RMA National Direction overhaul: Impacts on Highly Productive Land

Words by Rebecca Eaton

The Government is undertaking the most significant shake-up of national direction under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) since its inception. On 29 May, it released a major reform package for consultation proposing four new national direction instruments and updates to 12 existing ones. We’ve already covered changes to Granny Flats and Papakāinga under Package 1, and we’ll continue sharing updates as more details emerge. Below we outline the changes to highly productive land under Package 2.

National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land

The Package 2 proposal includes a raft of changes to the National Policy Statement for Highly Productive Land (“NPS-HPL”). The NPS-HPL was introduced in 2022 with the objective of protecting highly productive land (“HPL”) for use in land-based primary production, for current and future generations. To achieve this objective the NPS-HPL restricts the inappropriate use, development and subdivision of HPL.

Removal of LUC 3 land

The key change proposed to the NPS-HPL is the removal of Land Use Capability (“LUC”) 3 land from the current NPS-HPL restrictions (currently rural zoned LUC 1, 2 and 3 land is captured). The purpose of this proposed change is to free up the supply of productive land for urban development to increase housing supply and support housing affordability.

This is a significant proposal given that LUC 3 land accounts for 64% of the land area currently protected under the NPS-HPL (as set out in the figures below). This will be a welcome change for landowners and developers looking to develop or subdivide LUC3 land.

In recognition that some areas important for primary production may be compromised by the removal of LUC 3 from the NPS-HPL, the proposals provide for the use of new special agricultural areas (“SAA”) to protect key food growing areas.

Mapping requirements

The NPS-HPL currently requires regional councils to map highly productive land (as defined within the NPS-HPL) in a notified regional policy statement by October 2025. The proposal seeks to amend this mapping timeframe, either through an extension of this timeframe or the suspension of mapping requirements until the RMA’s replacement legislation is enacted.

Prior to the completion of regional council mapping, the identification of HPL has been dependant on the New Zealand Land Resources Inventory (“NZLIR”) LUC mapping, which was carried out between the 1970s and 1990s. The NZLIR tool has been critiqued on the basis that it does not accurately capture productive land categories. Recent case law has confirmed that the NZLRI mapping must be used until regional council mapping is included in regional policy statements and that applicants are unable to challenge the LUC classification based on independent mapping or soil testing. As such, this may not be a welcome change for applicants who have been awaiting Regional Council mapping to confirm the accurate LUC status of the relevant land.

The Government has not ruled out further changes to the definition of highly productive land and there may be further implications to the NPS-HPL when the expected changes to the National Policy Statement for Urban Development are announced.

Submissions on changes to National Direction

Submissions on the proposed changes to Packages 1–3, including the NPS-HPL, close on 27 July 2025. If you have questions around how these changes could affect you or your land, our Resource Management team can help.