Clarence Valley Council in New South Wales: A Successful Municipal Merger?

Clarence Valley Council (CVC), located on the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, is the product of a 2004 NSW Government-imposed amalgamation of four general-purpose and two special-purpose county councils. CVC was created as an undivided area with one city and 43 towns and villages. In 2012-2013 it had an area of 10,440.2 square kilometres and a population of 51,346 persons (NSW Office of Local Government 2014, p 104). There had been earlier council mergers in the Clarence Valley and, in the late 1990s, a failed voluntary amalgamation process. The writer, who has had more than 50 years' experience in New South Wales local government, has been mayor to one former council, served on both county councils and, from 2005 to 2008, was the first mayor of CVC, is thus well-placed to provide an informed perspective of the merger and its economic and local democratic consequences.