The Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recently found Gloucester’s council just one of 87 councils across the state to be ‘unfit’ for the future. Gloucester’s scale and capacity, financial capabilities and sustainability were found to be inadequate for the region’s future needs. Like Gloucester, Greater Taree City Council was found to be ‘unfit’ but for financial, sustainability and infrastructure and service management needs. Great Lakes was the only mid north coast council to be found fit across all five categories of scale and capacity, sustainability, infrastructure and service management, and efficiency. The Independent Local Government Review Panel had recommended two options in 2013 – that all three councils either form part of the Mid North Coast Joint Organisation or that Taree and / or Forster merge with Gloucester.

Great Lakes Council’s only response to the OLG last week was to stand alone, as was Taree’s. But with limited options on how to respond online, councillors at Gloucester voted to keep the door open to the financial and planning incentives of voluntary mergers by indicating their preference to stand alone in the preamble box while including Great Lakes, Greater Taree and MidCoast Water in the preferences drop-down section.

The decision to opt for an ‘all in or all out’ approach to a regional amalgamation reflected the outcome of a community meeting held in Gloucester the week prior. Councillors were in general agreement that if unavoidable, an amalgamation between all three councils would ultimately be better for Gloucester, which might otherwise risk being subsumed under the weight of one council and its localised interests.

The vote by Gloucester’s councillors during the monthly council meeting followed a summary of the 2014/15 financial year by council’s auditors, who described an improvement on income and expenditure on previous years.