How the new National Policy Statement for Infrastructure 2025 can help unlock investment

Late last year, the Government gazetted the National Policy Statement for Infrastructure 2025 (NPS-I), which officially came into force on 15 January 2026 [1]. The NPS-I sets out policies to enable, recognise, and protect new and proposed ‘infrastructure’ and ‘additional infrastructure’, as defined in the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) and the NPS-I.

The NPS-I signals the Government’s priorities and marks a major shift in national direction. It aims to give resource consent applicants more certainty and help infrastructure support New Zealand’s wider social and economic goals, while still protecting the environment.

Purpose

In the past, resource management decision-making has not consistently recognised the strategic importance of infrastructure. This has led to delays, high consenting costs, and inconsistent planning outcomes. The NPS-I sets out the infrastructure outcomes the resource management system is expected to deliver to fix these issues.

The NPS-I's main objective is to make decision-makers recognise and provide for infrastructure benefits at national, regional, and local levels, so infrastructure can meaningfully contribute to community wellbeing. The NPS-I also aims to support development in urban and rural areas to meet the needs of current and future generations; promote resilient infrastructure that integrates effectively with other activities; and ensure essential services are delivered efficiently and on time, while managing environmental effects appropriately [2].

The NPS-I creates a simpler, more efficient system to support infrastructure delivery. It provides for long-term planning of New Zealand’s future infrastructure needs and simplifies consenting (and re-consenting) processes to reduce costs and speed up delivery of infrastructure networks.

Scope and application

The NPS-I applies to all infrastructure activities and infrastructure supporting activities. It does not apply to renewable electricity generation, or to the electricity transmission or distribution networks, as these are already covered by other national policy statements.

The NPS-I expands the definition of infrastructure to include social, public, and institutional infrastructure not otherwise covered by the RMA. This now includes:

relevant schools or education facilities;
health facilities run by Health New Zealand (the initial draft also proposed including private hospitals, but this was not adopted);
fire and emergency services;
defence and corrections facilities;
stormwater networks;
resource recovery and waste facilities; and
flood control and protection work.

The broadening of the definition captures a wider range of publicly provided infrastructure and institutional infrastructure and means that the NPS-I can better enable and protect important community infrastructure across New Zealand.

Key policy directions

The NPS-I introduces 11 policies. These require decision-makers to: recognise and provide for the significant public benefits of infrastructure; enable efficient and timely infrastructure operation and delivery; and integrate infrastructure into broader spatial and planning frameworks.

These policies focus on supporting infrastructure-related activities, providing for Māori interests, and ensuring new and existing infrastructure can operate, be maintained, and upgraded without unnecessary barriers. They also require appropriate management of environmental effects and the interfaces between existing and planned infrastructure, so infrastructure and surrounding activities remain compatible. The policies also focus on integrating infrastructure planning with spatial and urban planning. This aligns with the intentions of the Government’s new Planning Bill, which is part of the legislation replacing the RMA.

Implications for local authorities

The NPS-I aims to deliver some benefits of a simpler and more enabling planning system now, before the wider RMA reforms take effect [3].

Now that the NPS-I is in force, local authorities and other decision-makers must incorporate and give effect to the new objectives and policies. This means immediate changes to consenting practices. While local authorities may need time to update their internal processes, applicants can use these policies to support their applications now.

Implications for the Infrastructure sector

With construction activity and investment expected to increase over the coming years, the NPS-I's clearer national direction should help improve consistency and predictability in decision-making, reduce costs, and speed up delivery of new infrastructure projects across New Zealand.

This is significant for the sector. A 2021 study found that developers spend $1.29 billion each year on consenting, with costs rising 70% since 2014 [4].

The NPS-I provides policy support for new infrastructure and major upgrades in all environments. This should strengthen applications, especially where plans previously had overlapping or inconsistent policies. The priority is now clearer. Applicants can also explicitly reference the new policies to justify location constraints, operational needs, and wider public benefits. While environmental outcomes remain important, this new national direction may give more weight to infrastructure outcomes when balancing environmental considerations.

Infrastructure providers will also benefit from getting involved in spatial planning processes under the Planning Bill. Early involvement can help infrastructure providers secure future corridors, anticipate constraints, and reduce long-term consenting risks.

Conclusion

The NPS-I marks a clear shift towards a more enabling, nationally consistent approach. It recognises the essential role infrastructure plays in economic growth, community wellbeing, and climate resilience.

Please reach out to one of our experts if you would like more information about the NPS-I or the wider reform programme and how it may affect you.