Territorial Authority Subdivision 2026

Description Refer to the current geographies boundaries table for a list of all current geographies and recent updates. This dataset is the definitive version of (territorial authority) subdivision boundaries as at 1 January 2026, as defined by the territorial authorities and/or Local Government Commission and maintained by Stats NZ. This version contains 87 subdivisions, excluding ‘area outside subdivision’. Subdivisions are set up under the Local Government Act 2002 and Local Electoral Act 2001. They are provided to ensure fair geographical representation on a community or local board. A subdivision is a division of a community or local board area for electoral purposes. As such, they nest within community or local boards. Subdivision boundaries are reviewed in the year before the three-yearly local government elections. A number of territorial authorities do not have subdivisions, and if they do, the subdivisions do not necessarily cover the whole territorial authority area. Where a community or local board is divided into subdivisions all of the community or local board area must be included in a subdivision. There was a large increase in the number of subdivisions between 2010 and 2011. This was due to the creation of the Auckland Council to replace Auckland Regional Council and seven territorial authorities in 2010. Twenty-one local boards were established, a number of which contain subdivisions. Territorial authority subdivisions are defined at meshblock level and do not coincide with the statistical area geographies. Numbering Subdivisions are numbered based on their corresponding territorial authority. Each subdivision has a unique five-digit number. The first three digits refer to the territorial authority that the subdivision lies within. The following two digits are sequential and represent the number of subdivisions within the territorial authority. For example, Nameless District (084) has two subdivisions numbered 08401 and 08402. If part of Nameless District is not represented by a subdivision it is coded 08499 ‘Area outside subdivision’. The descriptor ‘Area outside subdivision’ is applied to each individual territorial authority that has any areas outside subdivisions or does not have any subdivisions. There is also a code of 99999 for those areas outside of territorial authority areas. Maintenance The Local Electoral Act 2001 provides for subdivision boundaries to be reviewed before every second triennial local government election. The territorial authority subdivision classification is released when there are updates for local body elections, or when a boundary or name change is initiated by another geography update. For example, if a territorial authority boundary is changed as part of a local government reorganisation. Lineage These boundaries are derived from the meshblock pattern. Using spatial processing tools, the meshblocks are dissolved to form higher-level geographies. The original vertices delineating the meshblock boundary pattern were digitised in 1991 from 1:5,000 scale urban maps and 1:50,000 scale rural maps. The magnitude of error of the original digital points would have been in the range of +/- 10 metres in urban areas and +/- 25 metres in rural areas. Where meshblock boundaries coincide with cadastral boundaries the magnitude of error will be within the range of 1–5 metres in urban areas and 1-100 metres in rural areas, this being the estimated magnitude of error in Landonline. High-definition version This high definition (HD) version is the most detailed geometry, suitable for use in GIS for geometric analysis operations and for the computation of areas, centroids and other metrics. Liability While care has been taken to compile these boundary coordinates, Stats NZ gives no warranty that the data supplied is free from error. Stats NZ shall not be liable for any loss suffered through the use, directly or indirectly, of any information, product or service. Macrons Names are provided with and without tohutō/macrons. The column name for those without macrons is suffixed ‘ascii’. Digital data Digital boundary data became freely available on 1 July 2007. Further information To download geographic classifications in table formats such as CSV please use Ariā For more information please refer to the Statistical standard for geographic areas 2023. Contact: [e-mail]