Review of the Historic Places Act (1993)
The National Party arts, culture and heritage policy during the 2008 election campaign promised a review of the Historic Places Act.
The Ministry for Culture and Heritage is undertaking the review and the Government is considering changes to the way the New Zealand Historic Places Trust operates as a Crown Entity, as well as archaeological consenting processes.
On Friday 9 July 2010 the Minister for Arts, Culture and Heritage Christopher Finlayson announced proposed changes to the archaeological consents process. The press release is available here.
In December 2009, the Cabinet Domestic Policy Commitee considered a paper on reform of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust's governance arrangements.
The paper and minute of the Committee's decision have been released under the Official Information Act 1982 with some deletions. These documents are available here.
The Ministry has developed an initial set of guidelines for Branch committees looking to establish themselves as Charitable Trusts or Incorporated Societies. This is available here.
You can contact the Ministry regarding this review on hpareview@mch.govt.nz