About Perth's councils & Regional Councils

Since settlement by the British in 1829, Perth has grown to cover a million square kms. Local councils (or Road Boards and Shires as they used to be called) have sprung up and been merged and split over the years, with many smaller councils swallowed up into larger ones, but residents always keen to belong to a council that feels like a natural geographic entity. 2009 is seeing a big push for mergers/swallowing up of smaller councils, with the jockeying process proving quite dramatic!

All metro and country councils are now represented and supported by WALGA, the Western Australian Local Government Association. For a brief overview of WA's local government history see http://www.walga.asn.au/about_lg/historylocalgov.htm

All Perth's Councils have websites, but some communicate environmental information better than others. Check out your Council's website and read our survey of its environmental performance. Then see the Snapshot Chart to see how it compares with other metro Councils, but do bear in mind that some Q's are not as relevant to some councils as they are to others, AND some green ticks are worth more than others, in terms of the impact of those practices on the environment.

As well as belonging to WALGA, over the past two decades, all metro councils have formed Regional Councils initially to deal collectively with waste but now to run some other joint environmental (including greenhouse abatement), social and economic programs. All our 30 metro councils belong to one of these Regional Councils (except Serpentine-Jarrahdale). To keep up with environmental initiatives in your area, it's well worth checking out your Regional Council's website:

EAST METROPOLITAN REGIONAL COUNCIL http://www.emrc.org.au
- Bassendean, Bayswater, Belmont, Kalamunda, Mundaring, Swan

MINDARIE REGIONAL COUNCIL http://mrc.wa.gov.au
Cambridge, Joondalup, Perth, Stirling, Victoria Park, Vincent, Wanneroo

RIVERS REGIONAL COUNCIL http://www.rrc.wa.gov.au  - The Cities of Armadale, Gosnells and South Perth (formerly South East Metropolitan Regional Council) and the Shires of Murray, Serpentine-Jarrahdale and Waroona. 

SOUTHERN METROPOLITAN REGIONAL COUNCIL http://www.smrc.com.au
- Cockburn, East Fremantle, Fremantle, Kwinana, Melville, Rockingham

WESTERN METROPOLITAN REGIONAL COUNCIL (no website) Based at Mosman Park Council.
- Claremont, Nedlands, Cottesloe, Peppermint Grove, Subiaco, Mosman Park.