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City weighs its options

Sam Gibbs, Canning TimesCanning Gazette

City of Canning commissioner Linton Reynolds said he would prefer there were no changes to City boundaries, but it was doubtful this would happen.

‘The City of Canning and the City of Gosnells are two very viable cities that do not need to be joined other than to reach the State Government’s magic number of 14 councils,’ Mr Reynolds said.

He said the City’s second preference was to have both councils amalgamated in their entirety, without a change to existing boundaries.

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‘Unfortunately there is no way to defend all of our boundaries,’ he said.

‘Rather than oppose them and be ignored, we decided to offer a better alternative.’

Under the State Government’s proposal, the City of Canning would lose either all or part of the suburbs of Rossmoyne, Shelley, Riverton, Willetton, Wilson, St James, Bentley and Welshpool.

Mr Reynolds said the City of Canning’s alternative proposal to the LGAB would embrace State Government demands but would seek to keep Rossmoyne, Shelley, Riverton, Wilson, Willetton and Welshpool.

‘The Premier said only small changes were allowed to be made, nothing more,’ he said.

‘Even option three is stretching the gilded lily.’

Mr Reynolds said the LGAB would be made aware of the preference for options one and two, but option three was the official proposal.

Planning consultant Charles John said the proposal was not ideal but it was better than the alternative.

‘I hope commonsense will prevail and there ends up being 16 councils instead of 14,’ he said.

Mr Reynolds said the council did not have time to determine the cost a merger.

The City of Canning presented its proposal to the Local Government Advisory Board on Thursday, October 4.

The State Government will make a decision at a later date.

The options– Option one was for the City of Canning to remain unchanged.– Option two was to combine the City of Canning with the City of Gosnells in their entirety.– Option three was the proposal put forward to the Local Government Advisory Board(LGAB). The City of Canning would merge with the City of Gosnells and give up the suburbsof St James and Bentley but try to reclaim Rossmoyne, Shelley, Riverton, Wilson,Willetton and Welshpool.