10 September 2014
The Fit for the Future for local government blueprint announced by the NSW Government must be adopted in a positive way by the state’s councils, says the Urban Taskforce.
“The NSW Government has taken up many of the recommendations from the Sansom report on the reform on local government in NSW but strong state leadership is required to ensure an effective council structure occurs particularly in metropolitan Sydney,” Says Chris Johnson, CEO of the Urban Taskforce. “The Government has put together an impressive package of financial incentives to encourage council amalgamations in Sydney and Joint Organisations of Councils in rural areas.”
“The final report by the Independent Local Government Review Panel released in October 2013 proposed amalgamating councils in metropolitan Sydney to form between 12 and 18 new councils to replace the 41 smaller existing councils. The Government’s incentive package strongly encourages individual councils to fit into the review panel’s structure. The Urban Taskforce supports more efficient councils particularly if they relate to the state government’s regional structure for planning and other service delivery.”
“Along with financial incentives to amalgamate, is the potential to give councils more planning powers if they achieve a critical mass. Larger more professional planning offices could help Sydney’s growth particularly if they take a more regional view of development. A number of large Western Sydney councils are already demonstrating a pro-growth professional attitude to planning and this needs to continue.”
“The proposal for regional councils to create new regional Joint Organisations where savings can be made through shared services is a good move and could also apply in Sydney if not enough councils want to amalgamate.”
“The Urban Taskforce supports the Government’s thorough approach to the reform of local government which includes reductions in red tape, cheaper finance, reviews of the rating system and detailed examination of the recommendations from the review panel. We also understand the approach of working with councils to encourage them to adopt change through the financial incentive package.”
“A good debate within the community should now occur focusing on how to improve the third tier of government and how to make sure they are ‘Fit for the Future’”.
