The NSW Government has announced its intention to forcibly amalgamate Willoughby and North Sydney Councils. This begs the question: What will the new merged Council be called.

It could be the Willoughby-North Sydney Council or the North-Sydney Willoughby Council. Both these options seem a tad messy.

Willoughby Council : Willoughby is a far older Council than North Sydney. The original Parish of Willoughby encompassed bot the current Council areas. However, the majority of people currently have no idea where Willoughby is (unlike say Chatswood).

North Sydney Council: The original Township of North Sydney was wholly within the current Willoughby area.

St Leonards Council: The St Leonards CBD is currently split between Willoughby, North Sydney (and Lane Cove Councils. It is toward the middle of the amalgamated area.

Cammeraygal Council: Both Willoughby and Noprth Sydney Councils are on Cammeraygal land. However, it might be unusual to name a Council area after it original owners.

North Shore Council or Lower North Shore Council: Whilst both Willoughby and North Sydney are part of the North shore they really represent only the Lower North Shore.

A less compromised name could be Northern Shore Council.

If you have any further suggestions for a name for the new Council, please leave your comments below.

City Council, Municipal Council or Council ?

Willoughby is termed a City Council. North Sydney is known simply as Council.

From a branding perspective the smaller the number of words the better.

This morning the State Government announced it is planning to amalgamate Willoughby and North Sydney Councils.

Previously, Willoughby had voted to merge but North Sydney is stringently opposed and threatening legal action.

It appears that amalgamation will proceed via way of a Boundaries Commission Inquiry. This provides for further public submissions on the proposed merger.

The Government is hoping that the process will be completed in time for new elections in September 2016. However, if more time is needed, elections could be deferred intil March 2017.

WE NEED YOUR HELP MAKING SOME PHONE CALLS ON WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY TO NSW CABINET MINISTERS:
We are expecting the NSW Cabinet to vote on whether to proceed with forced council amalgamations or not at their final Cabinet meeting for 2015 on Thursday 17 December.
Save Our Councils Coalition is asking you to make some calls to key Ministers on either Wednesday or Thursday to help them come to the right decision and take forced council amalgamations off the table.

Use this link for full information:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B83aJVvad3MCV2k2Q2tabHN0YVk/view
More actions also coming up for Thursday and Friday this week.
Please share this email with your networks and thank you for your ongoing support for local councils and local communities.

A large development is planned for next to Chatswood Public School. The development at 688-692 Pacific Highway is located between Chatswood Public School and Kenneth Slessor Park.

Council’s former GM and Town Planner now work for the proponent.

The developers are seeking twice the permissible height and a 50% increase in Floor Space Ration. However, they are offering to provide the school with 530 sq.m of office space plus parking for 25 teachers. Also, they are offering a $150,000 contribution for upgrade of the park.

There is some concern that the roles of former Council staff is not disclosed in the application.

There are two public schools within West Ward – Chatswood and Mowbray. Every child is entitled to be enrolled in a public school.

Schools have what is known as an ‘enrolment area’ (refer to the map of Chatswood PS enrolment area on the left). You are entitled to  attend the school if your home is within the specified enrolment area. If the school is full, demountables will be used to cater for increased enrolments.

The catchment for Mowbray PS is shown on the right.  Please note that these catchments may change. So be sure to consult the school or its website directly about enrolment entitlement.

Mowbray Public School has recently been expanded from a few hundred students to cater for up to 1,000 students. New enrolments at the school are largely coming from the new units on the Lane Cove Council side of Mowbray Rd. There have been gossip that the enrolment area boundary between Chatswood PS and Mowbray PS might change at some point. So again, refer directly to the school for enrolment advice.

This entry on school enrolments has been established to monitor any changes to school enrolment areas. The information in this article should not be relied on in determining your enrolment entitlement.

The State Government has announced the extension of the new Sydney Metro service from Chatswood to Bankstown.

There will be a new station at Crows Nest plus stations at North Sydney, Barrangaroo and Martin Place.

Travel tomes between the city and Chatswood are expected to improve by 10 minutes.

The planned station at Artarmon has not been dropped. Also, they have still to decide on a station at Sydney University or Waterloo.

The biggest benefit of the extension of the Metro beyond Chatswood to the city is the relief this should bring to overcrowding on the Chatswood stations when the Metro commences.

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There have been complaints that with the electronic voting system used at Council it is difficult for the public to clearly see which Councilors have voted either for or against a motion.

One Councilor has stated that “The results flash up too quickly for me to be sure and the gallery can’t see the grid on the screen clearly so none knows how people voted. I’m annoyed, I particularly requested that we leave the votes up longer so people can see who voted what,  but even if they did, which they didn’t, the gallery can’t see the vote, the font is too small. In the olden days you had a chance of seeing the hands.”

Before electronic voting, Councilors raised their hands either for or against. It was very easy to ascertain which way a Councilor had voted.

Another problem is that the Minutes of Council meetings are often taking weeks to be placed on the Council website. The Minutes contain a record of voting.

The by-election forced by the resignation of Joe Hockey will be held on Saturday 5th December 2015.

The candidates in ballot paper order:

1. POLLARD Lou, The Arts Party
2. BOURKE William, Sustainable Population Party
3. KENNARD Sam, Liberal Democrats
4. BROMSON Kerry Susanne, Voluntary Euthanasia Party
5. JANSSON James, Future Party
6. CHESTERFIELD-EVANS Arthur, The Greens
7. BEREGI Maryann, Independent
8. NERO Silvana, Christian Democratic Party (Fred Nile Group)
9. MARKS Robert James, Palmer United Party
10. ZIMMERMAN Trent, Liberal
11. RUFF Stephen, Independent
12. FREEMAN Luke, Australian Cyclists Party
13. BOHM Tim, Bullet Train For Australia

See Details of candidates & where to vote.

READ MORE ABOUT CANDIDATES MEETING