Law change 'may spur housing gold rush'

Planning experts say a proposed law change could spark a rush on coastal subdivision as developers try to beat incoming council rules.

The Government wants to make the planning system less confusing by stopping new council rules from having any effect until they have been through a public consultation process.

But planning experts are worried the change would give developers time to get approval for soon-to-be-banned developments - before tighter rules came into effect.

The change is among a number of proposals designed to make environment laws quicker and simpler to use.

A spokesman for Environment Minister Nick Smith said it would give councils an incentive to speed up the rule-making process because they would not be able to rely on new rules as soon as they announced them.

To read the full NZ Herald story click here

Posted: 13 Mar 2009

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