At an extraordinary meeting last night The Hills councillors voted against the NSW government’s amalgamation proposal.
They will oppose the plan to adjust The Hills’ boundary, which would see the council merging entirely with Hawkesbury Council while losing suburbs south of the M2 to Parramatta.
The motion specified that the council was committed to a merger with Hawkesbury, but only “on the basis that it is a whole merger and includes suburbs south of the M2.”
“Council expresses its disappointment that the department of local government is proposing to modify the southern boundary of the Hills Shire leading to a new loss of revenue which will impact on the new councils ability to continue being fit for the future,” the motion stated.
Those modifications include ceding sections of Carlingford, Baulkham Hills, North Rocks, Winston Hills, Northmead and Oatland to Parramatta.
The mayor Michelle Byrne and council’s general manager Dave Walker with now form a delegation to meet with the Minister for Local Government and the Members for Baulkham Hills, Castle Hill, Hawkesbury, Parramatta and Seven Hills.
Councillors who supported the motion said they feared a loss of revenue via the southern suburbs would impact on their ability to address potential financial strains brought on by the Hawkesbury, which has some debt and an infrastructure backlog.
“These are suburbs that have strong communities of interest with The Hills,” the mayor Michelle Byrne said.
“Residents send their children to school in The Hills, they play their weekend sport in The Hills and they shop in The Hills.”
“We accept that there is a strong likelihood we will amalgamate with Hawkesbury in some form in the future,” Cr Alan Haselden said.
“The recommendation tonight seeks to give [the mayor] and the general manager the authority to meet with Minister and local MPs and address the serious concerns we have with this proposal.”
The motion was not support by the three Labor councillors, Ryan Tracey, Ray Harty and Tony Hay.
While opposed to the merger, they argued any attempt to dissuade the NSW government was futile.
Cr Tracey criticised the Liberal cohort for committing to a merger with the Hawkesbury last year as part of its Fit for the Future report, arguing it removed any leverage power over boundary changes elsewhere.
“It has always been my understanding that The Hills Council is Fit for the Future,” Cr Tracey said.
“So we argued on the 1st of November that The Hills Council should be proud and stand as a role model to other councils and that is why I and my Labor colleagues voted against the merger.
“There was no community consultation and no consideration. We should have stood alone – we should have dared the NSW government to take us on.”