Regions of New Zealand

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New Zealand, although a unitary state, is divided into sixteen regions for devolved local government. Eleven are administered by regional councils (the top tier of local government), and five are administered by unitary authorities, which are territorial authorities (the second tier of local government) that also perform the functions of regional councils.^[1][2] The Chatham Islands Council is similar to a unitary authority, authorised under its own legislation.^[3]

Current regions

History and statutory basis

The regional councils are listed in Part 1 of Schedule 2 of the Local Government Act 2002,^[4] along with reference to the Gazette notices that established them in 1989.^[5] The Act requires regional councils to promote sustainable development – the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of their communities.^[6]

The current regions and most of their councils came about as a result of an amalgamation procedure under the Local Government Act 1974. The regional councils replaced the more than 700 ad-hoc bodies that had been formed in the preceding century – roads boards, catchment boards, drainage boards, pest control boards, harbour boards, domain and reserve boards.^[7] In addition they took over some roles that had previously been performed by county councils. Auckland Regional Council, formed in 1989, was replaced by Auckland Council, a unitary authority, in 2010.

The boundaries of the regions are based largely on drainage basins. This anticipated the responsibilities of the Resource Management Act 1991.^[8] Most regional boundaries conform with territorial authority boundaries but there are many exceptions. An example is Taupo District, split between four regions, although most of its area is in the Waikato region.

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. 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 ^[9]
• Planning for regionally significant land uses ^[10]
• Soil conservation, water quality and quantity, water ecosystems, natural hazards, hazardous substances ^[11]
• Controlling the coastal marine area ^[12]
• Controlling via resource consents the taking, use, damming or diverting of water ^[13]
• Controlling via resource consents the discharge of contaminants ^[14]
• Establishing of rules in a regional plan to allocate water ^[15]
• Controlling via resource consents the beds of waterbodies ^[16]

Other functions

Regional councils have responsibility for functions under other statutes;^[17]

• 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,
• public transport planning under the Land Transport Act 1998, and
• supervision of the safety of dams under the Building Act 2004.^[18]

List of regions

		Region	Regional council	Chair	Council seat	Island	Area (km²)[19]	Population[20]	ISO 3166-2 Code
	1	Northland	Northland Regional Council	Bill Shepherd [21]	Whangarei	North	13,941	166,100	NZ-NTL
	2	Auckland (1)	Auckland Council	Len Brown	Auckland	North	5,600	1,527,100	NZ-AUK
	3	Waikato	Waikato Regional Council	Peter Buckley	Hamilton	North	25,598	430,800	NZ-WKO
	4	Bay of Plenty	Bay of Plenty Regional Council	John Cronin	Whakatane	North	12,447	282,300	NZ-BOP
	5	Gisborne (1) (2)	Gisborne District Council	Meng Foon	Gisborne	North	8,351	47,100	NZ-GIS
	6	Hawke's Bay	Hawke's Bay Regional Council	Fenton Wilson	Napier	North	14,164	159,000	NZ-HKB
	7	Taranaki	Taranaki Regional Council	David MacLeod	Stratford	North	7,273	114,800	NZ-TKI
	8	Manawatu-Wanganui	Horizons Regional Council	Bruce Gordon	Palmerston North	North	22,215	232,200	NZ-MWT
	9	Wellington	Greater Wellington Regional Council	Fran Wilde	Wellington	North	8,124	491,500	NZ-WGN
	10	Tasman (1)	Tasman District Council	Richard Kempthorne	Richmond	South	9,786	49,100	NZ-TAS
	11	Nelson (1)	Nelson City Council	Rachel Reese	Nelson	South	445	49,300	NZ-NSN
	12	Marlborough (1)	Marlborough District Council	Alistair Sowman	Blenheim	South	12,484	44,800	NZ-MBH
	13	West Coast	West Coast Regional Council	Ross Scarlett	Greymouth	South	23,336	32,800	NZ-WTC
	14	Canterbury	Canterbury Regional Council	Margaret Bazley	Christchurch	South	45,346	574,300	NZ-CAN
	15	Otago	Otago Regional Council	Stephen Woodhead	Dunedin	South	31,990	211,700	NZ-OTA
	16	Southland	Southland Regional Council	Ali Timms	Invercargill	South	34,347	96,500	NZ-STL
	(1) These regions have unitary authorities; (2) The Gisborne Region is still widely but unofficially known by its former name (East Cape) or as East Coast.

Areas outside regional boundaries

Some outlying islands 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 subantarctic islands are inhabited only by a small number of Department of Conservation staff, and 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.^[22] Councils may use a first past the post or single transferable vote system. The chairperson is selected by the elected council members.^[23]

Predecessors of current structure

Auckland

The Auckland Regional Council was preceded by the Auckland Regional Authority (ARA), which existed from 1963 to 1989.

Wellington

The Wellington Regional Council was first formed in 1980 from a merger of the Wellington Regional Planning Authority and the Wellington Regional Water Board.^[24]

United councils

In 1978, legislation was passed enabling the formation of regions with united councils. Twenty regions were designated, excluding the Auckland and Wellington areas. For most of the country this was the first regional level of government since the abolition of provinces in 1876. Councillors were not elected directly – they were appointed from the various territorial local authorities (TLAs) 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.^[7]

List of united councils

Region	United council formed	Rates levy (1982/83)
Northland	January 1980	$118,000
Thames Valley	July 1980	$46,000
Waikato	October 1980	$36,000
Bay of Plenty	August 1979	$17,000
Tongariro	November 1979	$50,000
East Cape	August 1979	$16,000
Hawkes Bay	December 1983	–
Taranaki	February 1979	$60,000
Wanganui	May 1979	$81,000
Wairarapa	November 1978	$33,000
Manawatu	May 1981	0
Horowhenua	June 1980	$47,000
Nelson Bays	November 1978	$84,000
Marlborough	December 1978	$30,000
Canterbury	May 1979	$605,000
West Coast	November 1978	$32,000
Aorangi	1983	–
Coastal / North Otago	April 1983	–
Clutha / Central Otago	November 1980	$33,000
Southland	May 1979	$88,000

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

External links

• Regional Councils of New Zealand at the Department of Internal Affairs

Regions of New Zealand North Island Northland Auckland* Waikato Bay of Plenty Gisborne* Hawke's Bay Taranaki Manawatu-Wanganui Wellington South Island Tasman* Marlborough* Nelson* West Coast Canterbury Otago Southland * Governed by a unitary authority rather than a regional council

Administrative divisions of the Realm of New Zealand
Sovereign States	New Zealand									Cook Islands	Niue
Regions	11 non-unitary regions	5 unitary regions	Chatham Islands		Outlying islands outside any regional authority (the Kermadec Islands, Three Kings Islands, and Sub-Antarctic Islands)	Ross Dependency	Tokelau			15 islands	14 villages
Territorial authorities	13 cities and 53 districts
Notes	Some districts lie in more than one region	These combine the regional and the territorial authority levels in one	Special territorial authority		The outlying Solander Islands form part of the Southland Region	New Zealand's Antarctic territory	Non-self-governing territory of New Zealand			States in free association with New Zealand

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