Boundaries drawn on single-ward structure

THE preliminary report for the City of Ballarat’s imminent transition into a single-ward electorate has been released.

Currently maintaining a three councillor for three wards system, the shift is a legislative change for the municipality courtesy of the Local Government Act 2020 and is being overseen by the Victorian Electoral Commission.

A report was released on Wednesday last week includes three proposed electorate models for residents and municipality staff to consider.

Current South Ward councillor Ben Taylor has previously expressed his concern towards the change, and said the proposed boundaries could be confusing for residents.

“It’ll be interesting to get people’s feedback around the best alignment because I think it is a bit confusing, some of them,” he said.

“My only thing for the Buninyong Ward is in the third option, you wouldn’t go as far into the Sovereign Hill area, because then you’re into the top of Mount Pleasant.”

The panel suggested the municipality maintain its number of nine councillors and that was appropriate for Ballarat’s size and population, with each proposed model featuring nine distinctive wards.

The first model is aimed at using major roads and railway lines to indicate clear boundaries while accommodating growth and would see current northern, eastern, and southern sizes maintained.

Models one and three both suggest a 535-square-kilometre boundary called the Burrumbeet Ward similar in scale to the current North Ward, which the panel deemed an inappropriate size for one councillor to manage.

“If you’re going to be one councillor to look after that Burrumbeet ward, it’s pretty confronting,” Cr Taylor said.

“It pretty much becomes one councillor for the rural country to the north which is pretty diverse.”

The second model is meant to address that, with the northern boundary split into Coghills Creek Ward for established residential areas, Burrumbeet Ward which would cover new developments like Lucas, and Nerrina Ward for Invermay and surrounds.

With the municipality currently consisting of the North Ward which covers Learmonth to Wendouree, to Central Ward, and South Ward from Sebastopol to Buninyong, each new boundary accounts for within 10 per cent of Ballarat’s voting population.

A fourth model was considered which would split the current wards into three though this would have impacted the voting percentage requirement and divided the boundaries’ communities at opposite sides of arterial roads.

Many of the proposed wards are named after the boundary’s relevant suburbs such as Buninyong Ward within Buninyong, and the eponymous Black Hill Ward, and Alfredton Ward.

Cr Taylor he’s still concerned about the shift.

“It’d disappointing we’re going down this path,” he said. “My biggest concern is still and does it give representation to the city as a whole or do you become so parochial you worry about your ward and not others?

“People need to at least have commonality with their ward. The second model gives a better option for the rural areas because one big ward isn’t a great option for the people out there.

“There’s not much difference with Buninyong and the south for all three though, it’s much of a muchness.”

Public submissions are open until 5pm on Wednesday 19 July, through which boundary suggestions relevant to the single-ward structure can be noted.

Following submissions, an online public hearing is set to take place at 10am on Tuesday 25 July and will run as scheduled should those wishing to speak register through the VEC website.

Following the review, which is being carried by one of two electoral representation advisory panels, a final report will be brought to the Minister for Local Government in late August.

The preliminary report and proposed models are available at the VEC website.