Proposed Wollongong Wards Announced

Well, Wollongong Council has announced the proposed new wards and put them up for comment on the Council website.

As you can see from the map (warning its absolutely huge) they've essentially divided the Wollongong LGA in half and the carved a chunk out for the Wollongong metro area, leaving both Ward 1 and Ward 3 with large underpopulated areas.

Let's break down each ward.

Ward 1 (Northern/North West Wollongong):

Population: 46,304

Major towns: Helensburgh, Stanwell Park, Clifton, Wombarra, Austinmer, Thirroull, Bulli, Woonona, Corrimal, Balgownie

Ward Quota: 11576

Map: link

Ward 2 (Metro Wollongong):

Population: 46,263

Major Towns: Wollongong, Figtree, Mount Kembla, Unanderra

Ward Quota: 11565

Map: link

Ward 3 (Southern/South Western Wollongong):

Population: 42610

Major Towns: Dapto, Port Kembla, Primbee, Windang, Berkeley

Ward Quota: 10652

Map: link

Just keep in mind that these aren't set in stone, though as far as I can see, there isn't anything that's really begging to be changed.

So there you have it, in slightly less than 4 months, we're going to be going to the polls. That's not a lot of time to be getting the resources together to run a proper campaign, on the other hand, with the move to proportional representation does open things up for smaller groups and independents.