Plain language law

New Zealand law explained for everyone

Local Government Act 2002

Structure and reorganisation of local government - Structure of local government

23: Description of local government

You could also call this:

“How New Zealand's local government is set up and what different types of councils there are”

In New Zealand, local government is organised in different ways. You might live in a city or a district, and each has its own type of council.

If you live in a city, your council is called a City Council. For example, if you live in Wellington, your council is called the Wellington City Council.

If you live in a district, your council is called a District Council. For example, if you live in Taupō, your council is called the Taupō District Council.

Sometimes, a new type of council is created. If this happened after 1 July 2013, it’s just called a Council. For example, it might be called the Napier Council.

There are also bigger areas called regions. These have Regional Councils. For example, if you live in Canterbury, you have the Canterbury Regional Council.

In some places, there are smaller local areas with their own boards. These are called Local Boards. For example, you might have the Waiheke Local Board.

There are two special cases: Auckland and the Chatham Islands. Even though they’re called the Auckland Council and the Chatham Islands Council, they work like city or district councils.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM171831.

Topics:
Government and voting > Local councils
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“The Minister takes care of places without local councils, except for some special areas”

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“Rules for changing local government to make it work better for everyone”

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

23Description of local government

  1. A territorial authority must be either a city council or a district council.

  2. A territorial authority that is a city council must be described as the [name of city] City Council.

  3. A territorial authority that is a district council must be described as the [name of district] District Council.

  4. However, a territorial authority created as a unitary authority after 1 July 2013 must be described as [name of city or district] Council.

  5. A regional council must be described as the [name of region] Regional Council.

  6. A local board must be described as the [name of local board area] Local Board.

  7. Despite subsection (1), the Auckland Council and the Chatham Islands Council are territorial authorities.

Compare
Notes
  • Section 23(3A): inserted, on , by section 10 of the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Act 2012 (2012 No 93).
  • Section 23(4A): inserted, on , by section 13 of the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Act 2014 (2014 No 55).
  • Section 23(5): substituted, on , by section 113(1) of the Local Government (Auckland Transitional Provisions) Act 2010 (2010 No 37).