The Local Electoral Act 2001 and the Local Government Act 2002 provide the statutory framework for local authorities to undertake reviews of their representation arrangements.
The legislation, administered by the Department of Internal Affairs (DIA), requires a local authority to undertake a representation review at least once every six years and, in the first instance, prior to the 2007 local government elections.
The Local Government Commission (LGC) has issued Guidelines, most recently in June 2005, to assist local authorities to undertake their representation reviews. The Guidelines set out the procedural steps and timelines for the reviews, and describe a best practice process for their conduct. When undertaking reviews, local authorities are required to have regard to the Guidelines in addition to the requirement to meet the relevant statutory provisions of the two Acts.
DIA needs to be aware of the scale and magnitude of the impacts of these Acts on the local government sector and communities. It has therefore implemented a programme to evaluate the impact and outcomes of the legislation. This desktop review of local government’s representation review processes looks at trends in representation and the way that councils determine and consult on their representation arrangements.