Territorial Authorities in New Zealand are, sorted by their encompassing regions, are as below. There are 59 district council areas, including unitary authorities. Note that each territorial authority is a separate legal entity from the encompassing regional council, except for unitary authorities, which are territorial authorities also carrying the functions of a regional council. Also note that some territorial authorities have more than one encompassing region, for example, Franklin District Council is encompassed by both the Auckland and Waikato regional councils. Trading names are as indicated. Chatham Islands Council has no encompassing region.

See also: List of cities in New Zealand, List of regions in New Zealand and (for historical information only) List of provincial districts in New Zealand.

Table of contents
1 Territorial Authorities
2 Changes since 1989
3 External Links and Sources

Territorial Authorities

North Island

South Island

Stewart Island

Chatham Islands

[*] With the exception of Hutt City Council and Chatham Islands Council, all territorial authorities are directly named after the area they cover. Hutt City Council covers Lower Hutt City (Lower Hutt City (Name of City Council) Act 1991). The Chatham Islands Council covers a district known as Chatham Islands Territory, and has no encompassing region (Chatham Islands Council Act 1995).

Offshore islands

There are eight islands where the Minister of Local Government is the territorial authority, three of which have a 'significant population and/or permanent buildings and structures.'
  • Mayor (Tuhua) Island
  • Motiti Island
  • White Island

Changes since 1989

Since the
1989 amalgamations conducted by the Local Government Commission, there have been few major reorganisations or status changes in local government. Incomplete list:
  • 1991: Invercargill re-proclaimed a city.
  • 2003: Tauranga recommended by the commission for restoration of city status (yet to be gazetted by the Minister for Local Government).

External Links and Sources