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Local Government Act 2002

Governance and management of local authorities and community boards - Local boards - Decision making

48I: General scheme

You could also call this:

“How a unitary authority with local boards decides who makes decisions”

You need to know how a unitary authority with local boards makes decisions. The governing body and local boards are both responsible for decision-making. Who makes a decision depends on what kind of decision it is.

Sections 48J to 48O explain the details of this process. Section 48J tells you what decisions the governing body must make. Section 48K tells you what decisions local boards must make. Both of these include decisions about non-regulatory activities in a local board area.

The governing body decides who is responsible for these non-regulatory activities. They can give this responsibility to themselves or to the local board. They make this decision based on rules in section 48L(2). You can find out who is responsible for a decision by looking at the unitary authority’s long-term plan and annual plans.

Local boards need to know what their communities want for the non-regulatory activities they’re responsible for. To do this, they make a local board plan as explained in section 48N. They use this plan to make an agreement with the governing body each year. This agreement, described in section 48O, sets out what activities will happen, how they will be done, and how they will be paid for.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM6236192.

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“What local boards do and are responsible for”

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“The group in charge makes big choices for the local area”

Part 4 Governance and management of local authorities and community boards
Local boards: Decision making

48IGeneral scheme

  1. This section sets out the general scheme of sections 48J to 48O. These are the provisions of this Act that set out how a unitary authority with local boards makes its decisions. This section is by way of explanation only and does not limit or affect the other provisions of this Act or any other enactment.

  2. Both the governing body and the local boards are responsible and democratically accountable for the decision making of the unitary authority. Whether responsibility for making any particular decision rests with the governing body or with 1 or more local boards depends on the nature of the decision being made.

  3. Section 48J sets out the classes of decisions that the governing body must make. Section 48K sets out the classes of decisions that local boards must make. Both sections include a class of decisions in respect of non-regulatory activities of the unitary authority within a local board area. The governing body must allocate responsibility for decisions within this class to either itself or the local board for the area, in accordance with the principles in section 48L(2). The results of the allocation must then be set out in the long-term plan and the annual plans of the unitary authority so that people of each local board area, and any other persons, can easily determine whether the governing body or a local board is responsible for any particular decision of the unitary authority.

  4. To determine local wishes and priorities in relation to the non-regulatory activities for which a local board is allocated responsibility, the board must consult its communities. The local board does this by preparing a local board plan under section 48N. This plan is used as a basis for the board to develop an annual local board agreement with the governing body under section 48O in which the nature, levels, and funding of the activities are set out.

Notes
  • Section 48I: inserted, on , by section 17 of the Local Government Act 2002 Amendment Act 2014 (2014 No 55).