ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the role of regional government in integrated resource management in New Zealand. It assesses the capability of regional councils for carrying out their functions while also acting as partners in providing guidance to districts within their boundaries. The chapter describes some historical antecedents to the Resource Management Act. It examines the efforts by central government to build up the capabilities of the new regional councils, and then its efforts to resource them for carrying out their responsibilities, including technical assistance to local councils. The amalgamations were also accompanied by a loss of central government services through the administrative reforms. The hierarchy begins at the regional tier with the regional policy statement, but for the coast it begins with the mandated national policy statement. The chapter examines the hierarchies to see how beneficial they are to planning in local councils, first for regional policy statements, then for the coastal hierarchy.
