There is now widespread dissatisfaction with the implementation of the Resource Management Act. In particular, landowners and business interest groups complain about the long delays and high transaction costs associated with any attempt to establish a new business enterprise, or even to enable the changes in location, land use or construction, needed to allow the smallest enterprise to innovate and grow.

For many years the Resource Management Act has been sacrosanct. Anyone who dared to criticise the Act or its implementation was dismissed as being "anti" the environment itself. But times have changed. Most New Zealanders have now been directly subject to some abuse of power, or know of friends or relatives who have suffered at the hand of the planning bureaucracy.

The Centre for Resource Management Studies has been established to promote proper implementation of the Act, at all levels of government. In particular the Centre aims to improve the quality of planning documents and their implementation at the local level.