Wanneroo City to be split officially into two local govts on July 1

31/3/98

The City of Wanneroo is to be split into two local governments, the City of Joondalup and the Shire of Wanneroo.

Local Government Minister Paul Omodei announced today that he had accepted the recommendation to that effect from the Local Government Advisory Board.

The division would occur officially on July 1.

Both Joondalup and the new Shire of Wanneroo would be run by the Commissioners who are now running the City of Wanneroo.

The Local Government Act provided that elections had to be held within 12 months of the date of division, but Mr Omodei told Parliament that because of the enormity of the task he was examining options for a longer term for the Commissioners.

Mr Omodei said that the Advisory Board had made only one change to the way he had proposed that the City should be split.

He had proposed that the boundary should run north-south through the middle of Lake Joondalup, but the board had recommended that all of the lake and the surrounding park land (Yellalonga Park) should be included in the City of Joondalup.

The reason was that the area would be managed by CALM and it would be better if CALM dealt with one local government on matters affecting the lake and the surrounding regional park.

The change was not considered significant and therefore would not require a further process of public consultation.

Mr Omodei said that the current City of Wanneroo was the biggest local government in Western Australia and the fourth biggest in Australia. Its spectacular growth over the last 28 years was expected to continue for at least the next 20 years.

It already had an annual budget of more than $100 million and employed more than 1000 people.

The Local Government Act provided sufficient guarantees to employees to ensure a 'business as usual' approach before and after the division.

The boundary of the City of Joondalup would run at its northern end from the ocean through Balirgowie Heights to the northern alignment of the freeway, then south to Burns Beach Road, east to the locality boundary of Wanneroo and following that to the eastern side of Lake Joondalup to Ocean Reef Road, then east to Wanneroo Road, south to Beach Road, west to Marmion Avenue and back into Beach Road to the sea.

The balance of the present City of Wanneroo would be included in the new Shire of Wanneroo and it was likely that in the future that shire would be divided into two - Wanneroo and Alkimos.

Careful attention would be paid to a fair distribution of assets and income while the City was being divided.

Mr Omodei said that the division would enable local government in the area to be local, and ensure that the task of representing the community was within the reach of part-time councillors.

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