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The Royal Commission on Auckland Governance was established by the New Zealand Government to investigate the local government arrangements of Auckland.
The Labour Government of the time announced a Royal Commission into the governance of Auckland on 30 July 2007 and it appointed three Commissioners and terms of reference at the end of October of that year. The Commissioners were David Shand, Peter Salmon, and Dame Margaret Bazley. [1]
The Commission consulted with the public, including Māori, and, along with a raft of other conclusions, suggested the creation of what became known as "the Auckland Supercity", with the setting up of a single Auckland council to replace the Rodney District Council, North Shore City Council, Waitakere City Council, Auckland City Council, Manukau City Council, Papakura District Council, Franklin District Council and the Auckland Regional Council. [2]
The National Party came into power before the Royal Commission released its recommendations. After the release of the Royal Commission report the government made the following high-level decisions: [3]
Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state.
New Zealand is divided into sixteen regions for local government purposes. Eleven are administered by regional councils, and five are administered by unitary authorities, which are territorial authorities that also perform the functions of regional councils. The Chatham Islands Council is not a region but is similar to a unitary authority, authorised under its own legislation.
Local government in Wales is primarily undertaken by the twenty-two principal councils. The councils are unitary authorities, meaning they are responsible for providing local government services within their principal area, including education, social work, environmental protection, and most highway maintenance. The principal areas are divided into communities, most of which have an elected community council. The services provided by community councils vary, but they will typically maintain public spaces and facilities. Local councils in Wales are elected; the most recent local elections in Wales took place in 2022, and the next are due to take place in 2027.
Territorial authorities are the second tier of local government in New Zealand, below regional councils. There are 67 territorial authorities: 13 city councils, 53 district councils and the Chatham Islands Council. District councils serve a combination of rural and urban communities, while city councils administer the larger urban areas. Five territorial authorities also perform the functions of a regional council and thus are unitary authorities. The Chatham Islands Council is a sui generis territorial authority that is similar to a unitary authority.
Kaipara District is a territorial authority district in the Northland Region of New Zealand.
Tasman District Council is the unitary local authority for the Tasman District of New Zealand.
George Sydney Wood is a former mayor of North Shore City and a former Auckland Councillor. He was the only North Shore City mayor to be elected for three terms and later represented North Shore ward on the Auckland Council between 2010 and 2016. He is now an elected member of the Devonport-Takapuna Local Board.
Andrew Bruce Forbes Williams is a New Zealand former politician. In 2007 he won election as Mayor of North Shore City. Williams served on a community board during 2004–2007, and as a city councillor in the term before that in 2001–2004. North Shore City Council was abolished in October 2010, becoming part of the Auckland "Super City". Williams won election to the New Zealand Parliament on 26 November 2011 as a list MP for the New Zealand First Party, but only served one term.
The Royal Commission on the Amalgamation of the City and County of London was a royal commission which considered the means for amalgamating the ancient City of London with the County of London, which had been created in 1889. The commission reported in 1894. The government headed by Lord Rosebery accepted the recommendations of the commission, but when a Conservative government under Lord Salisbury came to power in 1895 the reforms were almost entirely abandoned.
Local government in New Jersey is composed of counties and municipalities. Local jurisdictions in New Jersey differ from those in some other states because every square foot of the state is part of exactly one municipality; each of the 564 municipalities is in exactly one county; and each of the 21 counties has more than one municipality. New Jersey has no independent cities, or consolidated city-counties.
Dame Margaret Clara Bazley is a New Zealand public servant. She began her career as a psychiatric nurse and rose through the ranks to senior leadership positions at psychiatric hospitals and district health boards. In 1978 she became the Director of Nursing at the Department of Health, the chief nursing position in New Zealand and at that time the most senior position in the public service held by a woman, and in 1984 became the first female State Services Commissioner. She subsequently held top positions at the Department of Transport and the Department of Social Welfare.
Auckland Council is the local government council for the Auckland Region in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority that has the responsibilities, duties and powers of a regional council and so is a unitary authority, according to the Local Government Act 2009, which established the council. The governing body consists of a mayor and 20 councillors, elected from 13 wards. There are also 149 members of 21 local boards who make decisions on matters local to their communities. It is the largest council in Oceania, with a $3 billion annual budget, $29 billion of ratepayer equity, and 9,870 full-time staff as of 30 June 2016. The council began operating on 1 November 2010, combining the functions of the previous regional council and the region's seven city and district councils into one "super council" or "super city".
The 2010 New Zealand local elections were triennial elections to select local government officials and district health board members. All elections are conducted by postal ballot, with election day being Saturday 9 October 2010.
The Mayor of Waitakere City was the head of the former municipal government of Waitakere City, New Zealand, who presided over the Waitakere City Council. The city was New Zealand's fifth largest, and was part of the Auckland region. There were only two mayors of Waitakere City: Assid Corban, 1989–92; and Bob Harvey, 1992–2010. On 1 November 2010, Waitakere City became a part of the Auckland Council.
The Mayor of Manukau City was the head of the municipal government of Manukau City, New Zealand, from 1965 to 2010, and presided over the Manukau City Council. The mayor was directly elected using a first-past-the-post electoral system. The last serving mayor, elected in 2007, was Len Brown. Manukau City Council was abolished on 31 October 2010 and was incorporated into the Auckland Council, for which elections were held on 9 October 2010.
Gisborne District Council is the unitary authority for the Gisborne District of New Zealand. The council consists of a mayor and 13 ward councillors. The district consists of the city of Gisborne and a largely rural region on the east coast of the North Island.
New Zealand has a unitary system of government in which the authority of the central government defines sub-national entities. Local government in New Zealand has only the powers conferred upon it by the New Zealand Parliament. Under the Local Government Act 2002, local authorities are responsible for enabling democratic local decision-making and promoting the social, economic, environmental, and cultural well-being of their communities, as well as more specific functions for which they have delegated authority.
The Local Government Reform Act 2014 is an act of the Oireachtas which provided for a major restructuring of local government in Ireland with effect from the 2014 local elections. It merged some first-tier county and city councils, abolished all second-tier town and borough councils, and created a new second tier of municipal districts covering rural as well as urban areas. It also provided for a plebiscite on whether to create a directly elected executive Mayor of the Dublin Metropolitan Area although this provision was not activated. The act was introduced as a bill on 15 October 2013 by Phil Hogan, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, and signed into law on 27 January 2014 by President Michael D. Higgins. Most of its provisions came into force on 1 June 2014.
In New Zealand, community boards are governed by the provisions of Part 4 of the Local Government Act 2002 and can be created, or dissolved by territorial authorities, 40 out of 78 of which have 111 boards. In addition Auckland has 21 local boards and some councils have community committees.
The 2022 New Zealand local elections were triennial elections held in New Zealand on Saturday 8 October 2022. Voting began by postal vote on 16 September and ended at noon on 8 October 2022.