Governance Manual

16.1.1 Representation arrangements

1. Representation arrangements relate to the way that councillors and local board members are elected.

2. The council is required to conduct representation reviews at least once every six years [1]. The council resolved in its initial representation proposal on 18 October 2018 [2].

3. Auckland Council’s Governing Body resolved at its 27 February 2020 meeting that no further action be taken to review representation arrangements for the 2022 elections [3]. The next representation review will be prior to the 2025 local elections. Any review must be conducted in accordance with the timeframes set out in legislation [4].

4. Representation arrangements that must be reviewed include [5]:

   • whether councillors are elected on a ward (i.e. division of the district) basis, or for the district as a whole

   • if applicable, the name and boundaries of each ward and the number of councillors to be elected in each wardwhether

   • whether local board members are elected on a subdivision (i.e. division of the local board area) basis or for the local board area as a whole, and the number of members in each local board (between five and 12 [6])

   • if applicable, the name and boundaries of local board subdivisions, and the number of members to be elected in each subdivision

   • the names of local boards.

5. While other councils can review the number of councillors, the number for Auckland Council is fixed in legislation at 20 [7].

6. Councils also have a power to consider dividing the district into one or more Māori wards for electoral purposes [8].

7. Auckland Council’s boundaries and the boundaries and number of local boards can be reviewed only through a local government reorganisation process.

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