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1 Introduction


The Resource Management (National Environmental Standards for Telecommunication Facilities) Regulations 2008 (NESTF) came into force on 9 October 2008. The NESTF represents the first regulations developed under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) that explicitly manage land-use activities.

As part of the Ministry’s approach to maintaining regulatory tools, evaluations of regulations on a roughly five-yearly basis will be conducted. This NESTF has now been in force for five years and this is its first evaluation. The Ministry conducted an implementation evaluation of the NESTF in 2009, which this report refers to as the ‘2009 stocktake’.


1.1 Background to the NESTF

1.1.1 What are national environmental standards?


National environmental standards (NES) are regulations made in accordance with sections 43 and 44 of the RMA, and they apply nationally. They can prescribe technical standards, methods, or other requirements relating to specific environmental matters. Each local authority has the responsibility for enforcing the standard in its jurisdiction. A local authority rule may prevail over a NES where the standard expressly allows this, but it cannot be more lenient.

NES not only protect people and the environment, they also secure a consistent approach and decision-making process throughout the whole country.


1.1.2 The Telecommunication Facilities National Environmental Standards


The NESTF was created during a period of rapid expansion of the telecommunications industry. This expansion supported Government aims for expanding access to broadband and information technology, increasing competition among suppliers through local loop unbundling, improving general industry productivity, and achieving economic transformation.

However, there was also a backdrop of local regulatory inconsistency and uncertainty. Resource consent requirements varied widely, in terms of whether or not consent was required, and also the nature and extent of conditions that were attached to resource consents. Variability in consenting requirements creates uncertainties, resulting in costs and time delays. The telecommunications industry reported that lack of national consistency added costs to their provision of services and slowed the roll-out of new capacity across the country.

From a local government perspective, not all district plans had specific plan rules relating to telecommunications infrastructure. This could cause time delays and uncertainty if an activity was applied for that did not clearly fit within current plan provisions, and there was no close precedent to draw on.

In July 2005 a reference group was convened, with representatives from Telecom, Vodafone, TelstraClear, Local Government New Zealand, the Ministry for the Environment, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Economic Development. After considering several options, the reference group proposed a package of NES for radio-frequency exposure and specific telecommunications facilities. In February 2008, Cabinet decided that the National Environmental Standards for Telecommunication Facilities should proceed, and they came into force on 9 October 2008.

The intent of the NESTF was to provide certainty about the levels of permitted development within the RMA. Infrastructure would need to comply with specific criteria, designed to minimise impacts on the environment, in order to be installed without resource consent. The NESTF would also make compliance with the New Zealand standard for radio-frequency fields mandatory.

The NESTF was intended to contribute to the economic transformation priority of the government of the day. Faster and more cost-effective delivery of telecommunications facilities was required for New Zealand to become a “world leader in using information and technology to realise its economic, social, environmental, and cultural goals”.2

The Business Growth Agenda describes the current government’s approach to building a more productive, more competitive economy. Infrastructure is one of the key inputs to the Agenda, and of these, the major telecommunications initiatives are the Ultra-Fast Broadband roll-out and the Rural Broadband Initiative. Services facilitated by these programmes will “increasingly support New Zealand’s position as a competitive business location and improve living standards”.3 The NESTF has an important role to play in their delivery.

1.2 What the NESTF does


In summary, the NESTF provides for the following:

an activity (such as a mobile phone transmitter) that emits radio-frequency fields is a permitted activity provided it complies with the existing New Zealand standard (NZS 2772.1:1999 Radio-frequency Fields Part 1: Maximum Exposure Levels 3 kHz to 300 GHz)

the installation of telecommunications equipment cabinets along roads or in the road reserve is a permitted activity, subject to specified limitations on their size and location

noise from telecommunications equipment cabinets located alongside roads or in the road reserve is a permitted activity, subject to specified noise limits

the installation of masts and antennas on existing structures alongside roads or in the road reserve is a permitted activity, subject to specified limitations to height and size.

Activities that do not qualify as permitted activities under the NESTF continue to be managed by local authorities through the existing rules in their district plans.


2 Evaluation purpose and objectives

2.1 Purpose


The purpose of this project is to carry out an outcome evaluation of the National Environmental Standards for Telecommunication Facilities (NESTF) to determine whether its objectives have been met, five years after its introduction.

2.2 Objectives


The evaluation will investigate whether the regulations are achieving their intended purpose in terms of the policy objectives of the NESTF. It will also, where possible:

assess whether implementation issues identified in the 2009 stocktake have been addressed

identify emerging issues

ascertain whether key risks associated with the NESTF have been realised.

The original policy objective in the industry reference group report4 was:

To provide for consistent and certain regulatory planning provisions that apply on a national basis, to assist in network and equipment design and equipment sourcing for roll-outs, and a reduction in compliance costs and timeframes.

The regulations were developed along these lines to provide for a nationally consistent planning framework for radio-frequency fields of all telecommunication facilities and low-impact5 telecommunications infrastructure on road reserves, in order to:

assist in network and equipment design and equipment sourcing for roll-outs

create a reduction in compliance costs and timeframes for service providers

reduce the timeframe and lower the costs for the availability of new services to consumers

contribute to a reduced workload for councils in processing and determining consent applications

set an appropriate balance between local participation in community planning and cost-effective national infrastructure investment.

Whether these objectives have been met forms the basis of this evaluation.



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