the true false quiz on slide 16.
Group critique / brainstorm
3. This is an attention-directing activity which asks students to examine the
advantages and disadvantages of the Resource Management Act. Write
the following statement on the whiteboard: ‘whoever owns the land can
use it for any purpose they wish without obtaining resource consent’.
Underneath this draw three columns labelled Plus, Minus,
Interesting/Intriguing. As a class brainstorm comments to place under
each of the headings. Once all ideas are exhausted, what is the overall
conclusion regarding the nature of the RMA? Is it useful or a hindrance?
Additional resources / activities:
 Ministry for the Environment. 2009. Getting in on the Act – An Everyday
Guide to the RMA. MfE. Wellington (see PDF files).
 Have students simulate a resource consent application where they have to
apply for a resource consent, obtain the paper work, complete the
assessment of environmental effects etc…..
Follow-on activities (found elsewhere in this resource):
4d RMA internet quiz
4e RMA ‘fly swat’ quiz
176
RMA basics worksheet
RMA 1991 Intro
1. Which section describes the purpose of the Act?
2. What two words summarise the purpose of the Act according to this
section?
3. Fill in the gaps in the following (taken directly from the Act):
‘___________________ ___________________’ is defined in the RMA
as: “managing the use, development and protection of natural and physical
resources in a way, or at a ___________________, which enables people
and communities to provide for their ___________________,
___________________, and ___________________well-being and for
their health and safety while(a) Sustaining the potential of ___________________and physical
resources to meet the
reasonably foreseeable needs of ___________________generations; and
(b) Safeguarding the ___________________capacity of air, water, soil
ecosystems; and
(c) Avoiding, remedying or mitigating any adverse
___________________of activities on the environment.”
4. Under the RMA who are the ‘local authorities’?
5. What is required if you want to do something that is not allowed under the
Act?
177
Resource Consents
1. Who issues resource consents?
2. When would a land use be required?
3. True or false? Subdivision consents: are required for any subdivision of
land which infringes a rule in a District Plan (almost all subdivisions need a
subdivision consent)
4. Fill in the gaps: ___________________permits: are required for
___________________, using, damming or ___________________water,
or heat or energy from water, where these activities are not expressly
provided for as a permitted activity in a Regional Plan (activities that might
require a water permit include diverting the flow of a river for irrigation or
building a dam for water retention)
5. True or false? Coastal permits are sometimes needed for activities in the
coastal marine area (which is basically defined as the area below the low
tide mark) which is not expressly provided for as a permitted activity in a
district plan (examples of activities that typically require a coastal permit
are erecting a jetty, building a marina, dredging the sea floor).
178
Types of activities
1. What plans describe what a developer can and can’t do?
2. How many types of activity labels are there under the RMA 1991?
3. True or false? Permitted activities: are those where a consent is always
required and there will be some stipulations on how the activity is
conducted.
4. For which three types of activity label are you most likely to need a
resource consent?
5. Fill in the gap: ___________________activities: are not allowed and no
consent can be applied for.
179
Consent process
1. Draw a simple flow chart of the consent process. Your diagram should
start with the application and finish with the decision by council (successful
or unsuccessful).
180
How decisions are made
1. Which sections of the Act are particularly important for decision makers
when making decisions about consent applications under the Act?
2. Which of these sections is most important for decision makers as it states
the overall purpose of the Act?
3. What is the purpose of sections 104 and 105 of the Act?
4. True or false? Under sections 104 and 105 decision makers must have
regard to any actual or potential effects on the environment.
5. Fill in the gaps:Sections 104 and 105 of the Act include the following
matters which the authority must have regard to include:
• Any relevant provision of a ___________________environmental
standard, other regulations, a national policy statement including the
New Zealand Coastal Policy Statement, the
___________________policy statement and any proposed regional
policy statement
•
Any relevant provisions of applicable ___________________or
proposed plans
•
Any ___________________matters the consent authority considers
relevant and reasonably necessary to determine the application
181
Who is involved, and getting involved?
1. Under the RMA which three agencies have a key role to play in the
management of the environment?
2. Which of these agencies do you think might be responsible for processing
and making decisions on resource consents?
3. Which other two organisations have a key function under the Act?
4. Look at the diagram ‘getting involved in the consent process’ and answer
the following three questions: (a) When does consultation occur and what
is ‘consultation’?
(b) Where are consent applications publicly notified?
(c) At what point can a public submission be made?
(d) Give an example of when someone might want to make a public
submission?
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Po
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4c RMA
A Basic
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(No
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