About the Commission
The Local Government Boundaries Commission is an independent statutory authority constituted under section 260 of the Local Government Act 1993 (the Act). The Commission has several functions, including:
- to examine and report on any matter referred to it by the NSW Minister for Local Government, in relation to the boundaries of local government areas and the areas of operation of county councils; and
- where a matter (as described in (i) above) has been referred to the Chief Executive of the Office of Local Government for examination and report, to review that Report and provide comments to the Minister.
Commissioners
The Commission’s four members are appointed by the Governor for a 5-year term. The current members are listed below.
- Peter Duncan AM (Chairperson)
- Councillor Ruth Fagan
- Councillor Rick Firman OAM
- Ms Erica van den Honert
One commissioners is nominated chair by the Minister for Local Government; while one is an officer of the Office of Local Government nominated by the Chief Executive. The remaining two are appointed from a panel nominated by Local Government NSW.
Current proposals (2024–25)
The Minister for Local Government appointed Commissioners to hold a Public Inquiry under section 438U of the Local Government Act 1993 into Cootamundra Gundagai Regional Council. Information on the Inquiry can be found the Cootamundra–Gundagai Regional Council.
- Proposal to De-amalgamate Cootamundra Gundagai Regional Local Government Area – Interim Report of the Public Inquiry to the Minister for Local Government (PDF, 2.5 MB)
- Proposal to De-amalgamate Cootamundra Gundagai Regional Local Government Area (PDF, 6.8 MB)
- Minister’s media release – Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council gets Minister’s support to prepare for a demerger (PDF, 85 KB)
- Examination of a proposal for the de-amalgamation of the amalgamated area of Snowy Valleys Council by reconstituting the former areas of Tumut and Tumbarumba Councils (PDF, 7.3 MB)
- Snowy Valleys Council – De-amalgamation Implementation Plan (PDF, 3.1 MB)
- Local Government Boundaries Commission correspondence to Snowy Valleys Council – 1 November 2024 (PDF, 59 KB)
- Notice of public inquiry and call for written submissions – The Local Government Boundaries Commission is examining a proposal to de-amalgamate the Snowy Valleys Council area (PDF, 462 KB)
- Minister's letter referring Snow Valleys Council proposal to the Local Government Boundaries Commission (PDF, 150 KB)
- Snowy Valleys Council – De-amalgamation Proposal (PDF, 1.7 MB)
Past proposals (2016-22)
- Minister's letter referring Inner West Council proposal to the Local Government Boundaries Commission (PDF, 214 KB)
- Inner West Business case for De-amalgamation (PDF, 41.7 MB)
- Notice of local government boundaries commission examination and report into a proposal to de-amalgamate the Inner West Council area (PDF, 165 KB)
- Proposal to de-amalgamate Inner West local government area – summary of the key findings from analysis of the financial implications (PDF, 287 KB)
- Examination of a proposal to de-amalgamate Inner West local government area (PDF, 1.4 MB)
- Proposal to de-amalgamate Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council – Summary of key findings from Deloitte's analysis of financial implications (PDF, 121 KB)
- Notice of Local Government Boundaries Commission examination and report into a proposal to de-amalgamate the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council area (PDF, 104 KB)
- Business case for the demerger of Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council – Part 1 (PDF, 6.3 MB)
- Business case for the demerger of Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council – Part 2 (PDF, 6.4 MB)
- Minister's letter referring Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council proposal for de-amalgamation (PDF, 186 KB)
- Examination of a proposal to de-amalgamate Cootamundra-Gundagai regional local government area (PDF, 2.1 MB)
- Examination of a proposal to de-amalgamate Cootamundra-Gundagai regional local government area – Dissenting report by Commissioner Gleeson (PDF, 2.1 MB)
On 25 February 2020 the Minister for Local Government referred to the Commission two elector initiated proposals that would affect boundaries in relation to Snowy Valleys Council and Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Councils. Documents relating to these two proposals are available below:
Cootamundra/Gundagai
- Elector proposal to create a new local government area affecting Cootamundra – Gundagai Regional Council (PDF, 1.1 MB)
- Referral of Elector Proposal affecting Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council (PDF, 482 KB)
- Proposal to "demerge" the existing Cootamundra Gundagai Regional Council – summary of key findings from Deloitte's Analysis to Date the Financial Implications (PDF, 417 KB)
- Examination of a proposal to alter the boundaries of the Cootamundra-Gundagai Local Government Area and create a new local government area (PDF, 3.6 MB)
- Examination of a proposal to alter the boundaries of the Cootamundra-Gundagai Local Government Area and create a new local government area – Dissenting report (PDF, 331 KB)
Snowy Valleys
- Proposal to create a new local government area – Snowy Valleys Council – for public exhibition (PDF, 1.2 MB)
- Minister's letter referring to proposal to create a new local government area affecting Snowy Valleys Council (PDF, 475 KB)
- Proposal to "demerge" the existing Snow Valleys Council – Summary of key findings analysis by Deloitte on the financial implications (PDF, 412 KB)
- Examination of a proposal to alter the boundaries of the Snowy Valleys local government area and create a new local government area – Dissenting report (PDF, 2.3 MB)
For the 2016 merger proposals, the then Minister for Local Government elected to refer the proposals to the Chief Executive of the Office of Local Government (rather than the Boundaries Commission) for examination.
The Chief Executive then delegated the function of examining and reporting on each of those proposals to a number of people, known as ‘Delegates’. Delegates were required to examine and report upon each merger proposal rigorously and fairly. The examination process included Delegates calling for submissions, holding a public inquiry on each proposed council merger, assessing the proposals against the factors in section 263(3) of the Act, and providing a Report to the Minister. Delegates were also required to provide their Report to the Boundaries Commission.
The Boundaries Commission then reviewed each Delegate’s Report and sent its Comments to the Minister.
Once the Minister received the Report from the Delegate and the Comments from the Boundaries Commission, the Minister decided whether or not to recommend the implementation of the proposal to the Governor of NSW. The Comments from the Boundaries Commission in relation to those 2016 reports are available in the proposed mergers below.
FAQs and media releases
- 27 July 2022 – Boundaries Commission completes its examination of Cootamundra-Gundagai Demerger proposal (PDF, 79 KB)
- 21 April 2022 – Boundaries Commission extends registration date for public hearings (PDF, 81 KB)
- 25 March 2022 – Cootamundra-Gundagai Demerger Proposal – key findings from the Deloitte Financial Analysis (PDF, 126 KB)
- 23 March 2022 – Call for submissions and public hearing dates for CGRC public inquiry (PDF, 165 KB)
- 16 November 2021 – Proposal to De-amalgamate Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Area – Boundaries Commission update (PDF, 109 KB)
- 23 February 2021 – Boundaries Commission completes its examination of “demerger” proposals (PDF, 93 KB)
- 13 November 2020 – Cootamundra Gundagai Demerger Proposal – Key Findings from the Deloitte Financial Analysis (PDF, 425 KB)
- 22 October 2020 – Snowy Valleys Demerger Proposal – Key Findings from the Deloitte Financial (PDF, 459 KB)
- 24 September 2020 – Boundaries commission public inquiry dates announced – Cootamundra Gundagai Regional Council (PDF, 84 KB)
- 30 September 2020 – Boundaries Commission public inquiry dates announced –Snowy Valleys Council (PDF, 43 KB)
- 16 July 2020 – Boundaries Commission update on demerger proposals (PDF, 133 KB)
- 1 April 2020 – Demerger Public Hearings Deferred (PDF, 56 KB)
- 24 March 2020 – Boundaries Commission Calls for Public Submissions (PDF, 80 KB)
More information
Contact the Boundaries Commission:
Sarah Gubb, Executive Officer
- Address: Locked bag 3015, Nowra, NSW 2541
- Fax: (02) 4428 4100
- Email: [email protected]