A decision to defer Armidale Regional Council joining the Namoi Councils Joint Organisation (JO a group of Councils) has been supported by Namoi JO members at a meeting held in Uralla on Thursday.
Due to the NSW Office of Local Government holding a regional meeting at Bingara on August 8 to discuss the government’s draft paper on the formation of joint organisations the JO members agreed it was appropriate to defer a decision on The Armidale Regional Council JO membership application.
“The NSW Government is looking at compulsory membership of joint organisations across NSW and if that occurs the boundaries for the Namoi and New England region will need to be determined,” said Dr Tiley.
“This is a prudent decision for the Namoi Council group to take to allow the review process to continue and await the outcomes.”
Council will continue to support the objectives of regional organisations.
Armidale Regional Council notified councils in the New England group of its intention to depart and apply for membership of the Namoi JO, which takes in an area including the Walcha, Tamworth, Narrabri, Moree and Gwydir councils.
In a letter to Inverell Shire Council, Armidale interim general manager Glenn Wilcox said his council had visited a Namoi JO meeting at Walcha on July 7, and, based on that meeting, had decided to apply for membership because the new council believed the northern region would be better served by a single organisation, rather than two that revolve around one key larger council.
Dr Tiley suggested that a larger JO of potentially 13 councils would provide greater strength and advocacy capacity as well as the ability for greater resource sharing and improved service delivery and scale.
He said the people of the Northern Tablelands region deserve improved cooperation and collaboration.
The public can review the Draft Joint Regional Organisations paper at www.fitforthefuture.nsw.gov.au/joint-organisations
