Government plans to pass newly introduced bill for supermarkets before end of 2025
Nicola Willis, economic growth minister, has announced that the recently introduced Fast-track Approvals Amendment Bill seeks to establish a consenting express lane option for new supermarket developments that would boost grocery competition and offer better deals for Kiwi shoppers.
In a news release from the government, Willis stated that the bill aims to help the grocery market welcome new competitors, increase competitiveness, offer better prices, and provide a broader range of choices for shoppers.
“Potential supermarket competitors have told us that standard resource consent processes can hold them back; with restrictive local zoning and lengthy approval processes adding cost, complexity and delay before new projects can get off the ground,” she said.
Willis shared that the bill seeks to simplify the resource consent processes to help new supermarkets skip the standard process, which can take years, and instead receive decisions within a few months upon the infrastructure minister’s referral to a fast-track expert panel.
In the news release, Willis noted that the government has informally issued its policy statement on grocery competition alongside the newly introduced bill, which clarifies that:
Willis added that projects seeking to access the consenting express lane should explain how they align with the competition statement.
The government’s news release noted that it intends to refer the bill to the Environment Select Committee, pass the bill before the end of the year, and formally issue the competition statement, subject to the bill’s passage.
Chris Bishop, minister for infrastructure and Resource Management Act (RMA) reform, said the bill seeks to introduce technical changes to make the Fast-track Approvals Act clearer, simpler, and more efficient, as well as reduce the time required for project application processing and consideration by at least six weeks.
“Over the last few months, the expert panels and panel conveners, applicants, government officials, and councils have identified areas where improvements could be made to the Fast-track regime, many of which are reflected in the Bill introduced,” Bishop said in the news release.
Shane Jones, regional development minister, called the streamlining of the consenting process for projects proposing to venture into the supermarket sector ‘great news’ for regional New Zealand.
“Kiwis who live in the country’s smaller centres are often the most impacted by a lack of grocery retail competition,” Jones said in the government’s news release. “These changes will make it easier for supermarkets to set up shop, bringing down prices for people working hard to put food on the table for their families.”
Another government news release shared that Bishop and Jones recently welcomed the approval of the first renewable energy project under the Fast-track Approvals Act.
