RegionalCouncil

A subset of NationalMap consisting of Regional Council Administrative Boundaries. These are the largest administration units as legally defined by government. They are released annually on the 1st of January to coincide with the update of meshblocks, but there are not always changes from the previous classification.

Regional Councils were established in November 1989 after the abolition of the 22 local government regions. The Local Government Act 2002 requires the boundaries of regions to conform as far as possible to one or more water catchments. When determining regional boundaries, the Local Government Commission gave consideration to regional communities of interest when selecting water catchments to be included in a region. It also considered factors such as natural resource management, land use planning and environmental matters.

Regional councils are defined at meshblock and area unit level. The seaward boundaries of the Regional Councils are the outer limits of the territorial sea of New Zealand (12 mile limit).

Regional councils cover every territorial authority in New Zealand with the exception of Chatham Islands Territory. Generally regional councils contain complete territorial authorities. Where territorial authorities straddle regional council boundaries, the affected area has been statistically defined in complete area units.