Territorial authority

Territorial authorities are the second tier of local government in New Zealand, below regional councils. There are 67 territorial authorities: 12 city councils, 53 district councils, Auckland Council and Chatham Islands Council. Six territorial authorities (Auckland Council, Nelson City Council, the Gisborne, Tasman, and Marlborough district councils and Chatham Islands Council) also perform the functions of a regional council and thus are unitary authorities. A unitary authority may also have local boards; currently only Auckland Council has them.

Territorial authority districts are not subdivisions of regions, and some of them fall within more than one region. Taupo District has the distinction of straddling the boundaries of four different regions (see below). Regional council areas are based on water catchment areas, whereas territorial authorities are based on community of interest and road access. Regional councils are responsible for the administration of many environmental and public transport matters, while the territorial authorities administer local roading and reserves, sewerage, building consents, the land use and subdivision aspects of resource management, and other local matters. Some activities are delegated to council-controlled organisations.

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.' The main islands are listed below (population according to 2001 census in parenthesis):

In addition, seven of the nine groups of the New Zealand Outlying Islands are outside of any territorial authority:

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