Light Regional Council has today been advised that the South Australian Local Government Boundaries Commission (the Commission) has completed its inquiry into the Town of Gawler’s Boundary Change Proposal.

Inquiry Report - Town of Gawler Boundary Change Proposal

Disappointingly, the Commission has included in its recommendation to the Minister for Local Government, Hon Joe Szakacs MP, that Light Regional Council’s beautiful suburb of Hewett should be incorporated into the Town of Gawler.

The report states “The Commission concludes that while originally and presently included within the Light Regional Council area, Hewett is and will be part of the Town of Gawler’s urban form and communities of interest……….”

Newly-elected Mayor of Light Regional Council Mr Bill Close stated “since the Town of Gawler’s original proposal some six years ago, Council has consistently remained strongly opposed to the reasoning and the rationale behind such a change.  Changes such as this do nothing to impact on the day to day lives of the communities of Light or Gawler and have been a distraction over that period, taking our valuable time away from delivering quality services to our community. I feel let down by this process and given the feedback provided during the community consultation I would imagine our community would be feeling the same.”

Light Regional Council Chief Executive Officer Richard Dodson said “the recommendations in this report have come as a surprise.  We have taken the view that with the announcement of the Greater Adelaide Regional Plan (GARP) earlier in the year, the State Government and the Commission would have recognised that there is much greater work to do in terms of providing more housing and critical infrastructure to the growing region rather than consuming unnecessary energy from all parties chasing an ideological proposal.  Our Council will now carefully review the report and look to engage with the Minister to gain a greater understanding of where he sees this proposal going."

The Minister is responsible for making the final determination on the recommendations but has not given any indication on a timeframe in which he intends to make it.

For further information please contact Council on 8525 3200 or light@light.sa.gov.au.