O'Farrell Says Planning System More Important Than Council Amalgamations

One of the drivers of the push to amalgamate councils in NSW is the NSW governments need to streamline planning approvals to allow development to cope with the 1.3 million people coming to Sydney in the next 20 years.

New planning legislations has passed the Lower House of the NSW Parliament, been amended in the Upper House and is now back in the Ministers hands and should return to Parliament in early 2014.

The Daily Telegraph recently quoted Premier O'Farrell on talkback radio.

http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/nsw-treasurer-announces-25-billion-deficit/story-fni0cx12-1226781176598

As the government got ready yesterday to release the disappointing economic news, Premier Barry O'Farrell announced he would not be amalgamating any of the state's 152 councils despite a two-year review into the process. 

Asked by a talkback radio caller on 2UE yesterday why the government would not amalgamate councils, rather than stick with a structure set up 100 years ago, Mr O'Farrell said the government had no intention of forcing any councils to merge. 

"I'd argue the most important thing to reform local government is to reform the planning system," the Premier said. 

"We believe local councils, just like federal government are an important part of the governance of this state and the best way to improve local govt is to improve the legislation that governs local government and that is the Planning Act."

You can almost hear the sighs of relief at the Mosman Council Chambers, muted by the prospect of strengthened government planning powers.  Has the threat of council amalgamations been a diversionary tactic to reduce council planning powers?

Mosman's Parish Pump Politics

This week Mosman hit the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald with a silly story about how Deputy Mayor Roy Bendall is promoting local place names in Mosman saying that 'it was crucial it re-establish and preserve their historical place names given the "threat" of amalgamation with North Sydney Council.'

The local community is not entirely in favour Joseph Arena, a local business owner and resident of more than 40 years, says “ludicrous." “I'm struggling to understand why this would happen,” “It will only add confusion and cost to business owners who will have to change their signboards and stationery. “I can't work out who postulated these splits because there's nothing positive that could come out of it."

Perhaps it silly parish pump initiatives like this, on behalf of a small group of Balmoral residents, that is the greater threat to Mosman councils continuing unique existence.

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/this-will-create-elitist-enclaves-plan-to-split-mosman-divides-critics-20131030-2wh01.html#ixzz2jRDvZYv1

Meanwhile in the real world the NSW Government has passed new planning laws through the lower house.  The Government is under pressure to streamline development to accommodate the 1.3 million people coming to Sydney by 2031 and this is also one of the drivers for local government boundary reform.

The Independent Local Government Review Panel is due to provide their final report to the Minister.

Hill Shire Mayor says LGNSW Conference a Waste of Time

According to News Local http://newslocal.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx#

The recent Local Government New South Wales conference was “a waste of time” according to The Hills mayor Michelle Byrne.

Dr Byrne made the claim during her Mayoral Minute at last week’s The Hills Shire Council meeting, frustrated by the attitude against local government reform, especially amalgamations.

The mayor also said council should reconsider if it is worthwhile being a member of LGNSW.

During the discussion, it was revealed council paid $20,000 to attend.

“As the peak industry body, LGNSW should not be opposed to change and reform when it is needed most,” Dr Byrne said.

“On top of all this, the conference was a complete waste of time for The Hills Shire councillors and senior staff who attended.”

A motion was moved by Dr Byrne and seconded by deputy mayor Andrew Jefferies to speak to other mayors regarding future membership of LGNSW, which was supported unanimously, with some councillors labelling the conference a “disgrace”.

Balmoral Border Protection Unit

'we will fight them on the beaches'

'Mosman is a village in itself'

'created a community which you can stay in forever'

Enhanced Role for Local Government Boundaries Commission

The SMH this week reported on Professor Sansoms's speach to the Local Government Conference. 
http://keepitlocal.net.au/boundary-changes-mergers-likely-state-shake-nicole-hasham-smh/

‘Professor Sansom said the term “no forced amalgamations” needed clarifying, asking “is it a forced amalgamation if there has been a proper business case analysis and a recommendation is made by a genuinely independent body?” Appearing to pave the way for such a body, he said the final report would recommend an “enhanced role” for the Local Government Boundaries Commission to ensure “evidence-based, impartial assessment of possible mergers and boundary changes”.’

Perhaps this a way for residents to be given an opportunity to consider proper proposals to merger with  neighbouring councils.  Clearly any proposal, to join Mosman and say North Sydney Councils, left solely in the hands of existing councillors would be undermined and doomed to failure.

Warringah Council May Withdraw Cooperation From SHOROC

According to the Manly Daily, Mayor Michael Regan has flagged it will look at working with pro-merger councils The Hills and Hornsby to achieve discounts for services like waste management.

He said if Manly, Pittwater and Mosman were not interested in local government reform, Warringah could get bigger discounts by partnering with other bigger councils.

Yesterday, Hornsby Mayor Steve Russell said his council had also asked for a report on whether to continue membership with its Northern Sydney ROC.

"A lot of smaller councils are anti-amalgamation, but most want shared services," Cr Russell said.

read the full story
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/northern-beaches/large-councils-to-work-together-as-smaller-councils-reject-amalgamation-options/story-fngr8hax-1226723793808

Warringah At Odds With Manly and Pittwater Councils

Manly and Pittwater Councils have release a report by Professor Brian Dollery from the University of New England rebutting Warringah Council's 2011 Local Government Structural Change report, which recommended amalgamating the three Northern Beaches local councils and an even wider merger with Ku-ring-gai, Hornsby and Mosman Councils.

According to Manly Council website, their Dollery report found that the proposed model of a northern beaches council, advocated by Warringah Council, was not viable for several key reasons.

• There is no 'community of interest' between Manly, Warringah and Pittwater Councils considered essential for amalgamation to occur successfully
• Local boards are both expensive and inappropriate for NSW
• Amalgamation options proposed do not improve financial sustainability and in the short-term increase costs to ratepayers substantially
• No economies of scale are present in the amalgamation options proposed by Warringah Council.

Professor Brian Dollery Report 'AN ASSESSMENT OF SGS REPORT LOCAL GOVERNMENT STRUCTURAL CHANGE OPTIONS ANALYSIS' (1.28 MB) In 2011 Warringah Council commissioned a discussion paper that made a strong argument for council amalgamation and shared services. The paper by internationally-recognised expert in local government reform, Peter McKinlay,  recommended several ways that local councils can share resources to improve services and be able to better deal with the complex issues now facing local government. The paper was peer-reviewed by the Australian Centre of Excellence for Local Government.

Amalgamation Tensions - Hornsby May Opt Out Of NSROC

The Telegraph on line has a report that Hornsby Council is seeking to opt out of NSROC,  Northern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils, which is currently comprised Hunters Hill, Ku-ring-gai, Lane Cove, North Sydney, Ryde, Willoughby and Hornsby Council.

http://m.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/the-hills/hornsby-council-examines-opting-out-of-northern-sydney-councils-group/story-fngr8i1f-1226702982954

"If we can get a better outcome for Hornsby (by opting out), I think we need to look at that," Hornsby Mayor Steve Russell said.

Hornsby's views on amalgamation are largely at odds with the other NSROC councils and Cr Russell said the issue was a significant contributor to the council's decision to a review of the merits of ongoing membership.

"Why would we want to be part of an organisation that doesn't fairly represent our views?" Cr Russell said.

He said speakers at a recent NSROC conference "insulted my intelligence."

Mosman Council along with other north side councils are looking at the option of combining NSROC and SHOROC.  The SHOROC councils are also divided on the issue of amalgamation with the largest member Warringah being in favour and the other smaller councils opposed.

HISTORY will prove he is right on controversial council mergers declares WA Premier Colin Barnett

perthnow.com.au has published this view on council amalgamations from WA Premier Colin Barnett.

Like the the NSW Government,  WA Government had a promise of no forced amalgamations. The policy recently changed.

http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/wa-premier-colin-barnett-why-im-right-on-council-amalgamations/story-fnhocxo3-1226690712710

HISTORY will prove he is right on controversial council mergers, Premier Colin Barnett has declared.

The Premier is prepared to wear heavy flak from opponents of the plan, but said people would look back in five years time and wonder what all the fuss was about.

"I realise it's not necessarily going to make the Government or myself popular but it is the right thing to do," he said.

The Premier said the moves to reduce the number of Perth councils from 30 to 14 made sense on so many levels that councillors privately admit the changes had to occur.

"Privately, as I travel around WA, councillors say to me, 'We know it's got to be fixed', 'You've got to fix it up'. They won't say it publicly, they'll say it privately," he said.

Mr Barnett said much of the heat this week came from "vested interests".

He said it was ludicrous that there were 320 councillors in Perth, with 69 looking after the western suburbs alone.

"You've got more people managing the western suburbs than you do managing Western Australia in the State Parliament Lower House," Mr Barnett said.

The system was unable to deal with the problems of a growing city and was deeply flawed.

He said many people would be surprised to learn that 13 council chief executives were paid more than himself and 23 earned more than a state minister.

"It really does beg the question: Is running a local authority more significant than being the Premier or a senior minister," Mr Barnett said.

His changes would also address the unbalanced level of amenities in many local government areas.

Ratepayers in some council areas were subsidising facilities for residents in neighbouring areas, he said.

"You might find one council builds a recreational sporting facility and you might find that half of all people using it might come from outside that local government area," he said. "I don't think that that's fair."

Though there was no guarantee mergers would reduce rates, Mr Barnett pointed to several bigger councils that had lower rates and equivalent services to their smaller neighbours. East Fremantle had rates of about $1681 last year and bigger Melville had rates of just $1233, he said.

"That's about $450 and I would have thought Melville and East Fremantle were much the same," the Premier said.

Though vested interests were generating some noise, Mr Barnett said he had not detected any public backlash.

"I don't see any great groundswell (of opposition) from the population," he said. "The only people who have come up to me in the street so far have supported it.

"That's not a general sample, but I think what it's showing is that if people aren't directly involved in local government, most people don't really care all that much."

New Sydney Metro Mayors Group

A new grouping of councils has recently formed.  Calling themselves the Sydney Metropolitan Mayor Group, they were pulled together by Canterbury Mayor Brian Robson. Currently  representing 22 Councils across Sydney they include some northern Sydney councils - Pittwater, Manly, Mosman, Hunters Hill and Ryde. Notably absent is Warringah, North Sydney, Willougby, Kuring-gai, and Hornsby.

In amongst the Save Pittwater protest
at Warringah ILGRP consultation

"We brought together a group of Mayors representing 22 Councils from across Sydney and have now formalised these passionate, community focused individuals into an incorporated association.  I look forward to working together with all my Mayoral colleagues to promote Local Government and to ensure our residents continue to have access to their own democratically elected councils," Robson said.

While the Mayor Robson's anouncement does not mention amalgamations they appear to be a grouping of vehemently anti amalgamation councils.
(media release  http://www.canterbury.nsw.gov.au/www/html/16-news.asp?n=2280)

Robson is quoted at keepitlocal.net.au “It’s no secret that I’ve been unhappy with our representation through Local Government NSW.” “This is not a bureaucratic organisation, it’s basically to provide a voice which we feel has been lacking,”

Meanwhile, Local Government NSW, the organisation representing all councils has commented on the ILGRP report.

"After consulting with Mayors, councillors and General Managers at a Forum on 28 June, Local Government NSW (LGNSW) has now submitted its response to the Future Directions paper, strongly opposing its proposals on mass council amalgamations and its County Council model." 

“While LGNSW supports voluntary council amalgamations, it does not believe there is anything in the Future Directions paper that would entice the vast majority of councils and their communities to merge with their neighbours,” said Cr Donald.' 

(media release http://www.lgnsw.org.au/)

No surprise that LGNSW supported the revenue raising reform proposals on rate pegging, cheaper finance and removing rate exemptions for schools and government businesses.

So it will be interesting to see what carrots and sticks the Government will find to "entice" councils and their communities to merge with their neighbours.

Metro Strategy - Mosman argues for subregion - Mosman, North Sydney, Ryde, Willoughby, Lane Cove and Hunters Hill

Mosman Council have just publicly released two submissions one on the Sydney Metro Strategy and the other on the Planning White Paper.  These are not on Mosman Council main webpage but on a seperate web http://mosmanplanning.net/.

• Mosman Council submission on draft Sydney Metropolitan Strategy
• Mosman Council submission on Planning White Paper

The Council submission on the draft Sydney Metro Strategy is informative and makes a good case to retain the existing subregions.  The subregions are important parts of the metro plan as they have to  draw up delivery plans in partnership with communities and groups of councils. The Subregional Delivery Plans will decide where jobs and homes will go, and the improvements to infrastructure that need to be delivered, ie transport, housing, schools, health, community facilities.  (See more on the Metro Stategy in the tab above)

These are Mosman Councils well concidered arguments, which in another context might be considered good reasons to form a high capacity council for the Inner North, indeed there is a bit of a teaser in their conclusion   "more adaptable to any potential future changes in the form of local government."

Extract from Mosman Council Submission
"Council considers a significantly more effective arrangement is to establish a new Inner-North Subregion which includes Mosman, North Sydney, Ryde, Willoughby, Lane Cove and Hunters Hill councils. Key reasons are:

It would create aconsiderably better opportunity for stronger integration of land-use and
transport planning, a key priority of the Metropolitan Strategy, and greater flexibility to plan
employment and housing growth along priority transport corridors and major centres across
northern Sydney to improve containment.

It would enable the Inner-north and North Subregions to collaborate to integrate planning
land-use, transport, health, education and other services on a broader scale, which would
be very difficult if the inner-north councils were included in the Central Subregion. The
potential creation of a ROC covering both these Subregions would also enable this ROC to
facilitate or lead this coordination process.

It would increase capacity for much stronger integration with other NSW Government service delivery and infrastructure planning, including alignment with NSW Health, NSW Education, and NSW2021 Regional Action Plan boundaries.

It would provide clear connections and communities of interest, making consultation more feasible. The North Shore and Northern Beaches, while distinct communities (and sub- communities) are strongly connected in regard to employment, housing, sport, recreation, education, health, and other aspects of people’s daily lives. This increases significantly the likelihood of meaningful engagement for the significant consultation planned on a Sub- regional level.

It would utilise good existing working relationships between the councils and bodies such as SHOROC and NSROC to facilitate collaboration and coordinate sub-regional planning. Also more adaptable to any potential future changes in the form of local government. "

Interesting Maps

ILGRP proposed council amalgamations Mosman, North Sydney, parts of Ryde, Willoughby, Lane Cove and Hunters Hill

Mosman Council argues to retain existing subregion - Mosman, North Sydney, Ryde, Willoughby, Lane Cove and Hunters Hill

ILGRP Community Hearings 14 June 2013 Chatswood

The Independent Local Government Review Panel is holding a Community Hearing at Chatswood on Friday 14 June 2013.

This is an opportunity for us to hear directly from the panel and for community representatives to put forward their views on the proposed options in the paper.

Its worth coming just to see the architecture in the new Chatswood Concourse Civic Pavilion.




Time     6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
Date     14 June 2013
Place     The Concourse Civic Pavilion, 409 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood

What do we want? - An informed view! - When do we want it? - Now!

This blog was started as a response to the lack of fair minded analysis and discussion here in Mosman.  Mosman Council has a responsibility to properly inform its citizens about decisions. Instead it took taken preemptive action by holding a referendum 9 months ago with very little background information and more recently activating a Council sponsored 'Independent Mosman' committee to promulgate a single minded view to residents.

So far we have not  been given a fair analysis of the ILGRP report nor had an opportunity to consider our options.

Other Councils have taken a better approach. In 2011 Warringah Council commissioned a discussion paper looking at council amalgamation and shared services. Community forums were then held. There is more on this example in the Warringah Leadership tab.

Ryde Council has strong anti public amalgamation position. However to their credit, Ryde Council recently ran a workshop on the proposed amalgamation to provide residents with an insight into how the proposed amalgamation could affect the Ryde Local Government Area and to capture the community's views and comments. They have set up some information web pages making available the workshop presentation and the results from the live voting conducted on the day.
Local Government Reform - Community Workshop 3 June 2013 (PDF 777 KB)
Amalgamations Workshop - Live Voting Results 3 June 2013 (PDF 227 KB)
The results will confirm the Council position and will be included in their next submission to the review.

My Take on the Ryde Workshop results.

The exercise confirms my point of view that residents deserve the opportunity to give an informed opinion. 140 residents attended the workshop, which is a good turn out.  This is a selection of results.

On the question of how supportive participants were of City of Ryde being amalgamated with other nearby Councils more than 20% said they would like more information in order to form a view, 22% indicated a level of support for amalgamations and 58% opposed.

When presented with options, the proposal for City of Ryde to merge with Parramatta, Auburn and Holroyd Councils was the least preferred option with just 1% of the vote. The most preferred option was to merge with Willoughby, Lane Cove, and Hunters Hill Councils (47%), followed by opposing amalgamations (27%). 12% said they needed more information in order to form a view.

Clearly the citizens of Ryde are looking East not West if they have to amalgamate. Maybe an arranged marriage might be palatable if you can choose your partner, with opposition to amalgamation dropping to 27%.  It is good to see 20% want more information in order to form a view, understandable as the ILGRP has not provided detail amalgamations plans just general principles as part of its consultation process.

So congratulations to Ryde Council for putting information on their website, preparing a briefing, holding the workshop and reporting the results.  A fair and transparent process.

                                                                        *****

Note:  The final report from the ILGRP will be given to the NSW Government in September. The draft contains a wide range of potential reforms for local government. Amalgamation options are less than 25% of the issues discussed. If amalgamations are proposed by the Government, under current laws, there must be a further process of reviews and public consultations based upon actual proposals.  Then the Government has the power to change council boundaries, but has so far made a commitment not to undertake forced amalgamations. (But there may be some carrots and sticks.)

Lower North Shore Councils Meet

North Sydney Council Council meeting agenda for the 3rd June includes a report on a meeting of Mayors and General Managers from the five lower north shore councils.

Agenda  (333KB)

"The meeting of Mayors and General Managers of the five lower north Shore
Councils was held at North Sydney Council on 29 May 2013. At the meeting,
there was a wide-ranging discussion about all aspects of the Future Directions
document. At the end of the meeting, the five Mayors agreed on a number of
points as follows:

 We reject the Sansom report with respect to amalgamations as not providing evidence or a case for improving Council services and finances.
 We reaffirm our support for the state government’s position that there should be no forced amalgamations.
 We support regional organizations of councils as the instrument of shared services.
 We support in principle the merger of NSROC and SHOROC.
 That the GMs be asked to investigate (a) a structure that would make the ROC more effective and ( b) to identify further shared services possibilities."

It is interesting that the meeting rejected  the Samson report (ILGRP)  because it had not provided evidence or case for improving Council services and finances.  This is fair comment and most commentators say that amalgamations are not about improving services or finances.  The principle reason for the ILGRP recommending amalgamations is to

"Create high capacity councils that can better represent and serve their local communities on metropolitan issues, and be true partners of State and federal agencies."

 The meeting, or its formal outcome, appears to have avoided the main issue.

Good news about merging NSROC and SHOROC. Mosman's big picture planning issues, transport, health, education, jobs (metropolitan issues) are closely aligned to North Sydney and Willoughby and less so the Northern Beaches councils.

Willoughby Councillor Nic Wright Calls For United Voice

This is an article in the North Shore Times/Mosman Daily.
http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/north-shore/nic-wright-calls-for-north-shore-councils-to-create-a-united-vision-regarding-council-amalgamations/story-fngr8h9d-1226642311801

THE five north shore councils proposed for a "super" council need to meet to form a united voice on the issue, says Willoughby councillor Nic Wright

A draft proposal from the local government review panel suggests Willoughby, Lane Cove, Mosman, North Sydney and Hunters Hill merge into one council a plan that has divided council opinion.

But Cr Wright said it was vital the councils discussed the proposal.

"It is important the councils meet in order to take a leading role in creating a united vision for the future of the lower north shore," Cr Wright said. "There are substantial similarities but also significant differences between the residents of the councils suggested to amalgamate."

Cr Wright said the forum would allow the councils to discuss the implications for residents under a merger.

Councils would get incentives including rate-pegging relief for voluntary mergers.

But residents were concerned mergers would cause rate hikes and the government needed to explain the proposal, Cr Wright said.

He said costs of amalgamation would be borne by ratepayers, meaning higher charges and more demand from childcare to sport facilities to garbage collection.

Should Mosman Council Amalgamate And What Are Our Options?

This blog was started in May 2013 out of a need to see some independent analysis of the Governments proposal to amalgamate Mosman Council with North Sydney, Willoughby,  Lane Cove and Hunters Hill.  There was little  available from my council, Mosman, which was only providing residents with a one sided account.

I wanted to see some background  and be given the real arguments for and against. Surely there must be some good reasons to amalgamate, the situation couldn't be just one sided. So I set out to research the question  - Should Mosman Council amalgamate and what are our options?

Mosman Council is one of the smallest councils in Australia and opposition to any amalgamation has been a long standing. The council has conducted six polls, the most recent in conjunction with the council elections in September 2012.

Polls 1962 to 2012
1962 – 91% of voters against
1974 – 90.7% of voters against
1977 – 87.3% of voters against
1983 – 89.2% of voters against
2004 – 79.4% of voters against
2012 -  81 % of voters against

These polls represent a strong body of opinion but how well informed were these voters as they went to the polls.  There has never been a concrete proposal put us.

Meanwhile the NSW Government has created the Independent Local Government Review Panel. They have concluded that the number of local councils in the Sydney basin should be significantly reduced, especially in the inner and eastern suburbs, on the lower North Shore and around Parramatta and Liverpool.

'The Panel remains of the view that for Sydney to remain Australasia’s pre-eminent global city, very substantial changes are needed to the way the region is governed at both local and State levels.' (page 44   Future Directions for NSW Local Government)

The panel has prepared or made available 19 reports and papers, the most recent being Future Directions for NSW Local Government released in late April 2103. This paper sets out the latest thinking of the Independent Local Government Review Panel and they will submit their final report in September 2013.  So the next few months are going to be interesting.


One of many different proposals is to  amalgamate Mosman, North Sydney, Lane Cove, Willoughby and Hunters Hill Councils. Similar amalgamated councils are proposed for greater Sydney.

At this early stage it would appear that our five councils do not have a united approach. Taking public comments at face value, North Sydney, Willoughby and Lane Cove have an open mind or wait and see approach. Mosman is vehemently against any form of amalgamation and Hunters Hill wants to preserve their historic council boundaries. (see more in the 'Councils For and Against Tab).  These positions will undoubtable evolve over time.

I was particularly impressed by  Willoughby's Mayor Pat Reilly.

"a decision on amalgamations should be made from the "bottom up"."My point is pretty clear everything is worth looking at, but I don't think any amalgamations should take place without a referendum," he said."People need to be fully educated on what it will mean for them. Once they know the cases of 'yes' and 'no', they should be able to make a decision."

The extent of the metro amalgamations is shown on this map reproduced from page 47.  (full report Future Directions for NSW Local Government)