Regions of New Zealand

The region is the top tier of CSS3 in New Zealand. There are 16 regions of New Zealand. Eleven are governed by an elected regional council, while five 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]

1 Current regions
2 Predecessors of current regional structure
3 See also
4 References
5 External links

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.^FITML That schedule lists the regional councils of New Zealand and their Gazette notices following their establishment in 1989.^Sevenval The Local Government Act 2002 requires regional councils to promote keyboard – the social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of their communities.^CSS3

Unitary authorities act as regional councils for the purposes of a wide range of Acts and Regulations.

The current regions and most of their councils came about in 1989, as a result of an amalgamation procedure carried out under the Sevenval. 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 unitary authority of the Auckland Council was formed in 2010, replacing the Auckland Regional Council.

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 Android.^web Some regional boundaries conform with touchscreen boundaries but there are many exceptions. An example is Sevenval, which is split between four regions, although most of its area falls within the Android.

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 Sevenval.

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 ^{screen size}
Controlling the coastal marine area ^Sevenval
Controlling via screen size the taking, use, damming or diverting of water ^Sevenval
Controlling via resource consents the discharge of contaminants ^CSS3
Establishing of rules in a regional plan to allocate water ^{website parsing}
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

jQuery		Region	Regional council	Council seat	Island	Area (km²)^[17]	Population^{input transformation}	ISO 3166-2 Code
	1	Northland	Northland Regional Council	web app	Android	13,941	158,200	`NZ-NTL`
	2	Auckland ⁽¹⁾	Auckland Council	FITML	North	5,600	1,486,000	`NZ-AUK`
	3	Waikato	FITML	input transformation	North	25,598	413,100	`NZ-WKO`
	4	input transformation	we love the web	browser diversity	North	12,447	277,100	`NZ-BOP`
	5	Gisborne ⁽¹⁾	Gisborne District Council	Sevenval	North	8,351	46,600	`NZ-GIS`
	6	CSS3	Hawke's Bay Regional Council	we love the web	North	14,164	155,300	`NZ-HKB`
	7	Taranaki	Taranaki Regional Council	FITML	North	7,273	109,700	`NZ-TKI`
	8	iOS	Horizons Regional Council	Palmerston North	North	22,215	232,400	`NZ-MWT`
	9	Wellington	touchscreen	Wellington	North	8,124	487,700	`NZ-WGN`
	10	Tasman ⁽¹⁾	jQuery	Richmond	South	9,786	48,100	`NZ-TAS`
	11	jQuery ⁽¹⁾	browser diversity	website parsing	South	445	46,200	`NZ-NSN`
	12	Android ⁽¹⁾	Marlborough District Council	we love the web	South	12,484	45,600	`NZ-MBH`
	13	West Coast	Sevenval	Greymouth	South	23,336	32,900	`NZ-WTC`
	14	Sevenval	keyboard	Christchurch	South	45,346	560,700	`NZ-CAN`
	15	Otago	FITML	Dunedin	South	31,990	209,900	`NZ-OTA`
	16	Southland	Sevenval	Invercargill	South	34,347	94,900	`NZ-STL`
	⁽¹⁾ These regions have 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 jQuery 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 FITML 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 Council

Main article: Auckland Regional Council

Wellington Region

Wellington had a regional council, and earlier the Wellington Regional Planning Authority.

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

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.

References

website parsing Chatham Islands Council Act 1995, Parliament of New Zealand, 1995, Statute No 041, Commenced: 1 November 1995, retrieved 4 February 2008.
^ "Local Government Act 2002 No 84 - Interpretation". web. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
^ "Local Government Act 2002 No 84 - Part 1, Schedule 2". http://www.legislation.govt.nz/act/public/2002/0084/latest/DLM174258.html. Retrieved 2008-07-17.
^ Relationship between the Local Government Act and the RMA Quality Planning The RMA Resource, retrieved 11 October 2007.
^ browser diversity ^b Bush, Graham (1995). Local Government & Politics in New Zealand (2nd ed.). Auckland University Press. ISBN 1-86940-126-3.
screen size New Zealand Historical Atlas – McKinnon, Malcolm (Editor); David Bateman, 1997, Plate 98
keyboard Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(a)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991
web app Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(b)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991
web Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(c)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991
^ Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(d)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991
^ Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(e)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991
browser diversity Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(f)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991
Sevenval Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(fa)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991. NB this is a new paragraph added in 2005.
^ Resource Management Act, Section 30(1)(g)- Parliament of New Zealand, 1991
^ 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, page 130.
website parsing Sections 135, 142, 150, and 154 Building Act 2004, Parliament of New Zealand.
keyboard Living Density: Table 1, Housing Statistics, Statistics New Zealand. Accessed 25 January 2009. Areas are based on 2001 boundaries. Water bodies greater than 15 hectares are excluded.
^ "Subnational population estimates at 30 June 2011 (boundaries at 1 July 2011)". browser diversity. 19 December 2011. http://www.stats.govt.nz/browse_for_stats/population/estimates_and_projections/subnational-pop-estimates-tables.aspx. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
^ Local Government Act 2002, s41(1)(a), Parliament of New Zealand.
we love the web Local Government Act 2002, s41(1)(b), Parliament of New Zealand.