GAWLER Council has endorsed mayor Karen Redman’s plan to bring a number of the council’s surrounding suburbs inside its boundaries.
At the council’s ordinary meeting last Tuesday, elected members were mostly supportive of a motion put forward by Ms Redman that would see the council investigate the viability of adding the suburbs of Hewett, Concordia, Kalbeeba and Gawler Belt to its jurisdiction.
Councillors voted 7-2 in favour of proceeding to write to Light Regional and Barossa councils to signal Gawler’s intent to expand its boundaries, and for council staff to bring a report to its August meeting outlining the viability of the proposal.
Any changes to council boundaries need to be assessed and investigated by the newly-formed and independent Boundaries Commission.
Hewett was zoned to Light Regional Council at its inception more than 25 years ago, but not without objection from Gawler Council. At the meeting, Gawler councillor Paul Little, who was an elected
member when Hewett was first established, said the suburb being under Light Regional Council’s control has had a negative effect on Gawler Council.
“I concur with what the motion’s about; initially when Hewett was developed, I was on council then and we put up an objection (to the State Government’s decision),” he said.
“Our local member was Malcolm Buckby, who didn’t think we’d have any impost on the infrastructure of the town.
“I think he’s been proved grossly wrong in several regards.”
Gawler Belt also falls inside Light Regional Council’s boundary, while Concordia and Kalbeeba are under Barossa Council’s control.
As reported in The Bunyip last week, Light Regional mayor Bill O’Brien and Barossa mayor Bim Lange are both opposed to having their respective council’s land taken by Gawler Council.
In response to the mayors’ comments, Ms Redman said any conversation, such as boundary reform negotiations, “does have difficulties”.
“What I love about Bim and Bill is they have strength of character, and I know we’re all going to be able to have a good, robust conversation about this matter,” she said.
“I look forward to those conversations and I know they’re going to want to be a part of that.
“It was one of the reasons I spoke with them a good month ago, so they knew this was coming from Gawler.
“We shouldn’t be afraid to have these kind of conversations; local government deals with a lot of smaller matters, but we shouldn’t be afraid to deal with the bigger ones – and this is a big one.”
Ms Redman added she was pleased to see her motion carried and looked forward to moving ahead with her plan.
“There was strong support for the motion last Tuesday night and what that means is we can now proceed and investigate this process, what it means for council, what it means for our community and what it means for the communities of Hewett, Kalbeeba, Concordia and Gawler Belt,” she said.
“It means that everyone gets to have a say, and it’s an important conversation Gawler has needed to have for a long time.”
