Council mergers: North Sydney and Mosman mayors say Woollahra decision consigns their councils to extinction

MOSMAN and North Sydney mayors say it is unlikely their councils will survive after a landmark court ruling against Woollahra Council.

The lower north shore mayors Jilly Gibson and Peter Abelson.

• Woollahra mayor defends cost of launching appeal
• Lawyers won’t save North Sydney: Mayor
• Councils fill up their anti-merger war chests
• Anti-merger spend a ‘self-serving waste’

THE lower north shore’s mayors say it is unlikely their councils will survive after a landmark court ruling against Woollahra Council’s fight to stand alone.

Despite Woollahra Council’s decision to appeal the Land and Environment Court decision, North Sydney Mayor Jilly Gibson and her Mosman counterpart Peter Abelson say the writing is on the wall.

“The judge’s decision ... is a nail in the coffin for North Sydney as a stand-alone municipality,” Cr Gibson said.

Woollahra is set to appeal after its legal challenge to the State Government’s merger plans was shot down in court. It has been lined up to merge with Randwick and Waverley.

The court’s ruling and the decision to appeal have caused waves on the north side of the harbour.

Both North Sydney and Mosman councils are also fighting in the court to remain independent and prevent the proposed merger with Willoughby.

The councils are awaiting a decision in their case.

Cr Gibson said Woollahra had already spent an enormous amount of money on the case and expressed surprise at the move to appeal.

North Sydney has allocated $450,000 towards its anti-merger battle fund. Cr Gibson said there was growing resentment among residents on legal expenditure.

“We are obliged to spend ratepayers’ funds as if they are our own,” she said. “Would we spend our personal funds fighting things in courts we have very little chance of winning?”

Mosman Council has spent its allocated $225,000 on the legal fight.

Cr Abelson said it was unlikely that Mosman would survive if all the other councils were amalgamated.

“It’s obviously very difficult for us to win now the chief judge in the (Land and Environment) Court has ruled on a large number of points which are similar in the two cases,” he said.

He said there was already “quite a bit of writing on the wall” for Mosman.

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