Council merger proposal open for comment

The NSW Government is seeking feedback on its plan to create a new eastern beaches council by merging Randwick Council with neighbouring Waverley and Woollahra Councils.

This would create a new council of 274,000 residents spanning the eastern suburbs from Watsons Bay to La Perouse and deliver cost savings.

The proposal is currently on public exhibition and submissions can be made online to the Office of Local Government.

Submissions should refer directly to the proposal and submission authors are encouraged (but not required) to focus on one or more of the factors in section 263(3) of the Act, being:

• the financial advantages or disadvantages of the proposal to the residents and ratepayers of the areas concerned;
• the community of interest and geographic cohesion in the existing areas and in any proposed new area;
• the existing historical and traditional values in the existing areas and the impact of change on them;
• the attitude of the residents and ratepayers of the areas concerned;
• the requirements of the area concerned in relation to elected representation for residents and ratepayers at the local level, the desirable and appropriate relationship between elected representatives and ratepayers and residents and such other matters as considered relevant in relation to the past and future patterns of elected representation for that area;
• the impact of the proposal on the ability of the council to provide adequate, equitable and appropriate services and facilities;
• the impact of the proposal on the employment of the staff by the council;
• the impact of the proposal on any rural communities in the resulting area;
• the desirability (or otherwise) of dividing the resulting area or areas into wards
• the need to ensure that the opinions of each of the diverse communities of the resulting area or areas are effectively represented; and
• any other factors relevant to the provision of efficient and effective local government in the existing and proposed new areas.

www.councilboundaryreview.nsw.gov.au

Submissions due: 5pm Sunday 28 February 2016.