\section{Conclusion}

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- 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
implementation gap, i.e. the use of less sophisticated procedures and
methods than declared in the plans.


%  - 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
