Local Government Review Report welcomed but more time needed

Tuesday, 14 January 2014

Penrith City Council has welcomed the release of the Independent Local Government Review Panel’s final report on 8 January, but said more time is needed for communities to be consulted.

Penrith Mayor Ross Fowler OAM said Council is calling on the NSW Premier to extend the consultation period on such a far-reaching review until the end of April.

"The current 7 March consultation deadline leaves little time for Council and the community to properly consider and respond to the report," Councillor Fowler said.

"The Government has had the report for some months now and we need a similar amount of time to consider it.

"Penrith Council gave a comprehensive submission as part of the review and we need to see if the matters raised in our submission have been addressed.

"We agree with the need for the government and councils to look at ways to improve the capacity and financial sustainability of Local Government for now and into the future.

"To that end, this is the most important document in decades for local communities and local government and this report contains significant changes since the last discussion paper.

"Let's get this right. We need time to properly consider these changes and their impact on local communities."

Information contained within this news release was correct as at Tuesday, 14 January 2014.