Simplifying Local Government
Cross boundary issues
What is this issue?
Most district and city councils are contained entirely in one region. A small number of districts have parts of their territory split between two or more regions, as the table below shows.
How would the proposal account for cross-boundary issues?
It is proposed that the mayor of those districts will sit on the CTB for the region where the majority of the district’s population lives. But isolated populations (people who live in a different region from the majority of their district’s population) need representation too. Decisions made by the CTB for their region will affect them.
The table below sets out those districts which have populations in more than one region. The Government needs to determine how these people will be represented in CTB decisions.
|
District |
Regions and approximate populations |
|
Rotorua |
Bay of Plenty – 72,000 |
|
Rangitikei |
Manawatū-Whanganui – 15,600 |
|
Stratford |
Taranaki – 10,000 |
|
Tararua |
Manawatū-Whanganui – 18,700 |
|
Taupō |
Waikato – 38,000 |
|
Waitaki |
Otago – 21,600 |
|
Waitomo |
Waikato – 9,500 |
What are you proposing?
The Government isn’t proposing changes to regional or district boundaries. In the context of local government reform and resource management reform, those are decisions best left to communities to determine in the future (see the section on Improving local government).
Instead, the Government is proposing that isolated populations are represented in one of two ways.
- District adoption: An isolated population is adopted by an adjacent district. That district’s mayor has additional voting power to reflect their adopted community. While isolated populations currently can’t vote for the mayor who will represent them on the CTB, the Government is considering whether this should be allowed.
- Additional representation: A district with isolated populations is represented on all CTBs their district is aligned with. They have a voting share that is proportionate for the areas of their district that are part of that region. Instead of the mayor, it may be a local ward councillor who attends the CTB to represent the interests of the isolated population.
The different approaches reflect the different needs of isolated populations of varying sizes.
To decide which approach is used:
- the Local Government Commission determines which approach is best for each isolated population (as part of its work determining voting power), or
- a threshold is set to determine when each approach is used. For example, isolated populations could be represented by district adoption if there are less than 1,000 people living there and by additional representation if there are more than 1,000 residents.
Further information
You can download the full proposal document and other materials from the Department of Internal Affairs website: www.dia.govt.nz/simplifying-local-government.