Last year ended with a promise of the largest economic reform in a generation.

It's when the Government unveiled its radical overhaul of resource management laws, which aims to cut the number of consents currently required by 40 to 50%.

Led by RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop, the move will see the decades-old RMA replaced with two laws – one focused on planning, and the other on environment protection.

They’re due to be passed by the end of this year, and operational by 2029.

But what does it all mean? And why has it taken so long to detangle this convoluted law if so many people agreed it needed to be done?

Today on The Front Page, Herald political editor, Thomas Coughlan, is with us to break it down.

Follow The Front Page on iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.

You can read more about this and other stories in the New Zealand Herald, online at nzherald.co.nz, or tune in to news bulletins across the NZME network.

Host: Chelsea Daniels
Editor/Producer: Richard Martin
Producer: Jane Yee

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.