National Policy Statement on Natural Hazards (NPS-NH)
A number of amended or new National Policy Statements and Environmental Standards took effect on 15 January 2026. One of those changes means that Councils across New Zealand are now required to assess any application that is subject to a natural hazard against a risk matrix.
All future consent decisions made by Council, including any mitigation measures, must be based on this matrix. The NPS-NH applies to flooding, landslips, coastal erosion, coastal inundation, active faults, liquefaction and tsunami.
How risk must now be assessed
Part 3 (Implementation) of the NPS-NH explains how the policies should be put into practice.
It requires risks from natural hazards for new developments to be assessed using a standard method that looks at both how likely a hazard is and how serious the consequences of the hazard could be for that development.
Decision-makers must consider not just the risk itself, but also
- any existing or planned measures to reduce that risk, and
- what happens if any mitigation measures fail.
The potential impacts of climate change at least 100 years into the future also need to be considered.
What this means for current applications
Implementation of the NPS is effective immediately. That means, the risk matrix is being applied to all pending decisions. If further information is required for a particular application, a consent planner will be in touch to discuss.
For new applications
TDC requests that applicants have regard to the NPS-NH as appropriate. The risk matrix will be used to assess all applications, as required by the NPS. It is likely that, in scenarios where the risk level is medium to very high, expert technical assessment will be required to support and/or inform the application.
This is new territory for everyone.
We will be working through this together and we encourage you to reach out to our team if you have any questions around interpretation.