Inner West Council

Inner West Council is a local government area located in the Inner West region of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The council makes up the eastern part of this wider region, and was formed on 12 May 2016 from the merger of the former Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville councils.

The council comprises an area of 35 km2 and as at the had an estimated population of 182,818.

The mayor of Inner West Council is Darcy Byrne, elected by the councillors on 29 December 2021. The most recent NSW local government election, on 4 December 2021, resulted in a Labor majority of 8 Councillors.

History
In the early 2010s, the New South Wales Government explored merging various local government areas to create larger councils within Sydney. In 2013, the Independent Local Government Review Panel (ILGRP) initially proposed a merger of the six inner west councils - Burwood, Strathfield, Canada Bay, Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville, into a single council that would govern almost all of the inner west region. Alternative mergers were also proposed, such as one between Auburn, Burwood and Canada Bay, or between Burwood, Canada Bay, Strathfield and Ashfield. The final proposal in the 2015 review of local government boundaries recommended that the Municipality of Ashfield, the Municipality of Leichhardt and the Marrickville Council merge to form a new council with an area of 35 km2 and support a population of approximately 186,000. On 12 May 2016, Ashfield Council, Marrickville Council and the Municipality of Leichhardt merged to form the Inner West Council.

Proposed de-amalgamation
In December 2021, a majority of voters in Inner West Council voted in favour of reversing the 2016 merger and separating the three pre-existing councils of Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville. The final declared results were: 62% yes and 38% no.

In 2022, the council prepared a business case for de-amalgamation. As of December 2022 Inner West Council has prepared and submitted a final submission to the NSW Minister for Local Government.

However in March 2024, the Minister for Local Government received the NSW Local Government Boundaries Commission’s report regarding the Council’s business case for de-amalgamation. The report recommended that the proposed de-amalgamation of Inner West Council should not proceed, stating this would be the best outcome for residents and ratepayers of the current local government area.

Suburbs and localities in the local government area
are: • (shared with the City of Sydney)

•

•  (shared with the City of Canterbury-Bankstown)

•

• Balmain East

•

•  (shared with the City of Sydney)

•  (shared with Municipality of Burwood)

•  (shared with the City of Canterbury-Bankstown and Municipality of Burwood)

• Dobroyd Point

• Dulwich Hill

•

•

• Hurlstone Park (shared with the City of Canterbury-Bankstown)

•

•

• Lilyfield

• Marrickville

•  (shared with the City of Sydney)

•

• Rozelle

•  (shared with the City of Sydney)

•

•

•

•

Demographics
At the, there were 182,818 people in the Inner West local government area; of these 48.8 per cent were male and 51.2 per cent were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 1.2 per cent of the population; significantly below the NSW and Australian averages of 3.4 and 3.2 per cent respectively. The median age of people in Inner West Council was 38 years; same as the national median of 38 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 14.6 per cent of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 14.1 per cent of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 37.1 per cent were married and 10.7 per cent were either divorced or separated.

At the 2021 census, the proportion of residents in the Inner West local government area who stated their ancestry as Australian or from Britain or Ireland was about 68 per cent of all residents. In excess of 49 per cent of all residents in Inner West Council nominated a no religious affiliation at the 2021 census, which was in excess of the national average of 38.4 per cent. Meanwhile, as at the census date, compared to the national average, households in the Inner West local government area had a higher than average proportion (42.9 per cent) where two or more languages are spoken (the national average was 31.8 per cent); and a lower proportion (69.8 per cent) where English only was spoken at home (national average was 72.0 per cent).

Council
The Inner West Council comprises fifteen Councillors elected proportionally, with three Councillors elected in five wards. On 9 September 2017, the current council was elected for a fixed three-year term of office (which was extended for twelve months in 2020 to December 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic); the mayor is appointed biennially and deputy mayor annually by the councillors at the first meeting of the council.

Current composition
The most recent election was held on 4 December 2021, and the makeup of the council by order of election, is as follows:

Town halls
The Inner West Council owns and maintains the three seats of the three pre-merger councils, being Ashfield Town Hall, Petersham Town Hall and Leichhardt Town Hall. Since 2021, all Council meetings have been held at the Ashfield Service Centre. 

In addition, the Council also owns the Marrickville, Balmain and St Peters town halls, which were the seats of municipal councils that had existed prior to their merger into the immediate predecessor councils.

Inner West Library Service
The Inner West Library Service consists of a network of 8 libraries located within the Inner West Council boundaries. After the Inner West Council amalgamation, a new library management system was launched on 1 March 2019, with a soft launch in late February allowing members to borrow from all libraries in the service.

The libraries of the Inner West Library Service include:
 * Ashfield Library
 * Balmain Library
 * Emmanuel Tsardoulias Community Dulwich Hill Library
 * Haberfield Library
 * Leichhardt Library
 * Marrickville Library
 * Stanmore Library
 * St Peters/Sydenham Library