Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Local Government Act 2002

Structure and reorganisation of local government - Structure of local government

21: Local authorities

You could also call this:

“New Zealand has two kinds of local government groups: regional councils and territorial authorities”

New Zealand’s local government is made up of two types of local authorities: regional councils and territorial authorities.

If you live in New Zealand, your area is part of a territorial authority’s district. It’s also part of one or more regional councils’ regions. The only exception to this is the Chatham Islands.

The boundaries of regions and districts are set out in Part 3 of Schedule 2 of this law.

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 It might be out of date or be missing some parts.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=DLM171829.

Topics:
Government and voting > Local councils
Previous

20: Outline of Part, or

“This part explains how local government is set up and can change in New Zealand”

Next

22: Minister is territorial authority in certain cases, or

“The Minister takes care of places without local councils, except for some special areas”

Part 3 Structure and reorganisation of local government
Structure of local government

21Local authorities

  1. Local government in New Zealand consists of the following local authorities:

  2. regional councils; and
    1. territorial authorities.

      1. Every part of New Zealand (other than the Chatham Islands) that is within the district of a territorial authority must also be within the region of 1 or more regional councils.

      2. Part 3 of Schedule 2 applies to the boundaries of regions and districts.