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Regions
Location	New Zealand
Number	16
Populations	34,800 (West Coast) – 1,798,300 (Auckland)
Areas	450 km (172 sq mi) (Nelson) – 45,350 km (17,508 sq mi) (Canterbury)
Government	Regional councils and unitary authorities

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v t e

New Zealand is divided into sixteen regions for local government purposes. Eleven are administered by regional councils, and five are administered by unitary authorities, which are territorial authorities that also perform the functions of regional councils. The Chatham Islands Council is not a region but is similar to a unitary authority, authorised under its own legislation.

Current regions

History and statutory basis

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

The current regions and most of their councils came into being through a local government reform in 1989 that took place 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. In addition they took over some roles that had previously been performed by county councils.

The boundaries of the regions are based largely on drainage basins. This anticipated the responsibilities of the Resource Management Act 1991. Most regional boundaries conform with territorial authority boundaries but there are a number of exceptions. An example is Taupo District, split between four regions, although most of its area is in the Waikato region. 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
• Planning for regionally significant land uses
• Soil conservation, water quality and quantity, water ecosystems, natural hazards, hazardous substances
• Controlling the coastal marine area
• Controlling via resource consents the taking, use, damming or diverting of water
• Controlling via resource consents the discharge of contaminants
• Establishing of rules in a regional plan to allocate water
• Controlling via resource consents the beds of waterbodies

Other functions

Regional councils have responsibility for functions under other statutes;

• 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.

List of regions

Notes:

(1) These regions have unitary authorities.

(2) The Gisborne Region is still widely but unofficially known by its former name East Cape or as the 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 1991. The Kermadecs and the subantarctic islands are inhabited only by a small number of Department of Conservation staff and there is no regional council for these islands.

Governance

Regional councils are popularly elected every three years in accordance with the Local Electoral Act 2001, except for the Canterbury regional council, which is a mixture of elected councillors and government appointed commissioners. Councils may use a first-past-the-post or single transferable vote system. The chairperson is selected by the elected council members.

Finances

Regional councils are funded through property rates, subsidies from central government, income from trading, and user charges for certain public services. Councils set their own levels of rates, though the mechanism for collecting it usually involves channelling through the territorial authority collection system.

Predecessors of current structure

Auckland

The Auckland Regional Council (now the Auckland 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.

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.

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

See also

• List of regions of New Zealand by Human Development Index
• Local Government New Zealand
• Provinces of New Zealand

References

1. "2013 Census definitions and forms: U". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
2. "About local government in New Zealand". Local Government Commission. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
3. Chatham Islands Council Act 1995 Archived 12 July 2012 at archive.today, Parliament of New Zealand, 1995, Statute No 041, Commenced: 1 November 1995, retrieved 4 February 2008.
4. "Local Government Act 2002 No 84 - Interpretation". Retrieved 17 July 2008.
5. "Local Government Act 2002 No 84 - Part 1, Schedule 2". Retrieved 17 July 2008.
6. Relationship between the Local Government Act and the RMA Archived 25 March 2006 at the Wayback Machine Quality Planning The RMA Resource, retrieved 11 October 2007.
7. ^ Bush, Graham (1995). Local Government & Politics in New Zealand (2nd ed.). Auckland University Press. ISBN 1-86940-126-3.
8. OECD Territorial Reviews OECD Territorial Reviews: The Metropolitan Region of Rotterdam-The Hague, Netherlands. OECD Publishing. 2016. p. 169. ISBN 9789264249387.
9. New Zealand Historical Atlas – McKinnon, Malcolm (Editor); David Bateman, 1997, Plate 98
10. "Property Asset Management Plan 2015-2025" (PDF). Taupo District Council. November 2017. p. 2. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
11. Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(a)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991
12. Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(b)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991
13. Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(c)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991
14. Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(d)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991
15. Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(e)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991
16. Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(f)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991
17. Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(fa)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991. NB this is a new paragraph added in 2005.
18. Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(g)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991
19. Harris, R. (2004) 'Local government and development legislation', Chapter 3G, Handbook of Environmental Law, Editor Harris, R., ISBN 0-9597851-8-3, Royal Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand, Wellington 2004, p. 130.
20. Sections 135, 142, 150, and 154 Building Act 2004, Parliament of New Zealand.
21. "Regional Council 2020 Clipped (generalised)". Stats NZ. 30 January 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
22. "Aotearoa Data Explorer". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
23. Soutar, Monty (1 March 2015). "East Coast places - Gisborne". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
24. "NZ Outlying Islands Regional Information & Travel Information". www.tourism.net.nz. New Zealand Tourism Guide. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
25. Local Government Act 2002, s41(1)(a), Parliament of New Zealand
26. Gorman, Paul (30 March 2010). "ECan councillors sacked". The Press. Retrieved 17 August 2010
27. Local Government Act 2002, s41(1)(b), Parliament of New Zealand.
28. "Local Government (Rating) Act 2002". localcouncils.govt.nz. Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
29. "Auckland Regional Authority, 1988". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 4 April 2020.
30. Parks Network Plan (PDF). Greater Wellington Regional Council. 2011. p. 10. Retrieved 3 May 2014.

v t e Regions of New Zealand
North Island	Northland Auckland* Waikato Bay of Plenty Gisborne* Hawke's Bay Taranaki Manawatū-Whanganui Wellington
South Island	Tasman* Nelson* Marlborough* West Coast Canterbury Otago Southland
* Governed by a unitary authority rather than a regional council

v t e Administrative divisions of the Realm of New Zealand

Countries  New Zealand  Cook Islands  Niue Regions 11 non-unitary regions 5 unitary regions Chatham Islands Kermadec Islands NZ Subantarctic Islands Manawatāwhi / Three Kings Islands  Tokelau Ross Dependency 15 islands 14 villages Territorial authorities 11 cities and 50 districts 1 metropolitan area, 1 city, and 3 districts Notes Seven districts lie in more than one region These combine the regional and the territorial authority levels in one Special territorial authority New Zealand outlying islands outside any regional authority (the outlying Solander Islands form a part of the Southland Region) Non-self-governing territory of New Zealand New Zealand's Antarctic dependency States in free association with New Zealand

v t e Articles on first-level administrative divisions of Oceanian countries
Australasia	Australia New Zealand
Melanesia	Fiji Papua New Guinea Solomon Islands Vanuatu Also in Asia Indonesia East Timor
Micronesia	Marshall Islands Federated States of Micronesia Nauru Palau Also in Polynesia Kiribati
Polynesia	Niue Samoa Tonga Tuvalu
Table of administrative country subdivisions by country

• Regions of New Zealand
• Lists of subdivisions of New Zealand
• Administrative divisions in Oceania
• First-level administrative divisions by country