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Local Government Reform

Local Government Reform (LGR) is an initiative led by the Republic of Cyprus (RoC) aimed at creating a more sustainable local authority system, commencing 01 July 2024. This reform was mandated by the European Union as a condition for the RoC to receive funding from the Recovery and Resilience Facility. LGR is a result of several studies conducted over the past decade, focusing on reducing the number of municipalities and communities in the RoC while enhancing the financial and administrative autonomy of local authorities.

The primary goal of LGR is to provide RoC citizens with higher-quality, cost-effective services and to reduce economic and social inequalities through the harmonisation of service provision. Key aspects of the reform include:

Municipality Level: Restructuring the municipal councils and devolving more powers to them.
Community Level: Reducing the number of communities by merging many of them into existing or new municipalities and establishing Community Clusters for the remaining ones.
Creation of District Local Government Organisations (DLGOs): Establishing five new DLGOs.

The reform is being implemented in the RoC through three key pieces of legislation, and the Sovereign Base Areas Administration (SBAA) has implemented in harmonisation with the RoC. To learn more about LGR in the SBAs, there are a number of resources below.

LGR Structure. Under the new LGR regime, the structure of local authorities across the RoC, as well as the Sovereign Base Areas, will undergo significant changes:

Municipalities: The existing 30 municipalities have been consolidated into 20 new municipalities. The municipalities of Kourion, Limassol, and Polemidhia within the Western Sovereign Base Areas (WSBA), and municipalities of Ayia Napa and Paralimni-Dherynia in the Eastern Sovereign Base Areas (ESBA) are of interest to the SBAA.
Communities. Approximately 300 communities will be merged to form 30 Clusters of Community Services, which, in the SBAs, include those encompassing Avdimou-Paramali in the WSBA and Xylotymbou-Xylophagou-Ormidhia in the ESBA.
District Local Government Organisations (DLGOs): Five DLGOs will be established, one for each district. These organisations will manage development licencing, water supply, sewerage, and waste management, with the existing responsibilities of competent authorities having been revised. Relevant DLGOs for the SBAs include those of Limassol, Larnaca, and Famagusta.

Consult SBA legislation. The SBAA has introduced three new sets of legislation to implement LGR within the SBAs. This legislation broadly aligns with RoC legislation, yet there are differences, meaning some provisions may not be applicable at all within the SBAs, or may be subject to SBAA consultation.

Further details. The RoC has provided numerous details on LGR, with useful guidance found on the websites below:

Ministry of Interior

Union or Municipalities

Union of Communities

Consult the team. If you need any further assistance, please do consult your local team in the Area Office. They will be more than happy to answer your question, or signpost you to the best place to receive the answers you need (which, in some cases, may be the local DLGO, Municipality council or Community council).

Local Government Reform

Local Government Reform Information