In the Netherlands , the municipal council ( Dutch : gemeenteraad [ɣəˈmeːn.təˌraːt] ) is the elected assembly of a municipality . Its main role is laying down the guidelines for the policy of the municipal executive and exercising control over its execution by the mayor and aldermen.
19-505: Cranendonck ( pronounced [ˈkraːnə(n)dɔŋk] ) is a municipality in southern Netherlands . Though located in North Brabant near Eindhoven , the spoken dialect is Budels (linguistically a West Limburgish dialect), rather than Kempenlands (linguistically an East Brabantian dialect). [REDACTED] Dutch topographic map of the municipality of Cranendonck, June 2015 This North Brabant location article
38-416: A burgercommissielid ("civilian committee members", plural burgercommissieleden ), shortened burgerlid ("civilian member"). Other terms such as duoraadslid ("duo councillor", plural duoraadsleden ) or fractievolger exist. Research in 2020 counted at least 39 terms. The burgercommissielid is a representative of a political party who is not elected into a municipal council. A burgercommissielid has
57-530: A wide variety of public services , which include land-use planning , public housing , management and maintenance of local roads, waste management and social security . After the Dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles in 2010 three special municipalities (officially public bodies ) were formed. These municipalities function the same as regular municipalities and are grouped together as
76-593: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Municipalities of the Netherlands Since 1 January 2023, there have been 342 regular municipalities ( Dutch : gemeenten ) and three special municipalities ( Dutch : bijzondere gemeenten ) in the Netherlands . The latter is the status of three of the six island territories that make up the Dutch Caribbean . Municipalities are
95-408: Is both the least populated, with 972 people, and the least densely populated municipality at 23/km (60/sq mi). Amsterdam has the highest population with 931,298 residents as of January 2024, whereas The Hague is the most densely populated with a density of 6,868/km (17,790/sq mi). As a second level administrative division municipalities are the third tier of public administration in
114-470: Is responsible for public order and is the first in command during emergencies, all other tasks are distributed freely between mayor and aldermen. The exact portfolio for each person differs between each municipality. Official municipal boundaries were first drawn up in 1832 in the Netherlands after a cadastre was formed. The Municipalities Act of 1851, written by prime minister Thorbecke , led to
133-470: Is the highest administrative body in the municipality and controls public policy. The executive power lies with the executive board , which consists of a mayor , titled lieutenant governor in the special municipalities, and multiple aldermen, titled island deputies in the special municipalities. The mayor is appointed for six years at a time by the crown and the alderman are elected by the municipal council, typically after each municipal election. The mayor
152-487: The Caribbean Netherlands and are not part of a province. The municipalities are governed by both a board of mayor and aldermen and a municipal council. The municipal council , which is titled island council in the special municipalities, is elected every four years. The number of members in the council ranges from nine members for the smallest municipalities to forty-five members for the largest. It
171-420: The Netherlands after the central government and the provinces . The Netherlands is a decentralized unitary state , which means that the central government is supreme and delegates certain tasks to lower levels of government by law. The different levels do, however, make work agreements, which give municipalities a certain degree of independence in their policy decisions. Municipalities are responsible for
190-456: The council's municipal clerk ( raadsgriffier ). Members of the council are not paid as full-time politicians; instead, most of them have day job. As in most legislatures, the members of municipal council work in both political groups and policy area related committees. The mayor chairs the meetings of the council but does not have voting rights. Most municipal councils have added the possibility to have unelected committee members, known as
209-478: The disappearance of small municipalities. Throughout the years, less populous municipalities have been merged . They were either added to the larger neighbouring cities or multiple smaller municipalities merged into a larger new municipality with a new name. The number of municipalities reduced from 1,209 in 1850 to 537 in 2000; since 2024 there have been 342 municipalities. During this time, multiple mergers occurred simultaneously in large parts of individual provinces;
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#1732783501449228-672: The districts are called Dutch : stadsdelen , as well as Rotterdam , where the districts are called Dutch : deelgemeenten , consist of such formal subdivisions. The Hague , Almere , Breda , Eindhoven , Enschede , Groningen , Nijmegen , Tilburg and Utrecht have instituted Dutch : stadsdelen as well, although they do not have the same legal submunicipal status. For administrative use by municipalities and data collection by Statistics Netherlands all municipalities are subdivided into districts ( Dutch : wijken ), which in turn are subdivided into neighbourhoods ( Dutch : buurten ). These subdivisions have, in contrast to
247-405: The mid 19th century. Municipalities themselves are informally subdivided into districts and neighbourhoods for administrative and statistical purposes. These municipalities come in a wide range of sizes, Westervoort is the smallest with a land area of 7.01 km (2.71 sq mi) and Súdwest-Fryslân the largest with a land area of 522.7 km (201.8 sq mi). Schiermonnikoog
266-466: The municipal boundaries were basically redrawn in these regions. In the 19th and large parts of the 20th century, municipal mergers were forced by the central government. This policy changed in the end of the 20th century; local support for the merger is now a large part of the decision-making process. The larger, merged municipalities are intended to handle an increasing workload because more public services are delegated from higher levels of government to
285-412: The municipal council, while in smaller and more rural municipalities, only the largest parties and a local party have seats in the municipal council. All Dutch citizens, and all foreigners who have lived in the Netherlands for at least four years in a municipality, have the right to vote and almost all citizens can stand for election. The municipal council is supported by its own civil service headed by
304-439: The municipalities. Another reason for municipal mergers is the assumption that larger municipalities are more efficient in performing their tasks than smaller ones. Municipalities have the right to decentralise themselves and form submunicipalities as an additional level of government. This right and the submunicipalities will cease to exist in the near future to reduce the number of levels of government. Only Amsterdam , where
323-429: The right to speak in the meetings of committees of the municipal council which serve as the preparatory part of council meetings. This allows small groups in a municipal council to spread the duties of membership of the municipal council among more people. In most municipalities it is a requirement that the burgercommissielid was on the electoral list for the election. The addition of burgercommissielid helps to reduce
342-442: The second-level administrative division, or public bodies ( Dutch : openbare lichamen ), in the Netherlands and are subdivisions of their respective provinces . Their duties are delegated to them by the central government and they are ruled by a municipal council that is elected every four years. Municipal mergers have reduced the total number of municipalities by two-thirds since the first official boundaries were created in
361-513: The submunicipalities, no formal status. Municipal council (Netherlands) The municipal councils range in size from nine to 45 seats (as in Amsterdam, the capital city), depending on the municipality's population, and are elected by the population every four years. In many municipalities all major political parties contest in the election in addition to local parties. In most major, urban municipalities, all major parties are represented in
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