ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the theoretical range of mandates, from coercive to co-operative, for achieving capability, and illustrate them through some international examples. It also focuses on the New Zealand's Resource Management Act (RMA) in relation to the theory and practice, and offers a theoretical framework for assessing variation in plan quality. The chapter assesses four main features of the RMA: regulatory goal, devolution, co-operation and capacity-building, and process and prescription. It considers RMA policies and plans in relation to those required of local councils by other statutes. The chapter examines two variables seen as useful by staffs who prepare regional and local plans: clarity of provisions in the national mandate, and usefulness of actions by national government agencies in helping them to implement the mandate. It posits that any central government initiatives to advance planning in regional and local councils have to recognize the role of key local factors in influencing the ability of councils to produce quality plans.
