The Government is considering ways of speeding up the process of gaining resource consents for regional projects, citing frustrations encountered by Australian company Bathurst Resources.
Energy and Resources Minister Phil Heatley told TV3's The Nation programme that it was crazy that companies were being taken back to court repeatedly in their bids to win resource consents under the Resource Management Act (RMA).
He met with Bathurst Resources last week. The company is seeking consents to develop a coal mine on the Denniston Plateau in the South Island and is back in court tomorrow.
Mr Heatley said Environment Minister Amy Adams was considering a way of speeding up resource consents for regional projects that would give certainty to companies.
"For nationally significant projects like Waterview, the road, we've used the national consenting process where we call it in with a nine-month turnaround time.
"What we're considering at the moment is when you have got very significant projects at a regional level whether we can have a similar system. It might be a turnaround time of something like six months and it's only challengeable on points of law."
He said that did not mean companies would always be granted consents but they would have certainty.
He said Bathurst Resources was "hanging in there" and was tremendously frustrated.
NZN