assignment3: last changes before submission

3 files changed, 38 insertions, 22 deletions

diff --git a/assignment3/background.tex b/assignment3/background.tex
index 361062f..a3ec167 100644
--- a/assignment3/background.tex
+++ b/assignment3/background.tex
@@ -198,10 +198,10 @@ have been publicly notified, members of the public can make
 submissions to challenge---or express support for---the application.
 
 Following the submission period a pre-hearing meeting can be arranged,
-which is a rather informal setting in which submitters, applicant and
-council representatives try to clarify issues before the official
-hearing.  Additional mediation sessions may be arranged to resolve
-conflicts and reach an agreement without the need for a formal
+where submitters, applicant and council representatives try to clarify
+issues before the official hearing in a rather informal setting.
+Additional mediation sessions may be arranged to resolve conflicts and
+reach an agreement without the need for a formal
 hearing \parencite{ME959}. For publicly notified applications, the
 council usually organises a formal hearing in which submitters may
 present their submissions and where the applicant is to present
diff --git a/assignment3/conclusion.tex b/assignment3/conclusion.tex
index 8d52b57..8b68523 100644
--- a/assignment3/conclusion.tex
+++ b/assignment3/conclusion.tex
@@ -1,23 +1,39 @@
 \section{Conclusion}
 
-% TODO
+To summarise, there is little opportunity for the general public to
+influence the decision on resource consent applications, because only
+a fraction of them is publicly notified.  The decision whether to
+notify or not is made by the council and depends on the quality and
+coverage of the local plan.  Overall, plans are of medium to poor
+quality, making it difficult for planners to evaluate a proposal and
+its accompanying assessment in the intended spirit of the policies.
 
-- there is little opportunity for the public to influence the decision
-on resource consent applications, because only a fraction of them is
-notified.
-
-- overall, plans are of rather poor quality, making it difficult for
-planners to evaluate a proposal and its accompanying assessment
-in the intended spirit of the policies.
-
-- councils are subject to capacity bottlenecks which gives rise to an
+More importantly, however, the implementation of a plan is influenced
+by the responsible council's capacity and the attitude of the council
+officers assigned to evaluate resource consent application.  Councils
+are subject to capacity bottlenecks which give rise to an
 implementation gap, i.e. the use of less sophisticated procedures and
-methods than declared in the plans.
+methods than declared in the plans.  As a result, inadequate
+assessments of environmental effects are more likely to pass through
+the review stage.
 
+Since consultation is not a mandatory part of the resource consent
+process under the RMA, non-notified applications may never be exposed
+to much needed independent scrutiny.  Notified applications with
+assessments that are hard to understand for lay people may require
+members of the public to gain access to expert knowledge and
+professional representation to have their concerns heard and accepted
+as valid.
 
-%  - Consultation is not mandatory under the RMA, but is encouraged
-%  - results from consultation / mediation process are not binding
-%  - there is a history of underestimating the size of the group of `directly affected' people
-%
-%  - government wants to shift power from the local councils to
-%    national entity, at the expense of community consultation
+Grinlinton's statement seems to imply that councils are purposefully
+negligent in the evaluation of applications that are expected to have
+economic benefits, or at least accept this bias.  This analysis,
+however, suggests that this is not the case.  While it may be true
+that individual councils are primarily interested in the economic
+effects of a proposal and only take a secondary interest in the
+environmental or social impacts, it seems that the two major
+difficulties in consent processing are a lack in the capacity to
+implement plans and a history of underestimating the size of the group
+of `directly affected' persons.  As a result, the ability of the
+general public to participate in the decision-making process under the
+requirements for consultation laid out by the RMA is severely limited.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/assignment3/document.tex b/assignment3/document.tex
index a9988b6..4acc487 100644
--- a/assignment3/document.tex
+++ b/assignment3/document.tex
@@ -38,7 +38,7 @@
   % have collected in your clippings file of current environmental issues
   % for this.
 
-  {\footnotesize{Approximate word count: 3000}}
+  {\footnotesize{Approximate word count: 3200}}
 
   \printbibliography[heading=bibnumbered]