Delays in gaining resource consent for tourism projects are harming the industry and discouraging developers from investing in New Zealand, says a company director.
Brian Wadman says it took his company, Eyres Eco Park, six years to get permission from Rodney District Council to develop seven dwellings in Te Arai.
Mr Wadman says the delays cost the company millions of dollars and he will have to sell the property through mortgagee tender this year.
Mr Wadman says delays of this length would kill any project, and he warns that local and overseas developers are being put off by such obstacles and taking their projects elsewhere.
But Rodney District Council says its resource consent processes are now much faster and are not harming the tourism industry, which it says is thriving in the region.
The Tourism Industry Association says the Resource Management Act is regularly blamed for causing obstacles in the way of tourism development.
Association chief executive Tim Cossar says tourism is New Zealand's biggest economic sector and can play a huge role in the country's economic, social and environmental development.
Mr Cossar says the act is doing a good job of protecting the environment, which is ultimately the product New Zealand sells.
