Regions of New Zealand

New Zealand

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The region is the top tier of local government in New Zealand. There are 16 regions of New Zealand. Twelve are governed by an elected regional council, while four are governed by territorial authorities (the second tier of local government) which also perform the functions of a regional council and thus are known as unitary authorities. The Chatham Islands Council is similar to a unitary authority, but is authorised under its own enabling legislation.^[1]

Current regions

History and statutory basis

A regional council means one of the regional councils listed in Part 1 of Schedule 2 of the Local Government Act 2002.^[2] That schedule lists the regional councils of New Zealand and their Gazette notices following their establishment in 1989.^[3] The Local Government Act 2002 also requires regional councils to promote sustainable development – the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of their communities.^[4]

The current regions and their councils came about in 1989, as a result of an amalgamation procedure carried out under the Local Government Act 1974. The regional councils replaced the more than 700 ad-hoc bodies which had been formed in the preceding century - roads boards, catchment boards, drainage boards, pest control boards, harbour boards, domain and reserve boards.^[5] In addition they took over some roles which had previously been performed by county councils. The geographic extent of the regions was based largely on drainage basins, the regional boundaries being major drainage divides such as the Southern Alps. This anticipated the responsibilities of the Resource Management Act 1991.^[6] Some regional boundaries conform with territorial authority boundaries but there are many exceptions. Territorial authority boundaries may be adjusted to conform with the regional boundaries. An example is the Franklin District, which lies in both the Auckland Region and the Waikato Region: in 2010 this district is scheduled to be dissolved and its extent divided between a new Auckland territorial authority and the Waikato District.

Responsibilities

Regional authorities are primarily responsible for environmental management, including water, contaminant discharge and coastal management, river and lake management including flood and drainage control, regional land management; regional transport (including public transport) and harbours, biosecurity or pest management; while territorial authorities are responsible for: local-level land use management (urban and rural planning); network utility services such as water, sewerage, stormwater and solid waste management; local roads; libraries; parks and reserves; and community development. Property rates (land taxes) are used to fund both regional and territorial government activities. There is often a high degree of co-operation between regional and territorial councils as they have complementary roles.

Resource management functions

Regional Councils have these specific functions under the Resource Management Act 1991.

• Planning for the integrated management of natural and physical resources ^[7]
• Planning for regionally significant land uses ^[8]
• Soil conservation, water quality and quantity, water ecosystems, natural hazards, hazardous substances ^[9]
• Controlling the coastal marine area ^[10]
• Controlling via resource consents the taking, use, damming or diverting of water ^[11]
• Controlling via resource consents the discharge of contaminants ^[12]
• Establishing of rules in a regional plan to allocate water ^[13]
• Controlling via resource consents the beds of waterbodies ^[14]

Other functions

Regional councils also have responsibility for a number of other functions under other statutes;^[15]

• flood and river control under the Soil Conservation and Rivers Control Act 1941,
• reserves vested in regional councils under the Reserves Act 1977,
• civil defence under the Civil Defence Act 1990,
• regional pest management under the Biosecurity Act 1993,
• harbour and water navigation under the Maritime Transport Act 1994,
• hazardous waste under the HSNO Act 1996, and,
• public transport planning under the Land Transport Act 1998.

Regional councils were also given responsibilities for the supervision of the safety of dams in the Building Act 2004.^[16]

List of regions

		Region	Regional council	Council seat	Island	Area (km²)[17]	Population[18]	ISO 3166-2 Code
	1	Northland	Northland Regional Council	Whangarei	North	13,941	157,300	NZ-NTL
	2	Auckland	Auckland Regional Council	Auckland	North	5,600	1,462,000	NZ-AUK
	3	Waikato	Environment Waikato	Hamilton	North	25,598	409,300	NZ-WKO
	4	Bay of Plenty	Bay of Plenty Regional Council	Whakatane	North	12,447	275,000	NZ-BOP
	5	Gisborne (1)	Gisborne District Council	Gisborne	North	8,351	46,600	NZ-GIS
	6	Hawke's Bay	Hawke's Bay Regional Council	Napier	North	14,164	154,800	NZ-HKB
	7	Taranaki	Taranaki Regional Council	Stratford	North	7,273	109,100	NZ-TKI
	8	Manawatu-Wanganui	Horizons Regional Council	Palmerston North	North	22,215	231,500	NZ-MWT
	9	Wellington	Wellington Regional Council	Wellington	North	8,124	483,200	NZ-WGN
	10	Tasman (1)	Tasman District Council	Richmond	South	9,786	47,300	NZ-TAS
	11	Nelson (1)	Nelson City Council	Nelson	South	445	45,500	NZ-NSN
	12	Marlborough (1)	Marlborough District Council	Blenheim	South	12,484	45,300	NZ-MBH
	13	West Coast	West Coast Regional Council	Greymouth	South	23,336	32,700	NZ-WTC
	14	Canterbury	Canterbury Regional Council	Christchurch	South	45,346	565,800	NZ-CAN
	15	Otago	Otago Regional Council	Dunedin	South	31,990	207,400	NZ-OTA
	16	Southland	Southland Regional Council	Invercargill	South	34,347	94,200	NZ-STL
	(1) These regions are unitary authorities.

Areas outside regional boundaries

New Zealand has a number of outlying islands that are not included within regional boundaries. The Chatham Islands is not in a region, although its council has some of the powers of a regional council under the Resource Management Act. The Kermadecs and the sub-Antarctic islands are inhabited only by a small number of Department of Conservation staff. The Conservation Minister is empowered to act as a regional council for these islands.

Governance

Regional councils are popularly elected every three years in accordance with the Local Electoral Act 2001.^[19] Councils may use a first past the post or single transferable vote system. The chairperson of a regional council is selected by the elected council members.^[20]

Predecessors of current regional structure

Auckland Regional Authority

Wellington Regional Council

United Councils

In 1978, legislation was passed enabling the formation of regions with United Councils. 20 regions were designated, excluding the ARA and WRC areas. For most of the country this was the first regional level of government since the abolition of provinces in 1876. United Councils were not directly elected bodies - they consisted of appointed councillors from the various Territorial Local Authorities within the region.

The only responsibilities mandated by the legislation were coordination of civil defence and development of a regional plan, although the constituent TLAs could agree on additional responsibilities at the point of formation of each United Council. For example, in a number of cases the United Council took responsibility for the allocation of revenue from regional petrol taxes.

The United Councils were based in the facilities of the largest TLA in the region and largely dependent on the TLAs for resources. They were allowed to levy rates but in most cases had minimal operating budgets (below $100,000 per annum). The notable exception was Canterbury, where the United Council had a number of responsibilities. Only one united council undertook any direct operational activity - a forestry project in Wanganui.^[5]

List of United Councils

Source: Summary of the Functions and Activities of United Councils Dept of Internal Affairs, 1984.

See also

• Provinces of New Zealand
• Territorial authorities of New Zealand
• Local Government New Zealand
• List of towns in New Zealand

References

Regions of New Zealand North Island Northland · Auckland¹ · Waikato · Bay of Plenty · Gisborne¹ · Hawke's Bay · Taranaki · Manawatu-Wanganui · Wellington South Island Tasman¹ · Marlborough¹ · Nelson¹ · West Coast · Canterbury · Otago · Southland ¹ Unitary authorities.

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