News & Media

The Natural and Built Environment Bill and the Spatial Planning Bill have now been referred to the Environment Select Committee – with a deadline of 30 January for written submissions. “This is a once in a generation planning reform.

Here's a brief explainer on what they are, plus what council belongs in which zone/sector group. 

The Government have introduced two pieces of legislation intended to replace the Resource Management Act. The Government says this reform will create a faster, cheaper and more efficient system but we have some reservations about that. 

Public consultation has opened on the Interim State Highway Speed Management Plan, which includes proposals to reduce speed limits in some areas. 

“This review is a once in a generation chance to move past the two-dimensional way we think about councils,” says LGNZ President Stuart Crosby.

Over the next six weeks, we’ll be running elections for our Metro, Provincial, Rural and Regional Chairs, and for Chairs of each of our six geographic zones.

Find out who Te Maruata Roopu Whakahaere is and how to become a part of the whānui, plus the details around the elections and hui, which is coming up on 6 December. 

We have three sub-committees to National Council – Te Maruata, Young Elected Members, and the Community Board Executive Committee. These sub-committees and networks play an advisory role to National Council on relevant issues and provide support to their member collective.  

LGNZ ran a multi-faceted campaign to increase the diversity of candidates as well as voter turnout this year, but preliminary results still indicate there is a massive gap to bridge between turnout for local elections compared with central government elections.

The Mayors Taskforce for Jobs (MTFJ) Community Recovery Programme began as a small COVID-19 recovery pilot in 2020. It is now a leading example of grassroots community-based employment initiative created through a local and central government partnership.