Unlocking the Development of Māori Land
Unlocking the Development of Māori Land
Friday 18 July, 2025
As part of Package 1 of the reform of the national direction under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA), the Government is proposing to introduce a new piece of national direction. The National Environmental Standards for Papakāinga (NES-P) is proposed to set out clear, consistent, more enabling standards for papakāinga development.
Papakāinga are usually located in rural areas and are characterised by communal living and mixed land use. In the context of the NES-P, the Government is proposing to define ‘papakāinga development’ as “the use of housing and ancillary activities on Māori ancestral land or Treaty settlement land that enables the owners to use their land and live in accordance with their culture, in perpetuity”.
The Goal
At present, the rules in district plans across New Zealand relating to papakāinga developments vary significantly, with nearly one third of district plans containing no papakāinga rules at all. Rules in plans also do not always reflect the needs or aspirations of Māori landowners in terms of the development of multiple dwellings, especially in rural zones where only one home per lot is often permitted. The Government considers that the inconsistency and/or lack of provision for papakāinga in district plans is restricting the ability of many Māori to develop their land. To tackle this, the NES-P proposes a clear set of minimum standards to enable some papakāinga development to occur as a permitted activity and proposes to require city and district councils to include certain provisions relating to papakāinga in their district plans.
The goal of the proposed NES-P is to:
- increase the supply of affordable, quality housing on whenua Māori;
- reduce compliance costs for Māori landowners wanting to develop papakāinga;
- enable tangata whenua to reconnect to their whakapapa and live consistently with tikanga Māori; and
- support communal and intergenerational living.
Key Proposals
The proposed NES-P:
- sets out clear definitions for key terms such as ‘Māori ancestral land’, ‘Treaty settlement land’ and ‘papakāinga development’;
- allows small-scale papakāinga development (up to 10 residential units) as a permitted activity on Māori ancestral land in rural, Māori or residential purpose zones;
- categorises small/medium scale papakāinga development (up to 30 residential units), which does not meet the permitted activity standards, as a restricted discretionary activity on Māori ancestral land in rural, Māori or residential purpose zones; and
- categorises large scale papakāinga development (more than 30 residential units) on Māori ancestral land or Treaty settlement land as a discretionary activity.
Existing planning provisions
To ensure district plan provisions reflect local context, the proposed NES-P provides for certain standards and rules of district plans for the underlying zones to apply, where they do not conflict with the overall purpose of enabling papakāinga. Existing rules and standards not affected by the proposed NES-P include building height, earthworks, wastewater, natural hazards, noise, lighting and more. In order to give city and district councils the flexibility to develop ‘bespoke’ papakāinga provisions with mana whenua, the proposed NES-P provides that district plan rules may be more lenient than the NES-P.
Non-residential activities
Ancillary non-residential activities on papakāinga developments must be for the benefit of the residents on the land and are proposed to be permitted, including commercial activities under 100m², conservation activities, sports and recreation activities, visitor accommodation for up to eight guests (excluding manuhiri staying on a marae), educational and health and recreation facilities. The ancillary non-residential activities cannot therefore be ‘for-profit’ activities gaining an advantage over their competition. Māori cultural activities on papakāinga developments, including marae, urupā and māra kai, are explicitly permitted to ensure that they are not precluded by future interpretation of the ancillary non-residential activity provisions.
Implementation
Once enacted, the NES-P is proposed to have immediate effect, meaning that city and district councils whose district plans are inconsistent with the NES-P (i.e. do not include any papakāinga provisions at all or have papakāinga provisions which are more stringent than the NES-P) will be required to amend their plans to correct the inconsistencies as soon as practicable. Under the RMA, plan changes to amend inconsistencies with national environmental standards can be made without using the Schedule 1 process meaning there is no need for the usual consultation, notification and public submission processes.
It is proposed that resource consent applications for papakāinga developments lodged before the commencement of the NES-P will continue to be processed under district plan rules that were in place at the time the applications were lodged. In the event that the NES-P provisions are more favourable to an applicant’s proposal, then there is the option to withdraw the application and relodge (if an application is still required) to make the most of the NES-P regime.
Of course, at this stage the changes are only proposed, so it will be interesting to see how the proposal develops, and what shape the proposed NES-P provisions take, following public consultation.
Stay tuned for our next article in our series on Government’s national direction reform which looks at the proposals within Package 2 – Primary Sector, starting with the National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land.
Consultation on the changes proposed within Package 1 close on 27 July 2025. If you have any questions on the Government’s proposal to introduce new National Environmental Standards for Papakāinga or would like assistance with making a submission on the proposal, please contact one of our team below.
Our thanks to Law Clerk Lauren Aplin for her contribution to this article.
