Cumberland Council (New South Wales)

The Holroyd Administration Centre in Merrylands, now the Cumberland Council seat, was the Holroyd seat from 1962.

The area formerly known as the City of Holroyd was first proclaimed in July 1872 as the "Municipal District of Prospect and Sherwood", which became the "Municipality of Prospect and Sherwood" from 1906 and on 11 January 1927 it was renamed the "Municipality of Holroyd" after Arthur Holroyd, the first mayor.[9][10] From 1 January 1991, city status was granted, becoming the City of Holroyd. Originally located at the Council Chambers in Merrylands West from 1915, the administrative centre of Holroyd was located in the suburb of Merrylands from 1962.[11]

The opening of the second Auburn Town Hall, Auburn Road, 12 July 1927.

To the east of Holroyd, the City of Auburn was first proclaimed on 19 February 1892 as the "Borough of Auburn" and became the "Municipality of Auburn" in 1906.[12] On 20 June 1906, the hitherto unincorporated area around Silverwater and Newington was combined into the Municipality of Auburn.[13]

The eastern section of Auburn was originally proclaimed as the Borough of Rookwood on 8 December 1891 and in 1913 Rookwood was renamed "Lidcombe", a portmanteau of the names of the two previous mayors, in an attempt to distance the municipality from the necropolis.[14] On 1 January 1949, with the passing of the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948, the Municipalities of Auburn and Lidcombe were amalgamated to form the new "Municipality of Auburn". In 1993 Auburn Municipal Council became "Auburn Council" and was granted city status in 2008, becoming the "Auburn City Council".

The area known as the Woodville Ward of the City of Parramatta until the amalgamations in May 2016, was first incorporated as the "Borough of Granville" on 20 January 1885, which became the "Municipality of Granville" from 1906, and met in the Granville Town Hall when it was completed in 1888.[15]

On 1 January 1949, with the passing of the Local Government (Areas) Act 1948, the municipalities of Granville, Dundas, Ermington and Rydalmere, and Parramatta were amalgamated to form the new "City of Parramatta". Granville municipality became the "Granville Ward" and the council meetings of the new Parramatta City were held at the Granville Town Hall from 1949 until the new administration centre was opened in Parramatta in 1958. In 1995 a reorganisation of Parramatta's wards resulted in Granville Ward being renamed "Woodville Ward" after Woodville Road while the former Granville Municipality suburbs of Harris Park, Rosehill, Telopea, and northern sections of Granville and Clyde, were moved into the Elizabeth Macarthur Ward.[15]

Granville Town Hall was the location of the first meeting of Cumberland Council on 19 May 2016.

A 2015 review of local government boundaries by the NSW Government Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommended a major reorganisation for the area covered by Auburn, Holroyd and Parramatta councils. The government considered two proposals. The first was a merger of parts of Auburn, Holroyd and Parramatta to form a new council with an area of 72 square kilometres (28 sq mi) and support a population of approximately 219,000.[16] The second proposed a merger of parts of Parramatta, Auburn, The Hills, Hornsby, and Holroyd to form a new council with an area of 82 square kilometres (32 sq mi) and support a population of approximately 215,725.[17]

On 12 May 2016, the Cumberland City Council was proclaimed as a new local government area, combining parts of Auburn City Council (south of the M4 Western Motorway), the Woodville Ward of the Parramatta City Council, and the majority of the Holroyd City Council.[4] The remainder of the Auburn City Council area north of the M4 Western Motorway (including parts of the Sydney Olympic Park) and a small section of Holroyd was merged into the reconstituted City of Parramatta Council.[18][4]

Cumberland Council logo used from May 2016 to February 2017.

The former General Manager of Mosman Council (1986–2013), Viv May PSM, who had been serving as the Administrator of the suspended Auburn City Council since February 2016, was appointed as the Administrator, and the long-serving Holroyd General Manager, Merv Ismay, was appointed as interim general manager.[4] The first Special Meeting of Cumberland Council was held on 19 May 2016, at the Granville Town Hall, the historic former seat of the Granville Municipality, which merged with Parramatta in 1949.[5][19] Subsequent Council meetings alternated between the Merrylands Administration Building and Auburn Civic Centre, until December 2016 when May decided that the Auburn council chambers would be taken over by the Auburn Library, and all council meetings from then to be held at Merrylands.[5][20]

After undertaking a significant amount of work to rationalise council services and staff, noting that "Auburn had issues with flagrant rezoning, and Holroyd was over-promising and underdelivering, living in a financial fantasy with many of its projects", May's term as Administrator came to an end in September 2017, with the election of the first council.[21] The former Mayor of Holroyd, Greg Cummings, was elected as the inaugural Mayor of Cumberland Council on 27 September 2017.[22]

The most recent election was held on 9 September 2017, and the makeup of the Council, by order of election, is as follows: