Along with many other Councils, the Independant Pricing and Regularity Tribunal (IPART) has deemed Willoughby Council ‘unfit’ to continue in its present form.

Whilst IPART found that Willoughby Council was ‘fit’ as far as it financial underpinning, it also found that Council does not meet scale and capacity criteria (read they are not developer friendly).

IPART has recommended that Council be amalgamated with adjoining Councils.

Willoughby Council has one month to respond to the IPART report. The Government is hoping that Council will accept financial incentives on offer to voluntarily amalgamate.

It is unclear what will happen if Councils do not volunteer. The Government may not have the numbers in the Upper House to force amalgamations. Perhaps the Government has some other options available to it. Time will tell.

The Government wants to sort this issue out before the next sceduled local government election due in September 2016.