Alarm is growing about proposed rules in the Auckland Unitary Plan for cultural impact assessments.

Labour Maori Affairs spokesperson Shane Jones says the Auckland Council seems to want to turn the 19 iwi in the super city into consent authorities,

He says as someone who was part of the core group that wrote the Resource Management Act 24 years ago, that’s not what was in mind.

The plan identifies 3600 sites of value to mana whenua that will require assessments from iwi, adding to compliance costs.

Employers and Manufacturers Association chief executive Kim Campbell says the rules look rushed and half-baked, and need to be withdrawn and reworked from first principles.

He says the scope for assessments is so broad and ill-defined it could mean every resource consent requires one.