What information can I expect from my Council?
Councils are obliged to ensure their committees have ready access to information on their activities, decision-making process, and opportunity to be involved.
Consultation processes
Those who wish to participate in council consultation processes need to be informed of the issues being considered, the decisions being made, and the processes around them. Councils are required to make information on their decisions, plans, finances and strategies accessible to their communities – this includes the community outcomes process, the LTCCP, the annual plan, and the annual report. They must –
- Provide you with an easy-to-understand summary of their proposals and plans.
- Identify if you are to be affected by a decision, and encourage you to make your views known to the council, provide you with reasons for their decisions.
- Establish and carefully assess all options for dealing with an issue.
Most councils include copies of proposals currently out for consultation on their website, or they are available from the council offices. See Councils A-Z for contact details.
Special Consultative Procedure
Councils must use the special consultative procedure (SCP) set out in the Local Government Act 2002 when making certain decisions. These are set out in section 83 of the Act but generally have high significance to the community, and may have major implications (such as financial).
The purpose of the SPC (special consultative procedure) is to make clear –- The key issues and challenges affecting the present and future social, economic, environmental and cultural well-being of the community.
- How the community wants these matters to be addressed.
- The priorities in each community – ie, the relative importance of individual outcomes.
- The scope of the issues and challenges, as a means of measuring progress.
- How individuals and organisations can contribute – in order to promote better co-ordination.
Steps in an SCP are a minimum requirement and councils may expand on these. Councils must prepare a statement of proposal setting out the issue or decision to be made. The community must be made aware of the issue and how they can made submissions on it. This may involve public notices, making the proposal available for public inspection, etc. All submissions must be acknowledged in writing and all who ask for a hearing on the matter must be given one.
Councils may use SCPs at times other than required in the Act.
Local Governance Statements
All local authorities have to prepare a local governance statement at the beginning of a new council term. This includes information on –
- Council powers including those specific to that council.
- The current electoral system and how it can be changed.
- Current wards or constituencies, and how to change those – including the option of setting up Māori wards or constituencies.
- Members’ roles and the sub-council governance structures that have been adopted – including committees etc.
- Consultation policies.
- Policies for liaising with Māori.
- Management structure.
- Processes for meeting, accessing the council and its members, and accessing official information.
- Approved planning and policy documents.
Local governance statements are publicly available from all councils, and many councils have them on their website.
Official Information
Unless there is a good reason for withholding information, the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987 (LGOIMA) requires that official information must be made available on request.
Councils can withhold official information if certain circumstances apply. This may include if making the information available would be likely to prejudice the maintenance of the law, including the prevention, investigation, and detection of offences, and the right to a fair trial, to endangering the safety of any person.
Find out more information on the Act.
