City of Nedlands focused on rebuilding and strengthening operations before considering council amalgamations

Published on Wednesday, 4 November 2026 at 12:50:00 PM

The City of Nedlands’ focus for at least the coming year or two must remain firmly on understanding and bolstering the City’s financial position and ensuring the City is serving the local community effectively.

Mayor Leonie Browner said that while the Council recognised the importance of the discussion about the potential benefits of amalgamations between local government authorities, it was not a focus for the City of Nedlands at this time.

Mayor Browner explained that the City of Nedlands needed to direct its efforts and resources to rebuilding and strengthening the performance and operations of the City in the short to medium term.

“Elected members recently discussed council amalgamations and concluded that for now we must continue to focus on the immediate practical needs of our residents, rather than longer-term issues such as amalgamations,” the Mayor said.

“Our goal is to rebuild and strengthen the whole organisation to better serve our community.

“At the same time, we acknowledge the important conversation to be had on how amalgamations may impact our community and our organisation. We note the arguments that support the concept of amalgamations. For this reason, we remain open to the debate and will engage more fully when the time is right for Nedlands.

“Any conversation around amalgamations has to carefully consider the views of our community and the factors that will be critical to delivering long-term benefits for residents such as: communities of interest, demographic trends, existing infrastructure and long term financial sustainability.

“Importantly, we are already working effectively with other nearby councils to share a range of resources and services to create economies of scale.”

The City participates in the Western Suburbs Alliance of councils, leading the provision of pool inspections across its own suburbs and the Town of Claremont and Shire of Peppermint Grove.

Building permit certification, building applications and development compliance work is shared with neighbouring Councils and more opportunities for shared services with neighbouring local governments will be explored and developed. 

“While we’ve come a long way in a short time, there remains much work to do to rebuild and strengthen the City of Nedlands,” the Mayor said.