Editing Municipality of Strathfield (section)

===Recent council amalgamation proposals===

Throughout its history, there have been movements to amalgamate local councils in the Sydney area: the first major 'threat' was with the 'royal commission for a greater Sydney (1913)', known as 'The Greater Sydney Movement'. The Royal Commission brought together [[Sidney Webb]],{{Citation needed|date=June 2011}} a British politician and John Fitzgerald,<ref>{{cite book|chapter-url=http://adbonline.anu.edu.au/biogs/A080534b.htm|title=Biography - John Daniel (Jack) Fitzgerald - Australian Dictionary of Biography|chapter=Fitzgerald, John Daniel (Jack) (1862–1922) |publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University }}</ref> an Australian politician, who, amongst others, believed that Sydney should be merged into a single local government area. In 1947 Homebush and Strathfield councils merged and part of [[Enfield, New South Wales|Enfield]] was added in 1949.{{citation needed|date=October 2014}}

A [[Local government areas of New South Wales#Reviews of local government areas|2015 review of local government boundaries]] by the [[Government of New South Wales|NSW Government]] [[Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal of New South Wales|Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal]] recommended that the Strathfield Municipal Council merge with adjoining councils. The government proposed a merger of the [[Municipality of Burwood|Burwood]], [[City of Canada Bay|Canada Bay]], and Strathfield Councils to form a new council with an area of {{convert|41|km2}} and support a population of approximately 163,000.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://dpc-olg-ss.s3.amazonaws.com/56c8a4100d28ddda92d9194af3216c74/Burwood-Canada-Bay-Strathfield.pdf |title=Merger proposal: Burwood Council, City of Canada Bay Council, Strathfield Council |publisher=[[Government of New South Wales]] |date=January 2016 |access-date=27 February 2016 |page=7 }}</ref> On 6 May Strathfield Council commenced legal action in the [[Land and Environment Court of New South Wales|NSW Land and Environment Court]] against the proposed amalgamation.<ref>{{cite press release |url=http://www.strathfield.nsw.gov.au/news-and-events/media/media-releases-2016/strathfield-council-commences-legal-action |title=Strathfield Council commences legal action|publisher=Strathfield Council |date=6 May 2016 |access-date=16 May 2016 }}</ref> After the Court heard that there were legal flaws in the report from the NSW Government appointed delegate who examined the proposal for merging the councils, the NSW Government withdrew from the case and the merger proposal stalled.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-31/forced-merger-of-strathfield-burwood-and-canada-bay-blocked/7463242 |title=NSW council amalgamations: Strathfield, Burwood and Canada Bay merger stopped|work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]] |location=Australia |author=Raper, Ashleigh |date=31 May 2016 |access-date=1 June 2016 }}</ref> In July 2017, the [[Gladys Berejiklian|Berejiklian government]] decided to abandon the forced merger of the Strathfield, Burwood and Canada Bay local government areas, along with several other proposed forced mergers.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-07-27/after-nsw-council-merger-backflip-mayors-try-to-get-money-back/8749462 |title=NSW council amalgamations: Mayors fight to claw back court dollars after backflip on merger |work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]] |location=Australia |date=27 July 2017 |access-date=27 July 2017 |author1=Blumer, Clare |author2=Chettle, Nicole }}</ref>