In 2007 the OECD published a report on the governance structures in the Netherlands with special focus on the Randstad.
The Netherlands are organised by a three tier government of the territory: central, provinces (12) and municipalities (438).
The Randstad has no official boundaries and no institution responsible for its government.
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The Randstad, its for provinces, four city regions and four main cities
Source: image provided by Regio Randstad
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The expenditure on sub-national structures is approximately 30% but most of this goes to municipalities which have much broader responsibilities, as provinces only take care of land use and infrastructure planning and have in certain cases power also over water boards.
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Expenditures of national, province and municipalities (in million euros, 2004)
Source: Dutch Ministry of the Interior, 2006
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The Randstad
The Randstad covers, not fully, four provinces: Flevoland (356.000inh), North Holland (2.6mil inh) Utrecht (1.2 mil inh) and South Holland (3.4mil inh).
Provinces are governed by councils which are directly elected every four years with proportional representation (though commissioners have a mandate of 6 years?).
Randstad is composed by 147 municipalities that range from 5000 inh like Bennerbroek to 740000 inh like Amsterdam. The four main cities are Amsterdam (740.000inh), Utrecht (265.000inh), Rotterdam (600.000inh) and The Hague (464.000inh). Municipalities are governed by councils which are directly elected every four years with proportional representation (though mayors have a mandate of 6 years?).
Financial revenues
Municipalities in the Netherlands only take circa 5% of their income from tax revenue, being that the Netherlands aim at regional equity and incomes comes by national redistribution. Although the grnts ensure autonomy, it doesn't promote inter-municipal cooperation as municipalities create revenues by land lease.
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Revenue sources of municipalities in OECD Countries
Source: OECD, 2006
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Water boards and local central government agencies
As nearly 50% of land is below sea level and there is the delta region, the water agencies were bodies already instituted in the Middle Ages, which are responsible for flood control, water quantity and quality control, waste water treatment. Currently there are 26 agencies, 11 of which in the Randstad, and their surfaces range from 410km2 to 2000km2 and border are delineated by water streams, dikes or rivers.
Their revenues comes from two sources: a water board charge and a pollution levy.
The board is partially elected by the population and partially appointed by merchant associations, the president is appointed by the central government.
Horizontal cooperation
Municipalities cooperate among each other and usually have circa 27 ongoing cooperation, 93% of these are addressing one single issue than more issues at once.
City region cooperation is mainly carried out by the provinces.
The Green Heart Platform was established in 1996 but as it was too broad, inter-sectorial links and commitment were missing, it was abolished in 2004. The focus was mainly on agriculture and environment so transport and urban development were left a bit out.
Deltametropool Association was founded in 1998 and now counts approximately 38 members from public and private sector between cities, commerce, water boards, housing corporations and transport companies. The main projects have focused on new ideas on water management and ecological issues in combination with transport and rail projects.
The Regio Randstad was establish in 2002 and counts the four provinces and four main cities in the Randstad. Its board meets every month and although it represents the region at national and European level, it has no official responsibilities as it is not a government layer, but gives suggestions on issues of international competitiveness and quality of life.
The Administrative Commission Randstad (BCR) was established in 1998 and is responsible for the coordination between the central government and the local governments. It meets 3 times a year and does not have a strong policy making role.
Considerations
It appears that apart from the 3 tiers of government there are many collaboration platforms that can help support dialogue among municipalities but these do no have the decision and financial power to carry out projects.
References
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