SYDNEY'S councils should be amalgamated, an independent sweeping review of NSW local government has found.
A new paper, released by Local Government Review Panel Chair Professor Graham Sansom today, calls for , "significant consolidation'' of Sydney councils as well as popularly elected mayors and new regional groupings to deliver joint services.
"Local government in NSW must tackle the challenges of change and become an indispensible partner in the State's public sector if it wants to play a stronger, sustainable role and provide the support local communities need,'' Prof Sansom said.
"The panel believes there is a case to consider significant consolidation to enhance the strategic capacity of local government across the Sydney metropolitan area and other major urban regions, such as the Lower Hunter, Central Coast and Illawarra.''
Prof Sansom said the panel was not at the stage of recommending specific proposals for amalgamations but options would be explored over coming months and discussed in detail with the councils concerned.
"The population of the Sydney region is expected to grow to 7 million people by the middle of the 21st Century. This will place enormous pressure on infrastructure and services, and on already stretched government budgets,'' he said.
"A close and productive partnership between all three spheres of government will be essential to ensure that Sydney is an efficient and livable city, remains globally competitive, and continues to prosper.''
The report found NSW had "too many local councils'' and many boundaries were out of date and needed review.
"The evidence shows that for some local government functions, notably infrastructure and back-office services, increased scale can and does bring efficiencies and cost savings,'' the report said.
"A number of before and after cases of individual amalgamations have shown significant efficiency gains (but not necessarily cuts in rates, because savings have been ploughed back into other service and infrastructure improvements).''
Sydney Chamber of Commerce executive director Patricia Forsythe said it was an exciting move forward and the report recognised "what every key business group in the city has been saying for more than five years''
"It recognises what we have recognised, it is broken and needs to be fixed,'' she said.
But amalgamations were not the answer in remote NSW.
Prof Sansom said remote councils were under increasing pressure to "fill the gap'' in providing doctors and aged care facilities for their communities, when they themselves were struggling financially.
"Simply amalgamating these councils is not a realistic approach,'' he said.
"People and resources are too thinly spread and distances too great. Addressing the challenges of far western NSW will require new approaches to governance that effectively combine the capacities of local, state and federal agencies.''
The panel also found that mayors could be given more powers to deal with misbehaving councillors, and they could be assigned responsibility for leadership of strategic planning and community engagement. It also seeks to make the mayoral role a full-time paid position in larger councils.
Only one quarter of NSW Mayors are currently popularly elected for the four-year term.
The NSW Government promised no forced amalgamations during the election campaign.
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