The PUCM Research Programme

PUCM stands for Planning Under Cooperative Mandates. It is an on-going research programme funded by the New Zealand Public Good Science Fund of the Foundation of Research, Science, and Technology (PGSF-FRST) since 1995. The collaborative PUCM team has been progressively developing and applying methods for evaluating the quality of local government planning under two devolved and cooperative national mandates, the 1991 Resource Management Act (RMA) and the 2002 Local Government Act (LGA). Underpinning devolved and cooperative mandates is the assumption that councils in local government are willing to comply, but may not necessarily have the capacity to do so. This in turn assumes that Government will build capacity in councils, by ensuring its own central agencies have the capacity to implement the national mandates.

Phases 1, 2 and 3 of the PUCM research programme has been evaluating planning under the RMA (1995-2009), while Phase 4 (paralleling Phase 3), focuses on the quality of community outcome processes and long-term council community plans under the new LGA (2003-2012).

Planning Under the RMA

The RMA (1991) required councils to develop new “effects-based environmental regional and district plans and then monitor “the efficiency and effectiveness of policies, rules and other methods in [their] plans.” Effective policies, methods or rules, are those produce the anticipated environmental results or outcomes. Efficient policies, methods or rules, are the best suited for the job based on some criteria (unspecified by the RMA), compared to other equally effective methods. The problem was that (until now) there were no methods available, either nationally or internationally, for carrying out these tasks. This raised issues over the quality of plans being prepared (at a time of budgetary constraints in Government’s implementing agencies throughout much of the 1990s), as well as the 10 yearly reviews of them that the RMA required councils to do, These are the problems and issues that PUCM highlighted as warranting research for the public good.

The over-arching goal of Phases 1 to 3 of PUCM is to determine whether a devolved and co-operative system of governance for planning under New Zealand's 1991 RMA (Resource Management Act ) will significantly improve environmental outcomes, including environmental outcomes for Maori, the indigenous people of New Zealand.

The main aim is to better understand the links between environmental policy and outcomes by developing and testing methods for studying the quality of the preparation and implementation of policies and plans produced under the RMA and the various influencing factors. The research is unique because it links the assessment of plan quality (PQ) to implementation quality (IQ) and, ultimately, to environmental quality (EQ).

The design of the PUCM RMA Research Programme is illustrated in Figure 1 which shows three phases and 10 elements of the research, which were completed in 1999, 2003 and 2007, respectively. The development of a kaupapa Maori framework for environmental outcomes for Maori under the RMA is due for completion by mid-2009.

Linking the research results from Phases 1, 2, and 3 enables assessment of whether good plans make a difference in helping to achieve the nation's environmental goals.

Phase 1 (1995-1998): What makes a good plan? This research was about developing and testing methods for evaluating the preparation of plans and plan quality (PQ) in regional and district councils. It focused on: the interpretation of the RMA mandate and the implementation actions of central government (see element 1, in Figure 1); the capability of councils to plan (element 2); and the influence of both these factors on plan quality (element 3). Specific topics included: iwi interests and natural hazards; as well as significant natural areas, outstanding landscape values, and the coastal environment. The research for this phase was completed in1999. (See Phase 1 Publications list for outputs.)

Phase 2 (1999-2002): Do good plans matter? This research was about developing and testing methods for evaluating the implementation of plans and implementation quality (IQ) in district councils selected for their range of plan quality and capacity to plan. It focused on: council capabilities and implementation strategies (element 4); resource consent applicants' capabilities to comply with plans (element 5); plan compliance and implementation outcomes (element 6); and environmental outcomes in relation to those in plans. Specific topics included iwi interests, urban amenity, and storm water management. The research for this phase was completed in 2003. (See Phase 2 Publications list for outputs.)

Phase 3 (2003-2009) Do good plans make a difference to environmental outcomes? The research focussed on developing and testing a methodology for evaluating implementation outcomes with respect to environmental quality (EQ) by matching expected environmental outcomes in district plans with actual environmental outcomes in the selected areas (element 10), using urban amenity, storm water management and iwi interests as exemplars. Limited funding enabled limited investigation of cumulative environmental effects of consented and permitted activities on environmental quality in relation to objectives in plans (element 8); and the influence of non-statutory measures on plans and environmental outcomes (element 9). The Plan Outcome Evaluation (POE) methodology that resulted was published in 2008 (See Phase 3 Publications list for outputs.)

Another thread to Phase 3 focuses on Mäori interests in local government planning. This has involved developing a framework and methodology for linking: kaupapa (foundation principles); associated environmentally important tikanga (fundamental rules governing Mäori relationships with the natural environment); and Mäori aspirations in the form of outcomes, to environmental indicators. It has been tested in two iwi and associated councils, thereby providing a model for interpreting the effectiveness of RMA environmental management by local authorities that have Mäori values as their foundation. (See environmental outcomes for Maori for more details.)

As the research for Phase 3 was mostly carried out in selected case studies, a great deal of work is needed to gain widespread uptake and application of the PUCM methods for improving planning and governance in local government. Facilitating this uptake is the focus of Objective 4 of Phase 3 through implementation of a PUCM Practice Development Programme.

Planning Under the LGA

Under the new LGA (Local Government Act,) (2002), the New Zealand Government in effect extended “sustainable management” of the environment through the RMA (1991) to include “sustainable development” based on community well-being -- environmental, social, economic, and cultural. This was to be achieved through a community outcomes process underpinning development of new long-term council community plans (LTCCPs) within a “whole-of-government” approach (central, regional and local). As for the RMA, local government was not well-prepared to take on this new largely unfunded Government LGA mandate and nor was Government’s implementing agency, the Department of Internal Affairs.

Thus, the PUCM team wanted to use its experience researching planning and governance under RMA (1991) for evaluating plans and processes (LTCCP) under the LGA. In 2003, FRST agreed to fund PUCM Phase 4, which is due for completion in mid-2012.

Phase 4 (2003-2012) Long-term council community planning This research will, draw lessons from research on planning and governance under RMA for planning and governance under the new LGA. The focus is on developing and applying methodologies for evaluating the quality of community outcome processes as a forum for community governance and councils’ LTCCPs developed within a whole-of-government context. The link between Phases 1-4 are shown in Figure 2, below. The research for Phase 4 is structured around five objectives, being to:

1. map and evaluate interaction between the civil sector and the local and central government sectors in the development of community well-being outcomes and formulation of LTCCP monitoring and reporting frameworks;
2. evaluate the quality of 2006 LTCCPs in terms of the extent to which community well-being outcomes shape local authority long-term priorities (as stated in 2006 LTCCPs);
3. evaluate the extent to which community well-being outcomes shape long-term priorities of central government departments and agencies and other service providers;
4. evaluate the uptake of community well-being outcomes during implementation of 2006 LTCCPs by examining development and implementation of strategic partnerships between local and central government agencies and other service providers (e.g., district health boards, iwi and hapu) to respond to community well-being outcomes; and
5. evaluate progress towards achievement of community well-being outcomes and good governance from long-term council community planning and compare the findings with data collected under LTCCP monitoring and reporting frameworks (2009/2012).

The aim is to prepare six reports for distribution to key end-user groups. As of June 2008, four reports had been published, and a fifth due in September 2008. (See Phase 4 Publications list for outputs.)

Additional FRST Funding

As noted, PUCM gained additional FRST funding in late 2003 to complete research on planning and governance under the RMA and to start new research on the LGA (see PUCM Research Summary 1995-2009 for more details on its objectives).

Further funding will be sought from FRST in the next bidding round for the Sustainable Cities and Settlements Portfolio starting October 2008 for the period 2009-2015. The proposed research will build on what PUCM has achieved while at the same time moving in new directions.

Agreement with Landcare

A Relationship Agreement with Landcare New Zealand was established in 2002 to create better understanding about sustainable development, particularly the links between environmental quality and plan interventions

If you have any questions or comments please contact pucm@waikato.ac.nz.
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