This Amendment Paper amends the Resource Management (Consenting and Other System Changes) Amendment Bill. New section 106A is intended to give councils greater powers to either refuse land use consent or grant it subject to conditions. However, the section then has a carve-out that excludes the possibility of refusal for “primary production activities”.

As defined, “primary production activities” could include:

• any aquaculture, agricultural, pastoral, horticultural, mining, quarrying, or forestry activities:

• the initial processing, as an ancillary activity, of commodities that result from those activities:

• any land and buildings used for the production of the commodities from those activities.