This act is about making sure local government works well for everyone in New Zealand. It explains what local government is for and how it should operate.
The act gives local authorities (like your city or district council) the power to decide what they do and how they do it. This means they can choose activities that are right for their area.
The act also makes sure that local authorities have to explain their actions to the people who live in their area. This helps you know what your council is doing and why.
Finally, the act says that local authorities should work to make life better for everyone in their community. This includes looking after social, economic, environmental, and cultural aspects of life. They should do this in a way that thinks about the future as well as the present.
This text is automatically generated. It might be out of date or be missing some parts. Find out more about how we do this.
View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM170872.
1: Title, or
“This law's name is the Local Government Act 2002”
The Parliamentary Counsel Office has made editorial and format changes to this version using the powers under subpart 2 of Part 3 of the Legislation Act 2019.
Note 4 at the end of this version provides a list of the amendments included in it.
This Act is administered by the Department of Internal Affairs.
