Local Government reorganised: A brief overview of the CTB model

Local government in New Zealand has come a long way since the post-war era, when there were more than 700 local authorities across Aotearoa. That collection of councils included 260 country and borough councils, as well as special purpose road boards, river boards and harbour boards (as well as more than 100 rabbit control boards).

The most significant modern reform was the reorganisation between 1987 and 1989, during which 86 multi-purpose local authorities were established, being territorial authorities, regional councils and unitary authorities. The late 1980s and early 1990s were also a time of significant legislative reform, with alcohol reform (Sale of Liquor Act 1989), environmental reform (Resource Management Act 1991) and building reform (Building Act 1991).

With recent and forthcoming reform (including the water services system and replacement of the RMA) there was little surprise at the 25 November 2025 announcement to reform local government, billed as the most significant since 1989.

At its core, the proposal would replace regional councillors with a board of local mayors – known as a Combined Territories Board (CTB).

What exactly is being proposed?

The proposal involves two key stages.

Stage one

First, regional councillors would be replaced with CTBs made up of mayors from the region’s city and district councils (and possibly Government appointed commissioners). CTBs will be statutory governing bodies, responsible for governing existing regional council functions, including managing natural resources, regional transport planning and civil defence / emergency management. According to central government, multiple layers of councils have created duplication, complexity and inefficiency, which could be addressed by removing a governance layer.

Feedback is sought on the composition of CTBs – a board of mayors is the preferred approach, but the Government is consulting on whether a Crown Commissioner would sit on (or replace) each CTB.  If significant power is given to Crown Commissioners, that would be a major shift in local democratic control to appointed Government control (usually only reserved for when a council is dysfunctional).

Stage two

As a second stage, CTBs will be tasked with developing a “regional reorganisation plan” within two years. CTBs would be required to review current council arrangements and develop a plan to improve the delivery of regional services.

Each regional reorganisation plan will be required to meet certain criteria and will be assessed by the Local Government Commission before approval by the Minister of Local Government. The criteria include whether the plan:

• supports national priorities, strategies and goals;
• is affordable;
• improves services;
• provides clear leadership
• enables local voice;
• meets Treaty obligations; and
• is realistic.

If approved, regional reorganisation plans will be implemented.

Feedback is also sought on decision-making under CTBs, to ensure fair representation. With disparate populations across districts, there is risk that communities are unrepresented on a pure “one mayor, one vote” system. (For example, with “one mayor, one vote”, large metropolitan populations could be outvoted by much smaller rural populations spread across several smaller councils.) The current proposal is that each mayor will have a set number of votes, based on population and adjusted to ensure smaller communities have effective representation.

Our comment

Whispers of local government reform have been around for some time and growing increasingly louder – it is good to finally have the proposal out in the open for consultation.

Sceptically, it is difficult to see how the first stage will have significant impact in terms of addressing duplication, complexity and efficiency of service delivery. While governance will change, operational delivery remains the same in the short term – regional council services will still be required and will continue to be delivered by existing regional councils.

The most important aspect of the reform is the proposal that CTBs will develop regional reorganisation plans that shape the future of local government. While it seems unlikely that rabbit control boards will be re-established, there is the potential for CTBs to propose very different approaches to regional reorganisation across the country. While the current criteria for regional reorganisation plans seem to push decisions towards amalgamation into unitary authorities, a number of approaches may meet the criteria for approval.

Wherever the Government’s current proposal and ultimate reorganisation lands, there are significant structural and substantive changes coming to local government in New Zealand.

Submissions are open on the Government’s proposal until 20 February 2026. If you have questions or would like to discuss this, please contact our specialist Environment and Local Government Team.