General News
5 August, 2025
De-amalgamation back on the agenda
Planning is underway to establish a case in favour of creating a new council for rural areas to the south and west of Toowoomba.
It’s the second serious attempt to separate a large slice of the Region’s rural sector from the growing urban area of Toowoomba and surrounds.
In 2012 a Darling Downs Shire Steering Committee put in a considerable effort to research the issue and prepare a case for a new council.
The bid finally failed in 2016 when, after a vote directed by Local Government Minister at the time Jackie Trad, Toowoomba Regional Council voted against the proposal.
The latest bid is being driven by a group of prominent citizens from the former Clifton, Pittsworth, Millmerran and Jondaryan shire areas, among them four ex-shire councillors, three of whom also served on the Regional Council.
Among the group is former Regional Mayor Paul Antonio who, along with Pittsworth farmer and developer Mark Droney has been nominated as a spokesperson.
The group will create a new proposal, using the case put forward by the Darling Downs Shire Steering Committee as a basis.
Proposed boundaries for a new council are still being considered by the new group but it appears most likely that the area to be covered will be somewhat similar to that proposed in the previous case study.
This takes in the whole of the former Clifton, Pittsworth and Millmerran shires and rural portions of the former Cambooya and Jondaryan shires, which aligns with the central Condamine catchment.
The group believes dormitory centres such as Westbrook, Wyreema, Cambooya and Oakey should remain in the Toowoomba-based Council area.
