Super councils touted for Sydney

DateApril 24, 2013 – 2:15PM 567 reading now

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Nicole Hasham

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Sydney
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A review panel has recommended Sydney be divided into 15 super councils covering populations of up to 800,000 people.
A review panel has recommended Sydney be divided into 15 super councils covering populations of up to 800,000 people. Photo: Louie Douvis

Sydney would be managed by 15 “super councils” under a suite of amalgamations recommended by an independent panel.

Councils in the city centre, Parramatta and Liverpool would be expanded to cover up to 800,000 people each.

Twenty new-look county councils would be created to cover regional areas and councils in the lower Hunter Valley and central coast would be merged, under sweeping changes proposed by the Independent Local Government Review Panel.

In a new report, the panel has proposed a new “global city” of Sydney, from the central business district east to the coast and south to Botany Bay.

This would require the amalgamation of Botany Bay, Randwick, Waverley, Woollahra and the City of Sydney councils. The panel recommends that Leichardt and Marrickville preferably also be included.

Councils in Sydney’s southern suburbs, inner west and north would also be “tidied up”, reducing unnecessary fragmentation.

The panel proposes merging Hurstville, Kogarah and Rockdale councils in the south; Hunters Hill, Lane Cove, Mosman, North Sydney and Willoughby councils in the north; Ashfield, Burwood, Canada Bay and Strathfield councils in the inner west; and Auburn, Holroyd, Parramatta and and Ryde councils in the west.

The panel also recommends merging Fairfield council with Liverpool, and Manly and Pittwater with Warringah.

The roles of mayors would also be expanded. They would be granted more authority and expected to have a greater grasp of strategic and financial issues.

Councils would be encouraged to consolidate through financial and other incentives – the panel has not called for forced amalgamations.

The chairman of the panel, Graham Sansom, said the reforms would transform local government’s “culture, structure, finances and operations, as well as its relations with the state government”.

The panel believes the system of rate-pegging in NSW has created political and financial difficulties for councils and has recommended the system be streamlined.

NSW is the only state in which rate-pegging applies. Each year, the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal sets a cap on how much councils are allowed to increase their rates.

The proposed changes would allow councils to make small rate increases more easily. The panel will seek comment on the proposals before it makes its final recommendations to the government in September.

More to come

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6 comments so far
“

You beauty! Now the State Government can wreck my local neighbourhood and pass the buck at the same time.

Commenterray pace Locationnarrabeen Date and timeApril 24, 2013, 2:44PM
“

You would need to know more about the logic behind the recommendations in order to assess whether they meet the criteria set for the panel. Growing the size of local government has downsides as well as upsides. They may become more “efficient” in terms of costs, but less “effective” in meeting local community needs.

CommenterLesm LocationBalmain Date and timeApril 24, 2013, 2:45PM
“

Amalgamations are a false economy. State Govs love them because they concentrate power and are easier to delegate to and control, and citizens on the whole love them because they assume that it will reduce the size of bureaucracy. BUT amalgamations only succeed in increasing bureaucracy because the middle of the organisational hierarchy just gets stretched vertically and horizontally. More managers to manage the managers !!

It also succeeds in making public accessibility to those who actually make decisions significantly more difficult. Local accessibility and accountability gets obfuscated behind maze of help desks, corporate logos and vision statements.

The larger the council, the less accountability because functions are compartmentalised making the buck passing so much easier

CommenterAndrew H LocationBrisbane Date and timeApril 24, 2013, 2:46PM
“

Getting ready to phase out the State Government then?

CommenterHenry Root LocationMilverton Date and timeApril 24, 2013, 2:47PM
“

About time, it is absurd the number of councils in Sydney, even 15 sounds like too many.

CommenterDamienF Location Date and timeApril 24, 2013, 2:49PM
“

What, you didn’t learn a lesson when the people of Noose voted in record numbers to De-amalgamate, and now our “wonderous” councils want to do the same.

The people might not stand for it you know…

Noosa voted 81.38% in favour of De-amalgamation.

I would urge any resident affected to strongly oppose these so called “super council”.

Councils are meant to be small community based, so that the money paid as rates, get spent better in that city, if you throw together ten councils one always comes off better than the rest.

BE CAREFUL!

CommenterMichael Jones LocationTerrafirma Date and timeApril 24, 2013, 2:51PM

Please wait…

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