Refereed Article The Application of Planning Legislation: the RMA and Forestry
R. Amor , H. Bigsby and C. Gan
The paper examines for differences in treatment by district councils of forestry activities under the RMA and explores the underlying causes of the differences that are found. An analysis of 57 District Plans written using RMA guidelines is used to derive an index that captures the relative restrictiveness of the treatment of forestry in a District Plan. The index is compared to a range of demographic factors such as population, land use mixes, farming intensities and farm size which are believed to influence the treatment of forestry. The results suggest restrictiveness of rules generally increases with the intensity of farming. In particular, restrictiveness increases with the percentage of land under agricultural use and grazing productivity, and decreases with an increase in average farm size and population density.
