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How to Create a Strategic Plan

Looking for a way to take your company in a new and profitable direction? It starts with strategic planning. Keep reading to learn what a strategic plan is, why you need it and how you can strategically create one.

What Is a Strategic Plan?

When it comes to business and finance, strategic planning will help you allocate your resources, energy and assets. When implemented, a strategic plan will begin to move your operations in a more profitable direction. The primary goal of the plan is to ensure you and any other stakeholders are on the same page and striving to reach the same goal.

Creating a strategic plan requires a disciplined effort. Once you put the plan into action, it will influence the segment of customers that you target, how you serve those customers and the experience those customers have.

Assess the Current Infrastructure and Operations

The first step in creating a strategic plan is to carefully assess your existing infrastructure and operations. You can do this through a SWOT analysis, which is an analysis of the company’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The goal here is to pinpoint the resources that you use to carry out your day-to-day operations, to look at your monthly revenue patterns, to list any company challenges related to the customer experience and, most importantly, to look at your marketing methods and ways to improve the overall customer experience.

Creation of Mission Statement and Objectives

The next step is to create a mission statement. You may already have one, but it’s important to note your mission at the top of the strategic plan document you create. This ensures everyone is focused on the same goal. Your mission statement should cover why you started the company and what you intend to accomplish through the products and services that you offer.

In addition to the mission statement, make sure to outline both short- and long-term objectives. List the objectives according to their priority and designate certain managers or employees to be responsible for each one. Also, jot down the resources that will be used to achieve each objective.

Measure Performance

Now that you know what you’re trying to achieve and who is responsible for each goal, it’s time to deploy the plan and measure its progress. A weekly meeting is extremely important for all managers and stakeholders provide feedback. Your goal is to determine if the company is headed in the right direction. If not, you’ll need to revise the strategic plan accordingly.

Strategic Plans Are Ongoing

Once your strategic plan helps you achieve several objectives, it’s smart to regroup and set new objectives. As your company grows, you can set new goals to ensure the company keeps moving forward. You can share the success of your strategic plan with potential investors as a way to tap into new capital funding.

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What is a Strategic Planning Timeline?

by Funding For Good | Mar 15, 2023 | Strategic Planning

One of the first questions many strategic planning clients have is: What is the timeline for a strategic planning process?

In practice, leaders are generally asking about two things:

• How long will the strategic planning process take?
• How long of a period should a strategic plan cover?

Let’s tackle these questions one at a time.

How Long Does a Strategic Planning Process Last?

In general, a strategic planning process should take 3-4 months, though some planning processes can take as long as a year. The length of time often depends on the complexity of the organization. A shorter timeline, however, has many benefits. It can enable leaders to focus deeply on strategy with the end goal always in sight. It can keep stakeholder engagement high. And it can help minimize dreaded “planning fatigue.”

Different consultants also use different strategic planning models and processes , which can affect the timeline. This is why it’s so important to find the right strategic planning consultant for your organization.

Are you ready to start the strategic planning process?

A strategic planning timeline is the period covered by an organization’s strategic plan. A strategic plan generally covers 3-5 years and includes the goals, strategies, and desired outcomes that an organization will achieve by the end of the timeframe. Some larger and more complex organizations may create plans for longer timelines, such as a 10-year strategic plan. While other organizations, especially those undergoing rapid shifts, may create shorter one-year plans.

Why Strategic Plans Often Cover a Timeline of 3-5 Years

For many organizations, a 3-5-year strategic plan timeline balances ambition and vision with the ability to remain agile.

With a 3-5-year timeline, an organization can envision—and achieve—ambitious goals. Yet 3-5 years is still a short enough period that an organization can pivot if conditions change dramatically. Whereas a longer timeline, such as 10 years, could leave leaders with many years of a strategic plan that no longer makes sense. But there are exceptions.

For some larger institutions, such as major universities, school districts, or government agencies, a 10-year strategic plan is more suitable. Institutions that are complex and well-established may focus on more iterative improvements—and a 10-year timeline can provide the slow, steady and strategic growth they need.

Strategic Plans Aren’t Meant to Be Static

While strategic plans give organizations a clear vision and direction over a longer-term time horizon, they aren’t meant to be static and unchanging.

Organizations don’t implement strategic plans in a vacuum. A range of factors can affect plans during implementation—from unexpected turnover in key staff roles to changes in community needs to broader economic instability. As Entrepreneur Magazine explains:

…because we live in a world that is changing faster and faster, we must adapt our plans in an agile way and harness the power of technology and systems to help us.

Remaining nimble yet grounded by a solid strategic plan, enables leaders to both navigate challenges and seize opportunities. That’s why Funding for Good encourages our clients to think of strategic plans as living documents.

Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years?

When thinking in terms of strategic planning timelines, the classic interview question takes on new meaning: “Where do you see yourself in five years?”

As leaders, having a 3-year or 5-year strategic plan for our organization keeps us focused on the future. And coupling this long-range strategy with clear annual plans enables us to fine-tune our implementation along the way. With these tools, we can learn and adapt without losing sight of our goals.

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Strategic Planning

Strategic planning timeline and events.

• Led by the Jay Gatrell, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, discussed leadership’s expectations for how the committee should move forward. Details were shared on the creation of primary and sub-goals, and the importance of a creating an online dashboard to track progress.
• The committee discussed progress timelines in more detail and brainstormed high-level objectives for systems implementation including better connecting internal constituencies, improving customer service operations, increasing inclusivity, and incorporating students into University business practices. Also discussed: Creating a standardized methodologies framework for plan feedback, as well as the creation of an accountability framework for Strategic Plan development.
• The committee discussed summer outreach initiatives amongst and the identification of meaningful off-campus constituencies, the formulation of 5 to 7 broad goals to send the President’s Council (PC) for early fall 2022 review and feedback, various other internal timelines to regulate the committee’s overall progress, and other fall initiatives including October Town Hall meetings, various community engagement activities, and the delivery of an online survey tool to gather stakeholder feedback and a variety of institutional assessment data.
• To select off-campus constituencies for feedback and assessment.
• Development of a Systems Portfolio subplan and the creation of an assessment methodologies outline using a standardized ADLI approach.
• Surveys distributed to external and internal stakeholders to assess and evaluate EIU’s current position across diverse areas.
• Five to seven broad institutional goals submitted to PC for review and feedback.
• Continued outreach to off-campus constituencies for feedback and assessment; internal outreach for process feedback and assessment, if needed. Development of online survey tool.
• Strategic Planning Task Force Meetings occurred throughout the semester to share feedback and progress and to evaluate relevant feedback from stakeholders and select campus leadership groups.
• Two Town Hall events to highlight the high-level results of the Summer/Fall 2022 external and internal surveys. Results will assist in identifying priorities to move forward to an initial proposed draft. Campus constituencies and public partners can provide additional written feedback via email at   [email protected] . Submissions will be reviewed and included as part of the University’s qualitative data set.
• Emergent themes and initiatives created and shared for further stakeholder feedback.
• Ad-hoc subgroups assembled to further improve draft themes and initiatives language based on holistic feedback.
• Campuswide survey being planned to evaluate current iteration of themes and initiatives drafts, and to begin prioritizing identified thematic initiatives.
• Internal outreach for process feedback and assessment continues.
• Two Town Hall events highlighted more finalized and streamlined versions of the plan themes and prioritized initiatives, and offered an initial set of KPIs supporting each of the initiatives.
• Combine standardized feedback from constituencies, analyze collected process mechanisms for alignment with overarching institutional goals.
• Collected data organized into first draft of EIU’s 2023 Strategic Plan for initial review by EIU's Board of Trustees.
• Board of Trustees approved Plan 2028

The Strategic Planning Committee Task Force invites and encourages participation from any member of the campus community who wishes to assist the University in creating or enhancing the University’s strategic planning model, or in meeting/measuring the University’s strategic initiatives. 

If you have questions about EIU’s Strategic Planning process, or wish to learn more, please email Josh Reinhart, Public Information Coordinator, at  [email protected] .

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How to Strategic Plan in 7 Steps

By Avery Collins, GSA

April 26, 2022

This is the second post in a series highlighting different aspects of strategic planning in the Federal Government. Today, we will meet Agency Alpha, a fictional agency that will help us learn more about the strategic planning process.

L ast week, we met Carson and learned how she used strategic planning to land a new job . We talked about how this same process applies to government agencies and leaders, who use strategic planning to determine their vision for the future and create a strategic plan to serve as their roadmap.

The strategic planning process that agencies follow is more in-depth than most of us use for our personal goals. Today we will be following Agency Alpha, a fictional federal agency that will help illustrate the strategic planning process. While each federal agency approaches strategic planning a little differently and there is not a single best approach, a sound strategic planning process includes the following 7 key steps.

Step 1: Environmental Scan

The first step of any strategic planning process starts with research. Agency Alpha conducts an environmental scan , a process where they identify and monitor factors that may impact the long-term direction of the agency. Agency Alpha starts by looking at the incoming administration’s priorities and potential new regulations. They identify climate change, customer experience, and equity as a few Administration priorities that they would need to incorporate into their future vision.

Step 2: Internal Analysis

Research doesn’t stop after assessing the environment outside of an agency. Agency Alpha also needs to complete an internal analysis , including a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) assessment. They utilize their annual review process to evaluate performance across the agency and engage with staff and senior leadership. They compare their operations with the Administration priorities they identified in step 1, and in this instance they focus specifically on climate.

Step 3: Strategic Direction

Agency Alpha uses what they learned from their environmental scan and internal analysis to create a strategic direction . They meet with staff and stakeholders and use that input to build a vision for the future that is both idealistic and high-impact. They theorize how to align Administration priorities like equity, customer experience, and climate with agency operations. They determine what is actually achievable and what the agency should strive for. Climate is important to the agency employees and those they serve. They see it as a big part of the future, and thus a big part of the vision for Agency Alpha.

Step 4: Develop Goals and Objectives

After determining their strategic direction and vision, Agency Alpha engages with internal stakeholders and senior leadership to create a focused set of goals and objectives . They facilitate focus groups and meet with subject matter experts to come up with strategies, indicators, and desired outcomes for each goal. They use existing processes like staff engagement, communities of practice, and quarterly reviews to get buy-in from across the agency.

Step 5: Define Metrics, Set Timelines, and Track Progress

After the goals and objectives are set, Agency Alpha adds details to their plan. They determine the responsible offices and bureaus for each goal. They identify the necessary resource allocations, create actionable timeframes, and define metrics that best measure success. Agency Alpha appoints Team Beta to lead clean energy initiatives and Team Cobra to lead climate literacy initiatives. They set milestones and timelines to ensure they stay on track.

Step 6: Write and Publish a Strategic Plan

Once Agency Alpha gathers the information in step 5, they write an informed strategic plan that captures the voice and purpose of the agency. Their engagement with staff and stakeholders in steps 2 through 5 gained agency-wide support for the plan to help ensure that the strategic plan does not end up as a stand-alone document.

Step 7: Plan for Implementation and the Future

While drafting their plan, Agency Alpha begins to prepare for how to implement it after publication. They include performance measures that track progress and create a formal system for leadership and staff to annually review the plan and update goals and objectives as needed. Every agency follows a slightly different process, but most have gone through these 7 steps over the last year and a half. Last month, federal agencies published their strategic plans for 2022 to 2026 on performance.gov .

Stay tuned as we explore the importance of strategy and performance in the Federal Government and share agency success stories. The next post in this series will feature the National Endowment for the Arts and look at how staff and external engagement shaped their overall vision for the next four years.

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Strategic Planning Process and Timeline

Our planning process focused on UNC’s vision and goals. It both honored our historical mission and acknowledged that we have become much more. We may need to revisit our mission when this work is done. Similarly, we may find it necessary to update the language of our university values. 

Fall 2019 work was focused on developing a draft vision to take to the Board of Trustees in November. In the fall of 2020, we will finalize draft goals for the Board of Trustees to consider.

The planning process began in September 2019 with a series of campus forums and external discussions, facilitated by the president and provost, to discuss what UNC should aspire to be in 10 years. Campus forums invited participants at tables of 8-10 to discuss visioning questions and record their responses on easel paper to post on the walls. Participants were grouped so responses could be segmented by the following roles: undergraduate students, graduate students, classified staff, exempt staff, tenured faculty, tenure-track faculty, and contract renewable and adjunct faculty. The same (or similar) visioning questions were used for external discussions, as well as for an online survey available during the same time. Feedback was summarized by UNC’s Social Research Lab , a campus-based data collection and analysis service staffed by professionally trained researchers led by Sociology professor Josh Packard.

The PLC used this feedback to draft a vision that includes five to six vision elements reflecting UNC’s highest priorities for 2020-2030. We shared the draft with campus and online survey collected feedback, which the Social Research Lab summarized. In consultation with the PLC, the president and provost used the feedback to refine the draft vision. The Board of Trustees considered it in November 2019.  

At the start of the spring semester, the PLC formed a subgroup for each vision element—adding non-PLC members as needed—to discuss the goals but this work was paused due to the pandemic. In fall 2020, the PLC and the subgroups will revisit each vision element and finalize the draft of goals to discuss with the PLC. The PLC will identify synergies among potential goals and develop a draft to share with campus. Feedback will be collected, summarized and used to refine the draft just as it was in 2019. Work will be completed by the end of the spring semester, and the Board of Trustees will consider the draft goals in June.  

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• Dec. 8 Campus Forum

Campus Input

Members of the campus community came together on the following dates to provide essential feedback during the fall of 2019..

• Sept 10 - Staff and Faculty forum
• Sept. 11-18 - Survey to collect feedback for drafting vision
• Sept 11 - Student forum
• Sept 12 - Staff and faculty forum
• Sept 16 - Staff and faculty forum
• Sept 17 - Student forum
• Sept 18 - Staff and faculty forum
• Oct 14-18 Survey to collect feedback on draft vision
• Oct 14 - Town hall on draft vision

Recap of Planning Timeline - 2019

August 26 - September 10

Prepare for and launch planning   process

• Charge President’s Leadership Council (PLC) as planning steering committee 8/27  
• Launch planning website and begin publicizing forum dates 8/28  
• State of the University Address 9/10

September 10 - 28

Collect and summarize feedback to be used to develop   draft   vision

• Staff/faculty forum   to collect feedback for draft vision   9/10 (3 - 4:30 p.m.)  
• Survey to collect feedback for creating draft vision opens 9/11
• Student forum 9/11 (5 - 6:30 p.m.)  
• S taff/faculty   forum 9/12 (9-10:30 a.m .)  
• Staff/faculty forum 9/16 (2-3:30 p.m.)
• Student forum 9/17 (6-7:30 p.m.)  
• Staff/faculty forum 9/18 (9-10:30 a.m.)  
• Survey   to collect feedback for creating draft vision   closes 9/18  
• Social Research Lab (SRL) works to analyze/summarize feedback  
• Alumni Board discussion   with co-chairs 9/28  

September 30 - October 8

Develop draft vision  

• SRL provides summary to co-chairs and PLC 9/30
• PLC begins work on draft vision (1 st   of 2 discussions) 10/3  
• PLC completes draft vision 10/8 

October 9 - 27

Collect and summarize feedback on draft vision

• Share draft vision electronically with campus 10/9
• Town hall to collect feedback on draft vision 10/14 ( 10-11:30 a.m.)  
• Survey to collect feedback on draft vision opens 10/14  
• Survey to collect feedback on draft vision closes 10/18  
• SRL works to analyze/summarize feedback

October 28 - November 5

Refine draft vision  

• SRL provides summary to co-chairs and PLC 10/28  
• PLC discusses feedback and suggests refinements to draft vision 10/29  
• Co-chairs refine draft vision 11/1-4  
• Co-chairs discuss refined draft vision with PLC 11/5

November 6 - 15 

BOT considers draft vision  

• Share draft vision electronically with campus and BOT 11/6  
• Include draft vision with materials for 11/15 BOT meeting 11/8  
• BOT considers draft vision 11/15  

Common Planning Terms

Common planning terms are defined in many ways. We are using the following definitions: 

• Mission : An enduring statement of why UNC exists
• Values : Enduring core beliefs that guide our actions 
• Vision : An aspirational statement of what we want UNC to become 
• Vision elements : The major building blocks of our vision, each of which describes an institutional priority 
• Goal : An achievement that will move us toward our vision 

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Below are timelines for the strategic planning process. The graphics are an abbreviated timeline of major milestones in the planning process, and the drop down lists provide more details. These timelines are recommendations to help guide your team. The timeline graphics are available for download here . 

Abbreviated Academic Unit and Regional Campus Timeline:

Abbreviated Non-Academic Unit Timeline:

Below are more detailed timelines for all units.

Academic Units & Regional Campuses

• University-wide DEI Strategic Plan Introduced by President Diacon
• Dean/VP/Director download DEI Strategic Planning Guide from website
• Dean/VP/Director appoint Unit Lead
• Review DEI Strategic Planning Guide with Unit Lead
• Assemble DEI Strategic Plan Team
• Submit Unit Lead Information on website

August 2021

• Review available data with the team
• Meet with your unit’s strategic planning team

September 2021

• Conduct first DEI Strategic Plan team meeting
• Draft new Department’s Mission Statement with DEI values embedded
• Attend Strategic Plan Informational Sessions
• Attend Incorporating Equity session in the DEI Strategic Plan workshops series
• Attend Utilizing Data session in the DEI Strategic Plan workshops series
• Attend Setting Goals and Building Accountability session in the DEI Strategic Plan workshops series
• Draft a few Goals options

October 2021

• Continue the Plan with responses to the questions in Areas of Focus
• Attend Building Individual and Organizational Capacity session in the DEI Strategic Plan workshops series
• Determine Goal for Year 2 and Draft Goals for Years 3 & 4
• Determine accountability structure and action items for Year 1
• Determine additional data points needed and methods of collection

November 2021

• Edit and Finalize draft strategic plan
• Review aggregate Climate Study results
• Review Strategic Plan draft with team to note additions needed
• Submit the draft strategic plan on November 19, 2021

December 2021

• Collect any additional data (qualitative), if needed
• Review the Climate Study Report - Notate relevant findings
• Edit the strategic plan based upon team’s recommendations

January 2022

• Review/Present Draft plan to entire unit
• Request entire unit feedback
• Attend the Climate Study Report Release presentation

February 2022

• Review Disaggregated Climate Study report
• Review your Draft DEI Strategic Plan Reviewer Report
• Edit the strategic plan based upon Climate Study recommendations
• Edit your DEI Strategic Plan with Reviewer Report recommendation and team input
• Review/Present the Latest DEI Strategic Plan with your entire unit
• Request feedback from the entire unit
• Incorporate feedback from the entire unit
• Finalize your unit’s DEI Strategic Plan
• Submit Finalized DEI Strategic Plan on July 8, 2022

Non-Academic Units

• Submit the draft strategic plan on October 15, 2021.
• Submit Finalized DEI Strategic Plan on July 8, 2022. 

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Strategic Planning Timelines: 3 Year vs 5 year strategic plans

By Anthony Taylor - October 28, 2022

In today's rapidly changing business landscape, strategic planning has become more crucial than ever before. One of the most important decisions you'll make during the strategic planning process is determining the timeline for your plan. In this article, we'll explore the differences between a three year strategic planning timeline and a 5 year strategic planning timeline, and help you decide which one is right for your organization.

What is a Strategic Planning Timeline?

Can strategic Plan Timelines be less than 3 Years?

What is the most common Strategic Planning timeline? Why Should You Create a Three Year Strategic Plan ?

But before we get into if your organization should go with a 5 year strategic plan over a three year strategic plan, If you've never created a strategic plan or are creating a new one, it's critical to assess your vision, mission, and values before going into your strategy, goals, and tactics. Related Content:

What is the Strategic Planning Process?

Sample strategic planning agenda 2023

A strategic planning timeline is the time span over which your organization plans its actions to increase alignment by building a shared understanding of what has been done in the past and what is planned for the future to support your organization's mission.

Timelines for strategic planning should be focused on the medium to long-term future. Consider your strategic plan to be a living, breathing entity with a finite lifespan. Most strategic plans are designed to last three to five years, though there are exceptions; some can endure much longer, as we'll see later in the article.

Some  organizations  create  plans  that  are  one  year,  five  years,  or  even  up  to  twenty  years  in  the  future.

However, strategic plan timelines are different from operational timelines , strategic plans usually start at the organizational level, While operational plans focus on specific departments and teams and might concentrate on the day-to-day requirements of running your organization. Operational plans are the set of tactics made to work alongside your strategic plan. They focus on short-term actions that drive your strategic plan forward and typically contain more items than strategic plans, ranging from a single to-do to ongoing short, mid, and long-term projects, while strategic priorities are concentrated on a small number of objectives that need to be reviewed on a regular basis. However, for you to successfully move your organization and strategic plan forward, you need to ensure that there is a balance between your strategic and operational plans. 

    Download our free Strategic Planning Template and start your strategic planning process today

What is the most common Strategic Planning timeline? 

At SME Strategy prioritize creating 3-year strategic plans over 5 year strategic plans for most of the organizations we work with. We believe three year strategic plans balance long-range thinking as well as short-term execution better than a 5 year plan. 

If your organization is in the process of selecting what strategic planning timeline to prepare for, there are a few things to think about. In a previous post, we talked about what is the strategic planning process , why it's important and the steps your organization needs to follow before you start your strategic planning process. 

Why Should You Create a Three Year Strategic Plan ?

• Technological Change

Because of the rapid pace at which technology, society, and trends evolve, these numerous external factors make it counterintuitive to create a five-year plan over a three-year plan. Going for a three year strategic plan is a great way to keep your organization’s vision close enough to where it is more attainable, but still giving enough allowance for greater flexibility when it comes to technological change. 

• Lack of Strategic Foresight

When choosing a strategic planning timeline for your organization, keep both the future and the present in mind. That is why we advocate three-year strategic plans for your organization because they balance the long and near term better than a 5-year strategic plan. It's long enough to cover the majority of the tasks required to move your mission forward, but it's also close enough that you can simply implement it over one, two, or three years.

Three to five year strategic plans work well for organizations in most industries. Why? Most organizations go through significant internal change because of the nature of work in 2022. This study reveals that resignation rates among managers have now almost doubled since last year, with the great resignation showing no signs of slowing. If you work in an industry that does not see a lot of change and has a lot of capital investment or traditionally low personnel turnover, such as education , city planning, or Large manufacturing companies, a 5 year strategic plan or longer is ideal.

In conclusion, it is unlikely that your organization requires a 5-year strategic plan. Focusing on three-year plans, making them more feasible, and ensuring that they are adaptable to the market will help you achieve greater success. However, with three-year strategic plans, we still recommend conducting annual comprehensive strategy reviews. This means that while you may have a three year vision and mission that your organization is working towards, you re-asses your priorities, goals and actions on an annual basis, which effectively results in a strategic plan update every year, and a full strategy overhaul every 3 years.

SME Strategy is a strategy consulting company that specializes in aligning teams around their vision, mission, values, goals and action plans. Learn more about how we can help you and your team create a strategic plan with our strategic planning facilitation services.

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• Taking the first steps to reform the Resource Management Act

The Environment Committee is conducting an Inquiry on the Natural and Built Environments Bill: Parliamentary Paper.

River flowing through the Whanganui National Park

Bill information

What is this inquiry about.

The main law that determines how people interact with New Zealand’s natural resources is the Resource Management Act (1991) (RMA). This law sets out the rules around air, soil, freshwater, the coastal and marine area, as well as regulating land use and infrastructure.

In February 2021, the Government announced it intended to replace this Act with three new laws. These would be the:

• Natural and Built Environments Act (NBA), to protect and restore the environment while better enabling development, as the primary replacement for the RMA
• Strategic Planning Act (SPA), to help coordinate and integrate decisions made under relevant legislation, through requiring the development of long-term regional spatial strategies
• Climate Adaptation Act (CAA), to address complex issues associated with managed retreat.

None of these bills has been introduced to Parliament yet. However, a parliamentary paper containing an exposure draft (draft version) of the Natural and Built Environments Bill has been presented to the House.

On 29 June 2021, the House sent the parliamentary paper to the Environment Committee, and asked the committee to carry out an inquiry into it. This inquiry provides an opportunity for the committee to consult the public and receive feedback about the exposure draft of the Natural and Built Environments Bill. An updated Parliamentary paper was presented on 2 July 2021.

What’s happening now?

The Environment Committee’s inquiry into the exposure draft of the Natural and Built Environments Bill is the first step in reform of the resource management system. This inquiry is intended to provide feedback about how the Government’s objectives for resource management reform would be achieved by the exposure draft bill. The Government’s reform objectives include:

• protect, and where necessary, restore the natural environment, including its capacity to provide for the well-being of present and future generations
• better enable development within environmental biophysical limits including a significant improvement in housing supply, affordability and choice, and timely provision of appropriate infrastructure, including social infrastructure
• give effect to the principles of Te Tiriti o Waitangi and provide greater recognition of te ao Māori, including mātauranga Māori
• better prepare for adapting to climate change and risks from natural hazards, and better mitigate emissions contributing to climate change
• improve system efficiency and effectiveness, and reduce complexity, while retaining appropriate local democratic input.

The Environment Committee has also been asked to come up with ideas for making the new system more efficient, affordable, and less complex compared to the current resource management system.

The Inquiry on the Natural and Built Environments Bill: Parliamentary Paper was open for submissions from the public from 1 July 2021 until 4 August 2021. The committee received 3,015 written submissions and heard oral evidence from 301 submitters.

Their report and recommendations to the House were tabled on 1 November 2021.

The submissions and advice received by the committee can be seen on parliament’s website.

Who might this inquiry affect?

The way New Zealand’s resources are managed affects everyone in Aotearoa.

What happens next?

There are plans for a special debate on the report of the Environment Committee on its inquiry into the Natural and Built Environments Bill: Parliamentary Paper. Once a date has been announced you will be able to  watch live or on demand or read the text of the debate .

The Government's response to the Environment Committee's report is due by 16 February 2022.

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