Local government plays an important role in infrastructure planning and provision in New Zealand. Addressing New Zealand’s infrastructure challenge will require local government to provide infrastructure and services efficiently and effectively. The New Zealand Infrastructure Strategy identifies a need to review the structure of local government to ensure that it provides infrastructure in an efficient and well-coordinated way, especially in growing urban areas that are spilling across existing council boundaries.

However, there is relatively little hard evidence on the impact of local government structure in New Zealand on performance. This Research Insights paper aims to improve the evidence base on local government performance in New Zealand, focusing on the cost efficiency of council infrastructure and service provision. As water, wastewater and stormwater infrastructure has recently been the subject of research and analysis by the Department of Internal Affairs and others, this report focuses on other council activities.