The Greater Fremantle team wants the City of Fremantle’s boundary extended to take in Hamilton Hill and part of North Coogee.
With the City of Cockburn against the move and former Local Government Minister Tony Simpson favouring reform backed by all affected councils, campaigners felt it was unlikely their proposal would be approved.
But, following the announcement Wanneroo MLA Paul Miles had been given the portfolio, Greater Freo convenor Adin Lang has renewed hope his bid will eventually get the nod. “We hope the new Minister will follow due process and be decisive about the Local Government Advisory Board (LGAB) findings,” he said.
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READ NOW“We hope the new Minister can see the bigger picture. It’s game on again.”
Public consultation undertaken by the LGAB for the proposal is ongoing and a public hearing is scheduled for October 5.
The City of Cockburn will hold a special council meeting on Thursday to resolve its formal submission to the LGAB.
In July the City revealed it had commissioned ReachTEL to survey the community about the proposal.
Fewer than 20 per cent of the 711 residents surveyed backed the move.
Mr Lang has sought the raw data from that survey to scrutinise himself, but has been knocked back.
A Freedom of Information request has been submitted. “We wanted it the day Cockburn released the results,” Mr Lang said.
“We have been passed from department to department within the council and it has become clear that they don’t want to release it.”
Cockburn chief executive Stephen Cain said the data will form part of the City’s submission to the LGAB, with residents able to view it when it goes up on the city’s website as part of the agenda item for the special council meeting.
Mr Lang said their initial request should have been accepted. “It’s clearly on hand. They could email it today if they were genuine,” he said.