Ward 2012 (generalised)

This dataset is the definitive set of ward boundaries at 1 January 2012 as defined by the territorial authorities and/or Local Government Commission, but maintained by Statistics New Zealand (who are the custodian).Wards were originally set up within any territorial authority with a population of 20,000. Wards are defined under the local Electoral Act 2001 and result from the division, of the district of a territorial authority for electoral purposes. The ward system was designed to allow for the recognition of communities within a district and to increase community involvement in the local government system. Now, territorial authorities can choose whether they would like to maintain electoral wards. As a result, the number of wards has steadily decreased. Ward boundaries are reviewed in the year immediately preceding the triennial local government elections. YearWard Totals1989409199238019953661998332200132820023202003320200432020052862006 v12862006 v2284200728420082752009275201027520112482012248Wards are numbered based on their corresponding territorial authority. Each ward has a unique five digit number. The first three digits represent the territorial authority that the ward lies within. The following two digits are sequential, and represent the number of wards within a territorial authority. For example, Westland District (051) has three wards. The numbers of these wards are 05101, 05102, and 05103.There are various territorial authorities that do not use wards. In the data, these territorial authorities use “99”at the end of the ward code, and the descriptor“Area Outside of Ward”. In 2012, the Territorial Authorities that do not use wards were:TA CodeTerritorial Authority NameWard Code024Rotorua District02499026Kawerau District02699029Wairoa District02999037Whanganui District03799045Upper Hutt City04599051Tasman District05199052Nelson City05299054Kaikoura District05499067Chatham Islands Territory06799075Invercargill City07599Ward boundaries are defined at meshblock level. They are not able to be defined at areas unit level because the boundaries for ward to not align to area unit. As at 1stJuly 2007 Digital Boundary data became freely available.