Review Number of Elected Members

Overview

The Town of Cottesloe is undertaking a Review of Representation to determine whether its current Council structure remains appropriate for the future needs of the community.

Council currently consists of a directly elected Mayor and eight Councillors, making a total of nine elected members.

Community members are encouraged to consider the following options:

Retain the current model of nine elected members.
Reduce the number of elected members to seven.
Reduce the number of elected members to five.

Council will consider all community feedback before determining a preferred option, for recommendation to the Local Government Advisory Board and the Minister.

View Community Discussion Paper

Feedback

Have Your Say

Before deciding your preferred representation option, please consider the factors and data outlined in the Community Discussion Paper (linked above).

This consultation closes 5:00pm 16 December 2026.

Provide feedback

Pros and Cons

Consider the potential impacts of each representation option

Retain 9 Elected Members

ADVANTAGES
🟢 Greater diversity of experience, skills and viewpoints.
🟢 Better representation of different stakeholder or community interests.
🟢 More resilience if members are absent or positions become vacant.
🟢 Greater capacity for specialised committees and leadership succession.

DISADVANTAGES
🟠 Decision-making processes can take longer.
🟠 Reaching an agreement may be more difficult with more viewpoints to consider.
🟠 Higher costs for councillor allowances, training and governance support.
🟠 Individual members may feel less accountable because responsibility is more dispersed.

Reduce to 7 Elected Members

ADVANTAGES
🟢 Balance between diversity and efficiency.
🟢 Maintains a broad range of skills and perspectives.
🟢 Less reliance on any single member.
🟢 Less governance and administrative costs than 9 members.

DISADVANTAGES
🟠 Fewer councillors means fewer opportunities for community representation.
🟠 Decisions may take longer than with 5 members.
🟠 More effort required to build consensus.
🟠 More governance and administrative costs than with 5 members.

Reduce to 5 Elected Members

ADVANTAGES
🟢 Faster and more efficient decision-making.
🟢 Easier to schedule meetings and achieve quorum.
🟢 Stronger accountability, as individual contributions are more visible.
🟢 Lower governance and administrative costs.
🟢 More cohesive discussions with less risk of debate becoming unwieldy.

DISADVANTAGES
🟠 Less diversity of skills, experience and perspectives.
🟠 Greater risk that one or two individuals can dominate discussions.
🟠 Loss of a member due to resignation or illness has a significant impact.
🟠 Limited committee capacity if additional governance structures are required.

Document Library

Community Discussion Paper

Related Legislation

Local Government Act 1995 - Schedule 2.2

Email Submission

You are also welcome to provide your feedback by emailing

town@cottesloe.wa.gov.au

FAQs

It is a statutory requirement for local governments to periodically review representation arrangements under the Local Government Act 1995.

The State Government has established a formal review process requiring public consultation before any changes can be considered by the Local Government Advisory Board.

The Town last reviewed its representation arrangements in 2018. At that stage, Council reaffirmed its structure of the Mayor with eight Councillors. Council consisted of 4 wards, each with two Councillors. In 2022, as part of the Local Government Reform, the Town was required to remove its previous ward structure, and therefore all Councillors were elected by and represented the entire area of the municipality.

Following a number of governance reforms across Western Australia and increasing interest in council effectiveness and efficiency, the Town is now considering whether its current council size remains appropriate.

All feedback submissions will be reviewed and assessed by Council against the statutory review criteria:

community of interest
physical and topographic features
demographic trends
economic factors
ratio of councillors to electors

Council will then determine a preferred option which will be recommended to the Local Government Advisory Board (LGAB).

The Local Government Advisory Board (LGAB) assesses and makes recommendations to the Minister on:

Changes to local government boundaries.
Local government amalgamations and boundary adjustments.
Ward structures and representation reviews, including whether a local government should have wards, how many wards, ward boundaries, and councillor representation.
Changes to Councillor numbers and council representation arrangements.

The LGAB does not make the final decision. Instead, it:

Receive and assess proposals.
Consider community submissions and relevant statutory factors.
Makes a recommendation to the Minister to either accept or reject a proposal.
The Minister then decides whether to support the recommendation, with final implementation occurring through the formal statutory process.

Sidebar Timeline

Community consultation opens
4 November 2026
Community consultation closes
16 December 2026
Community feedback reviewed and assessed
December 2026
Community Consultation Report presented to Council
January 2027
Council determines preferred representation model for recommendation
February 2027
Review Report presented to Local Government Advisory Board
March 2027
Local Government Advisory Board provides recommendation to Minister for Local Government (if applicable)
Subject to statutory process