The Municipality of Ashfield was a local government area in the Inner West of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is about west of the Sydney central business district. The municipality was proclaimed on 28 December 1871 as the "Borough of Ashfield", which changed to the "Municipality of Ashfield" in 1906. On 12 May 2016, Ashfield merged with Marrickville Council and the Municipality of Leichhardt to form the Inner West Council.

The last mayor of the municipality was councillor Lucille McKenna, a member of the Australian Labor Party.

In December 2021, a majority of voters in Inner West Council voted in favour of reversing the 2016 merger and separating the three pre-existing councils of Ashfield, Leichhardt and Marrickville.

Suburbs

The municipality comprised the following suburbs and localities:

  • Ashfield
  • Dobroyd Point
  • Haberfield
  • Summer Hill

It also included parts of:

  • Ashbury (shared with City of Canterbury)
  • Croydon (shared with Municipality of Burwood)
  • Hurlstone Park (shared with City of Canterbury)
  • Croydon Park (shared with City of Canterbury and the Municipality of Burwood)

Council history

thumb|Ashfield Town Hall in 1938. The original Victorian building was extensively remodelled in the [[Art Deco style in the 1920s. This building was demolished in the 1970s to make way for Ashfield Mall and the current Civic Centre.]]The "Borough of Ashfield" was proclaimed in the New South Wales Government Gazette on 28 December 1871 and was originally divided into two wards, North Ward and South Ward.

Local issues in the area, before the forced merge into Inner West Council, included the redevelopment of Ashfield Mall and concerns about overdevelopment in general; construction of the M4 East tunnel because it might lead to increased traffic and pollution; and the general state of the commercial area, which one councillor labelled 'Trashfield'. Also contentious was Ashfield Council itself. In 2003, it was described by the Daily Telegraph as one of the worst councils in Sydney after one councillor took out a restraining order against another. By 2008, another councillor was sacked for not being a bona fide resident of the municipality while other councillors had made outspoken comments on issues such as the Iraq War, bird flu, the Monarchy and 30 km/h speed limits within residential areas. In 2009, Councillor Nick Adams was given a six-month suspension from the Liberal Party of Australia for conduct deemed likely to "embarrass or cause damage to" the Party during an altercation with a journalist.

A 2015 review of local government boundaries recommended that the Municipality of Ashfield merge with the Municipality of Leichhardt and the Marrickville Council to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately . On 12 May 2016, Ashfield merged with Marrickville Council and the Municipality of Leichhardt to form the Inner West Council.

Demographics

At the 2011 Census, there were 41,214 people in the Ashfield local government area, of these 48.6% were male and 51.4% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.6% of the population. The median age of people in the Municipality of Ashfield was 37 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 15.1% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 14.4% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 45.1% were married and 10.0% were either divorced or separated.!!2006!!2011

The final council was composed of four Labor councillors, four independents and four Liberals. The last mayor was Lucille McKenna, the Council's first woman mayor.

Ashfield Municipal Council was composed of twelve councillors elected proportionally as four separate wards, each electing three Councillors. All Councillors were elected for a fixed four-year term of office. The mayor and deputy mayor were elected for a one-year term by the councillors at the first meeting of the council in September. The last election was held on 13 September 2012, and the makeup of the council for the term 2012–16, in order of election by ward, was as follows:

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| Julie Passas

| Liberal

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| Alex Lofts

| Labor

| Deputy Mayor

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| Caroline Stott

| Independent

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| rowspan="3"|North East Ward

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| Ted Cassidy PSM

| Independent

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| Vittoria Raciti

| Liberals

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| Lucille McKenna

| Labor

| Mayor 2013–2016

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| Adriano Raiola

| Liberal

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| Monica Wangmann

| Independent

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| Mei Wang

| Labor

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| rowspan="3"|South Ward

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| Mark Drury

| Labor

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| Max Raiola

| Liberal

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| Morris Mansour

| Independent

| Mayor 2012–2013

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Mayors

Ashfield Council launched a new logo and branding in August 2008, described as an "urban map" of various images representing various buildings and forms in the local area. This branding remained in use (with the arms retained for the most formal uses) until the council's amalgamation.