Ward Boundaries and Councillor Representation Review 2018

The Ward Boundaries and Councillor Representation Review 2018, which was requested by the Local Government Advisory Board,  is a discussion paper which looks at the makeup of wards (areas Councillors represent) and the number of councillors representing each elector within them.

City of Rockingham Mayor Barry Sammels encouraged the community share their thoughts on the review.

“The City of Rockingham is one of the fastest growing outer metropolitan local governments in Perth and the shape of our community is constantly evolving,” Mayor Sammels said.

“The discussion paper outlines six options and provides overviews of each scenario assessed against criteria including community of interest, demographic trends, economic factors, physical and topographic features as well as the ratio of councillors to electors in various wards.

“As part of the review the City has tried and tested a range of models, with the ones presented in the discussion paper by far the most suitably aligned with where the City is headed over the course of the next decade.”

As listed in the review the six options open for comment include:

Option 1: No ward boundaries. Option 2: Create two wards (East and West) using main roads, suburb boundaries, physical, typographic features and communities of interest. Option 3: Create three wards (East, North and South) using main roads and suburb boundaries. Option 4: Amend current wards along suburb boundaries. Option 5: Amend current wards along suburb boundaries and increase Councillor representation to 11. Option 6: Create three wards (East, North and South) using main roads and suburb boundaries and reduce Councillor representation to 9.

The City’s last review of ward boundaries and councillor representation took place in December 2012, with all local governments required to conduct such reviews no more than eight years apart from each other.

“Due to growth in certain areas some wards are either under represented or over represented when it comes to councillor representation,” Mayor Sammels said.

“With assistance from the community’s submissions the review will help ensure the key foundation of the ‘one vote-one value’ principal is upheld across the City.”