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News, insights and perspectives

January 2025

Fast-track to social value? What the fast-track projects could mean for New Zealand people and communities

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In October last year the NZ government released a schedule of 149 projects approved to proceed under the Fast Track Approvals Bill. Under the expedited consenting process, these projects may complete varying levels of impact assessments and/or management plans required for consent, including social, environmental, and cultural/mana whenua impacts. We thought we’d ease into the new year by taking a look at the projects and considering some of their likely social impacts.

There are five sectors represented in the project schedule, as shown below 39% are in housing and land development, 29% infrastructure, and the remainder are renewable energy projects, mining and quarrying, and aquaculture.


Figure 1: Fast-track schedule projects by sector


The 149 projects are spread across all regions, with two at nationwide or multi-regional scale. The geographical spread of projects is largely consistent with population and economic scale - Auckland, Canterbury, Waikato and Otago regions have the most projects, with Wellington slightly less than proportionate. Regions with a greater share of projects relative to their population and economy are Northland, Bay of Plenty, West Coast and Southland.


Figure 2: Fast-track projects by region

Over the next couple of weeks we’ll take a look at each sector and discuss what are likely to be the key social risks and opportunities for each, considering their social environments.

We invite you to join us and activate those social outcomes brain cells for what looks to be an eventful year!

The full list of projects is here. Which sectors would you pick as the most socially significant? What are the big social risks and opportunities these projects should prepare for?


#sia #socialimpact #communitybenefits #fasttrack #socialvalue #socialoutcomes

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