Property Council chief executive Leonie Freeman. Photo: Richard Doran Photography
The Property Council said reducing 100 plans down to 17 would lead to more consistency and clarity of decisions.
The government announced it would replace the Resource Management Act with two news laws - the Planning Bill and The Natural Environment Bill - set to be in effect by 2029.
It was being pitched as a way to speed up development and simplify planning.
Chief executive Leonie Freeman said developers were frustrated at the bureaucracy and lack of consistency under the existing legislation.
"What that means is for people who are, for example, trying to buy a house, there's just these added costs after costs after costs which really don't need to be there," she said.
Freeman said in some cities there were multiple interpretations of the same planning rules, and standardisation would reduce inefficiencies.
"The key bit here is that it will provide more clarity for people going forward. So it's not like a lottery when you put in an application for resource consents and whether you get it or not, that sort of consistency of decisions is going to help a lot."
She said stability between ministers as well as bipartisanship would ensure consistency continued from an environmental and development perspective, as stopping and starting would add extra time and costs, making developments of affordable housing more challenging.
However, conservation groups have warned scrapping the Resource Management Act could put environmental protections at risk.
Forest and Bird chief advisor, Richard Capie, told Morning Report, it was a "massive shake up" of New Zealand's core environmental and planning laws.
"[It's] rewriting the rules that protect our rivers and lakes... the rules that are needed to make sure the 4000 amazing threatened species are brought back from the brink."
Capie acknowledged there was a need for reform, but said there were still real concerns.
"The legislation is 750 pages long but there are definitely some key concerns. One is the introduction of regulatory taking - meaning ratepayers will have to pay private owners when certain protections are put in place on land.
"We all have responsibilities and rights as property owners and some of those responsibilities are about protecting what matters to our community."
Capie said it was a "really poorly thought through" idea.
RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop told Morning Report, New Zealand was a liberal democracy that prized the idea of individual freedom and private property right.
"We think we've got the balance wrong with the RMA of which it long ago stopped asking whether or not you need permission to do something, it basically made you go and get permission to do many things...
"Property rights are at the centre of modern advanced economies which are prosperous."
Bishop said he was trying to get the balance right.
For example, Bishop said heritage could change over time, with properties being listed years after owners moved in.
"In my own example in Lower Hutt, a bunch of properties were listed as heritage in Petone five or six years ago, they literally got a letter saying they were and they couldn't do a bunch of things to their own property.
"If you say to someone you can't add a second-storey to your property or you can't paint your house a particular colour, that has an impact on your property so they'll say rightio, we'll give you a rates relief or remission in some cases land swaps, in some cases bonus development rights.
"There are many things that council will be able to do."
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