Oliver asked me to make the case for the government’s resource management legislation. It should be read in conjunction with Nick Clark’s critique below. I share his concerns, and I expect he’d share some of my hopes.

Under a supportive Minister like Hon Bishop or Hon Twyford, the legislation would enable a more liberal approach to housing and development.

For ages, urban planning has treated competition as though it is a swear word. Competitive urban land markets with abundant development opportunities are now one of the planning system’s many goals.

Many of the rules that stop new apartment towers, subdivisions and supermarkets will disappear.

Currently, proposed supermarkets often must prove they will not hurt the vitality of other neighbourhoods by stealing customers from existing supermarkets. Some councils block new subdivisions by pointing to carbon dioxide emissions in transport that are already regulated by the Emissions Trading Scheme. Those days will be over.

Having the same zoning definitions across different cities will make building easier. A building allowed in one city will generally be allowed in a part of another city that has the same zoning. Under a supportive Minister, the system could be built on foundations of liberal mixed-use zoning, with more kinds of activities allowed in more places.

And more activities will be permitted, without the need for resource consents.

When planning imposes costly restrictions on one person’s property for the benefit of the neighbours or the broader community, councils will be required to proactively consider the cost of those controls on the affected landowner. However, compensation machinery is patchy. And when central government requires council to impose a restriction, council should be allowed to ease the restriction rather than compensate owners for imposing it. But both improvements can yet be made.

Private plan changes, a pressure-release valve when plans do not keep up with community needs, are somewhat strengthened in the new regime. Councils will more often have to evaluate those change proposals on their merits, instead of rejecting them without evaluation.

The improvements described above are written into the Bills themselves. Some important details, like zoning definitions and how hard the government will push for more housing, depends on the national direction that will be set by future Ministers.

But it is an improvement. And one that can be built on, if future Ministers share Hon Bishop’s and Hon Twyford’s vision of better urban planning.