Territorial authorities of New Zealand

Territorial authorities (Māori: mana ā-rohe) are a tier of local government in New Zealand, alongside regional councils.

Regional councils are responsible for the administration of many environmental and public transport matters, while the territorial authorities administer local roading and reserves, water supply and sanitation, building consents, the land use and subdivision aspects of resource management, and other local matters.

[4] The new district and city councils were generally much larger and most covered substantial areas of both urban and rural land.

City also came to be used in a less formal sense to describe major urban areas independent of local body boundaries.

Incomplete list: Reports on completed reorganisation proposals since 1999 are available on the Local Government Commission's site (link below).

[20] Under the terms of the Local Government Act 2002, district councils have to represent the interests of their future communities and consider the views of people affected by their decisions.

(km2)[28] There are a number of islands where the Minister of Local Government is the territorial authority, two of which have a 'permanent population and/or permanent buildings and structures.'

Mayors in New Zealand are directly elected—at-large, by all eligible voters within a territorial authority—in the local elections to a three-year term.

[29] The Local Government Act 2002 defines the role of a mayor as having to provide leadership to the other elected members of the territorial authority, be a leader in the community and perform civic duties.