Importantly, results from this survey will allow local authorities to compare their performance with their peers and to share information about good practice. Under the Act, regional councils and territorial and unitary authorities are the main players in New Zealand's system of environmental management. The role of regional councils is to coordinate and set policies for managing resources in such key areas as water and soil conservation, and transport. Additional responsibilities include drainage and pest management and control. Territorial authorities, on the other hand, are more focussed on local service requirements, particularly water supply and control of land development.
Unitary authorities have combined responsibilities for resource management and service delivery.
Responses from local authorities are compared in the survey. This is to stimulate discussion between any variance in results between similarly sized councils, identify the good practices of local authorities complying with statutory requirements, and foster benchmarking and performance improvements. Audit New Zealand again helped design the questionnaire and also played a role in analysing and presenting the results. The questionnaire was peer reviewed by a group of local authorities around the country. The main difference was a revised cost section - asking questions about the costs of resource consents, and an extended monitoring and enforcement section.