NSW’s Inner West Council is preparing a business case to de-amalgamate.

The local government is moving ahead with its plans despite a growing divide between residents and staff about the plans to reinstate Leichhardt, Marrickville and Ashfield councils.

Councillors voted earlier in the year in support of a business case for the de-merger, with 62 per cent of the area’s 186,000 residents having voted for the council to split. However, a survey of council staff found 70 per cent of workers said they did not want the organisation to de-amalgamate.

Labor mayor Darcy Byrne has criticised the NSW government’s controversial policy of forced amalgamations, which was introduced in 2016, saying they would be costly but would not necessarily bring the desired savings.

A report by the Inner West Council last year said demerging would bring disadvantages including high costs for staff redundancies and re-establishing the former councils, as well as potential rate rises. 

Labor councillors, who form an eight-person majority on the Inner West Council, say they must abide by the result of the public poll.

But independent councillor John Stamolis says the response to the vote has been “lacklustre”, lacking progress, information and transparency.

“It’s time to let the political differences go. We know there are divisions, certainly in a council body that’s natural,” he told a recent council meeting.

“We now need to show good faith to our residents, we need to show them that we’re doing something. It’s not just about process ... we need to do a bit more than that.”

He called on the council to put up posters and corflutes to show that it will “honour this result rather than just go through a tick-box approach with no real commitment or energy”.

“One possible message on these posters could be ‘Inner West Council WORKING on your demerger’,” he said in a council motion.

The motion was voted down by the council’s majority voting bloc.

The council says it has engaged consultants to prepare a business case in line with NSW government requirements.

“The draft business case will be reported to the audit, risk and improvement committee, and also presented to a councillor workshop, before being reported to the ordinary council meeting in June 2022, along with a plan for community engagement,” Inner West general manager Peter Gainsford said. 

The council has the option to send its proposal to the Boundaries Commission before NSW Local Government Minister Wendy Tuckerman makes the final decision.