Governance Decision-Making Tool

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Organisational structure

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(If not a fully independent organisation) What should a designated area have responsibility for?

This question relates primarily to areas that are closely affiliated to local authorities or municipalities, where a key decision to be made is: What powers should and should not be devolved from the local authority to a newly-created entity such as a Regional Park or Biosphere Reserve? That is, what should the boards of these organisations make decisions about?

In Iceland, for example, there is a Regional Planning Act that enables entities such as Regional Parks to be independent of the municipalities that they form part of. Snæfellsnes Regional Park was set up using this legislation. Decisions therefore needed to be made about which responsibilities should be devolved from the five municipalities the Park sat within.