County council (New South Wales)

County councils are special purpose local governments in the Australian state of New South Wales, to which a group of local government areas delegate the provision of certain services. Under current legislation (the Local Government Act 1993), county councils can only exist for specific purposes, which must be identified by the proclamation of the Governor which establishes them; but, it is possible for a single county council to perform two or more unrelated functions (e.g. both water supply and weed management), provided all those functions are specifically enumerated in the proclamation which established it.^[1] Each county council has its own budget, assets and liabilities, general manager and staff; the council is not directly elected, but rather composed of delegates of the member local government areas. Although historically county councils were widespread even in metropolitan areas, where they once played a major role in electricity distribution, by the 2020s only nine remained, mostly in regional areas.

The territory of a county council is known as a "county district", and is composed of the territory of the member local government areas, although the legislation permits an LGA to belong to a county council in respect of only part of its territory, in which case only that part of the LGA will belong to the county district. Although the State of New South Wales is divided up into 141 counties, for the purposes of surveying and the registration of land titles, counties and county districts are distinct legal entities, generally with different names and territories. There is presently a Rous County Council – but despite being named after Rous County, and covering a roughly similar geographical area, the territory of Rous County Council is Rous county district not Rous county, and the territories of the county and the county district do not coincide. Similarly, the former Cumberland County Council which played an important role in Sydney's urban planning in the 1940s thru 1960s had as its territory Cumberland county district, which was technically distinct from Cumberland County.

The institution of county councils was established by the Local Government Act 1919 (NSW); the first county council to be promulgated was St George County Council on 4 December 1920.

County councils in New South Wales

Presently there are nine county councils in New South Wales:^[2]

Castlereagh-Macquarie County Council
Central Tablelands Water County Council
Goldenfields Water County Council
Hawkesbury River County Council (the only remaining county council in the Sydney metropolitan area)
New England County Council, which has rebranded itself as the "New England Weeds Authority", although New England County Council remains its official name for legal purposes
Riverina Water County Council
Rous County Council
Upper Hunter County Council, which has similarly rebranded itself as the "Upper Hunter Weeds Authority"
Upper Macquarie County Council, which has rebranded itself as the "Central Tablelands Weeds Authority"

Former county councils in New South Wales

In previous decades, county councils were much more numerous, with many having been disbanded or amalgamated. In particular, they used to play a major role in electricity distribution, with many acting as electricity supply utilities. Defunct county councils include:

References

^ "County councils in NSW" (PDF). Parliament of New South Wales. February 2024. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
^ "Local Government Directory - Office of Local Government NSW". Office of Local Government NSW. Archived from the original on 20 December 2024. Retrieved 24 December 2024.

[1] "County councils in NSW" (PDF). Parliament of New South Wales. February 2024. Retrieved 24 December 2024.

[2] "Local Government Directory - Office of Local Government NSW". Office of Local Government NSW. Archived from the original on 20 December 2024. Retrieved 24 December 2024.

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