The City of Canning
Where Are We?
The City of Canning lies on the south side of the Swan River. The City is divided by the Canning River and includes residential, business and industry.
Within the City are 16 suburbs: Bentley, Cannington, part of Canning Vale, East Cannington, Ferndale, part of Leeming, Lynwood, Parkwood, Queens Park, Riverton, Rossmoyne, Shelley, part of St James, Welshpool, Willetton and Wilson.
There are 28 Schools of which 22 are Primary Schools.
What are the Levels of Government and Where Does the City of Canning Fit In?
Federal Government
The Federal Government operates from Canberra and makes decisions on matters that affect the whole of Australia. It is lead by the Prime Minister.
State Government
State Government is responsible for looking after many of the different areas that operate within the State such as Education, Main Roads, Railways and Public Housing. State Government is lead by the Premier.
Local Government
Local Government is the level that is closest to the people. It looks after matters affecting the local community such as building and maintaining roads, footpaths, bridges and parks, issuing licences for building, fences, pools and spas, looking after local health matters, and providing services like halls, recreation centres and libraries. The City of Canning is a local government authority.
What is the History of the City?
The City of Canning hasn't always been called the City of Canning!!
In 1871 the Swan River Colony, which was established along the banks of the Swan River, was growing fast, so Local Government Districts were formed. One of the first districts created was called the "Canning Districts Road Board."
Over the years the name changed several times. In 1971 it became the TOWN of Canning and in 1979 it was proclaimed a CITY!
Where Did the Name Canning Come From?
In 1872 Captain Stirling named the Canning River after the Right Honourable George Canning who was not only a respected Member of Parliament in England, but even held the role of Prime Minister for a short time. The area that is now the City of Canning was named after this man. Many other names are derived from "Canning" - Cannington, Canning Highway, Canning Vale and of course the - CITY OF CANNING.
The Crest
The Crest is made up of part of the coat of arms of the Rt. Hon George Canning, the swans and the stars of the Southern Cross symbolise our place in the world, and the bridge is an important feature in the life of the area.
The crest is used for more formal purposes and the less formal logo is used for most day to day printed matter.
The Logo
In March 1992 the City ran a competition, with a prize of $1,000 to design a logo for the City of Canning. The competition was won by James Cooper of Parkwood.
The Logo is based on a letter C (for Canning) encompassing the shape of the boundary of the City.
The Council
The duty of the Council is to listen to the problems and ideas of the people and try to provide them the kind of community they want. However, the Council can only operate within the Local Government Act, the Local Laws and the Local Policies. All Council members are bound by a strict code of ethics and conduct.
The Council consists of 10 Councillors and the Mayor. The Mayor is chief of the Council and presides over Council meetings. In some communities the Mayor is chosen by the Councillors but in the CITY OF CANNING he or she is elected by the people at the Local Government Elections and remains Mayor for 3 years.
Councillors are chosen by the people who vote for them at the Local Government Elections. These elections are held every two years and Councillors, like the Mayor, are elected for three-year terms of office.
How Do You Become a Councillor?
Becoming a Councillor is an important decision. You need to care about your community, be willing to work for the betterment of everyone and be prepared to spend many hours looking after your residents.
Once you have decided to stand for Council, you put forward a nomination for election in the Local Government Elections. If accepted, you then campaign in your Ward to tell people who you are and what you believe you can do for them if elected.
What Is a Ward?
The City is divided into 4 Wards -
Mason Ward, Beeliar Ward, Bannister and Nicholson Ward.
On the first Saturday in October every second year, Local Government Council Elections are held, including those for the City of Canning. The people who live in Mason, Beeliar and Bannister Ward elect 3 people and those in Nicholson Ward elect 1 person to represent their Ward on the Council.
Why Were the Wards Given These Names?
The names of three Wards of the City of Canning were chosen because they are part of the history of the area.
Both Mason and Bannister were early settlers and landowners and Beeliar was the name of an Aboriginal tribe that held land along what is now the Shelley foreshore. The new Ward of Nicholson was named after William Nicholson who owned a 1000 acre property named "Canning Vale".
What is the Role of the Mayor?
The Mayor is the head of the Council. In some local governments the Mayor is first elected by the people as a Councillor, then elected to the role of Mayor by the Councillors themselves.
In the City of Canning, the people elect the Mayor in the same way that the Councillors are elected. The Mayor acts in the same way as the Premier of a State Government or the Prime Minister of the Federal Government.
He is the leader for the City.
He runs the Council meetings, is the official spokesperson for the City and works with politicians and business people to make sure the City is well looked after.
How does Council Operate?
After the elections the new Mayor and Councillors are sworn in.
All information on matters that are brought before the Council is gathered by the Council Administration Staff and presented to Council in the form of an AGENDA.
At the Council meeting, the Councillors discuss, debate and make a final decision on the matters before them. Decisions are reached by a majority vote of all the Councillors. These decisions are known as COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS.
The Council meets in the Council Chambers at the CITY OF CANNING Administration Offices twice a month - on the second and fourth Tuesday at 6pm. These meetings are open to the public.
Who Looks After the Day-to-Day Matters of the City?
There is a large number of staff employed by the Council to carry out the work of looking after the City day to day.
They are not elected but appointed and are paid for the work they do.
Like every large business or company there has to be someone at the top that will make the important decisions.
In LOCAL GOVERNMENT this job is done by -
The Chief Executive Officer
The Chief Executive Officer is the head of the administration staff that work for the City. He has a team of Senior Staff to assist him in his duties.
These highly trained people are experts at what they do and assist the smooth running of the City by looking after their departments. They keep the Chief Executive Officer informed of what is happening in their areas and assist by putting up reports to Council.
In turn the Chief Executive Officer sees that jobs are being done properly and efficiently, makes sure that the finances of the City are being used correctly and ensures that COUNCIL RESOLUTIONS are carried out.
He is the chief adviser to the Mayor and the Council.
What Areas Does the Administration Look After?
The City is divided into five Divisions - each one is looked after by an Executive Officer, who has Managers and other staff to look after the different services within these divisions.
Corporate Services
The Chief Executive Officer looks after this area, which is made up of:
Human Resource Service
This area looks after the needs of all staff, including occupational health and safety and recruiting of new staff members.
Public Affairs Service
The Public Affairs area looks after all the written material, how the staff treat their customers and most of the events the City holds. All the pamphlets, newsletters, media releases, the Annual Report and the Annual Budget are designed and organised by this area.
Orderly Service
This is a small part of the running of the civic events of the City – ordering of food for meetings and dinners and looking after the Council’s day-to-day domestic needs.
Community Services
Community Services is one of the largest areas of the City. It is the Division that looks after “people” services and includes the libraries, the Riverton Leisureplex and other recreation centres, youth centres and aged care facilities. This Division also looks after security, dog issues, litter and areas of parking and traffic management.
These are all part of the following services:
Library Service
Recreation Service
Patrol & Security Service
Disability, Youth & Family Service
Aged Care Service
Recreation Service
Recreation is any activity you choose to do because of the enjoyment you get from it and can be anything from playing sport to painting pictures.
Local government provides various facilities for leisure activities for everyone in the community from babies through to grandparents!
What do you and your family do for fun when you are not at school or at work?
Go Swimming?
The Riverton Leisureplex is the latest recreation facility to built in the City of Canning.
It is a great place for every member of your family and has so much to offer! For more information, have a look at the Leisureplex page on this website.
The Canning Aquatic Centre is open every year between September and Easter. (Heated during the cooler months!) You can learn to swim, join a "Life Saving" class or perhaps your Mum would enjoy Aquarobics.
Play Tennis? Golf? Badminton? Netball?
There are many tennis courts for hire around the City, including 6 at the beautiful Whaleback Golf Course.
The Queens Park Recreational Centre offers special activity programmes for school aged children (during school holidays and after school) as well as a range of groups and classes for Mums and Dads.
Visited a library Lately?
Public Libraries are bright, lively places which anyone in the community can use. It doesn't cost anything to join as a library member, and you will find lots of things to see and do!
There are four libraries in the City of Canning!
Reading is one of the most popular pastimes in the community and public libraries lend books and magazines to people to read for pleasure.
Not only do the libraries have books and magazines, they also have talking books (stories on cassettes), music on tapes and CDs, DVDs, videos, jigsaws, puzzles and games.
There are displays on different subjects and the notice boards will let you know what is happening in and around the community.
Pre-schoolers have story telling sessions every week, and in school holidays all sorts of activities are available: it might be anything from a magician to making puppets to moulding chocolate (yum).
Looking After Others in Our Community
We all like to be independent, to look after ourselves, to make our own decision and not to have to rely too much on other people.
However, every day of the year we need the help and co-operation of others. Some examples of people who help you are parents, the crosswalk attendant, teachers, shop assistants and the bus driver.
If you live to a ripe old age you may need to rely on someone to help you with some of the difficult but essential tasks of daily living.
This might include washing yourself, dressing, cooking, shopping, cleaning the house and looking after the garden.
Paid staff and volunteers help our frail elderly people and their families to achieve all those personal, household and garden things necessary to remain living at home.
The Meals on Wheels Service delivers a hot midday meal to people who are unable to prepare one for themselves.
In the City of Canning there are several Senior Centres where older people can go for fun and relaxation and to make new friends.
Helping Keep Everyone Safe.
The City of Canning’s Patrol & Security Services have been operating their twenty-four hour a day, seven day a week security service since 1998.
This service was added to the wide-ranging patrol and ranger duties that have been, and continue to be, performed by officers within the community.
In addition to carrying out security duties, all Patrol and Security personnel have been authorised by Council to administer and enforce legislation applicable to litter, parking, off-road vehicles, dogs and fire control.
Ratepayers are not charged for this service, it is paid for through the City’s operating revenue.
Patrol and Security Services can be contacted on 9231 0699.
Remember, contact Police first in any emergency situation.
Look after Your Pet!
Every year dogs end up at the Animal Care Facility because people did not do the right thing by registering them and making sure they were secure within their homes and backyards.
All dogs are required by law to be registered at the Council, by 31 October each year, and must wear an identification tag.
It is always a good idea to have the dog’s name, your name and a contact telephone number on the tag as well!
If your pet then becomes lost, there is more chance a Patrol Officer or anyone who finds it wandering will be able to return it to you safely.
The Animal Care Facility, at Bannister Road, Canning Vale, is open Monday to Friday from 4.30-5.30pm and on weekends from 4-5pm. Contact the facility during these hours on 9455 4632.
Photos of animals at the facility are displayed on a board by the gate, on the web-site and at the City’s libraries.
Any enquiries outside of Animal Care Facility hours can be made by contacting Patrol & Security on 9231 0699.
Finance and Client Services
This Division looks after the money and the technology areas of the City. It sets the budgets for Council’s approval and ensures that the City handles its money correctly. Some of the money that helps to run the City comes from the people who own property or land in the City – this is called Rates and is paid each year.
Where does the money come from?
The City handles large amounts of money - more than $80 million in this financial year! Around $26 million will come from rates.
The areas in this Division are:
Accounting Service
Real Estate Service
Rates & Client Service
Information Technology Service
Money also comes from Grants, which are sums of money given to LOCAL GOVERNMENT by the STATE or FEDERAL GOVERNMENT for special projects such as building Seniors Centres or constructing roads and bus shelters. It can also come from places like the LOTTERIES COMMISSION.
Council is allowed to borrow money for major projects, but they must pay it back with interest.
There is a fee for using some of Council's facilities - such as swimming in the Council pool, registering your dog and having building applications approved. This all helps to pay for looking after the City.
Engineering and Technical Services
This Division is made up of:
Engineering Service
Engineering Works Service
Park & Streetscape Service
Property Service
Waste Service
Engineering Service and Engineering Works Service
Another very large part of the City, this Division looks after local roads, drains, footpaths and driveway crossovers.
Staff in the Engineering area investigate the need for roads, paths and drainage then design them and estimate how much it will cost.
The operations staff are responsible for the actual building of all projects and getting the equipment like dumpers and graders needed to do the job.
Who Keeps the City Green?
The Parks Department employs over 70 people who work hard to keep the City of Canning - the streets, the parklands and natural areas – a pleasant place in which to live. Part of their job is to plan and design street developments and future parkland (some with play equipment for young children).
You have probably seen them mowing with giant lawn mowers or fixing automatic sprinkler systems at our sportsfields and parks.
Including the Canning River Regional Park, there are over 250 hectares of sportsgrounds, landscaped parklands, “natural” areas and local bushland within the City of Canning.
How Do We get Rid of our Waste?
Every day all the homes, shops, factories and schools in the City of Canning gather heaps and heaps of rubbish.
What happens to it?
Once, all we did was dump everything in the bin and each week a garbage man would collect it and take it to the Rubbish Tip where it was buried and left to rot.
Soon we began using packaging, like plastics, which would not rot! This caused many problems and began to have a very bad effect on our environment.
Through research and technology, it was found that that if we crushed, minced, melted, ground up or shredded our rubbish most of it could be made into something else and be used again! Recycling!
Machines were invented to do this and now there is hardly anything we throw away that cannot be used again!
Recycle – That is the Message!
The City of Canning is part of an exciting new concept in waste minimisation. The Southern Metropolitan Regional Council, of which the City of Canning is a member, manages the new Resource Recovery Centre in Bannister Road, Canning Vale.
The RRRC is helping reduce the amount of waste that goes to landfill by up to 85%! This will help make our environment cleaner and healthier for future generations
How Can You Help?
The City of Canning makes it easy! Every household has two bins – a general rubbish bin and a recycling bin.
Check your recycling information sheet and make sure anything that can be recycled goes into the yellow-topped bin.
For more information on recycling and the RRRC go to www.smrc.com.au and have a look at the great things that are happening in Canning Vale!
Recycling isn’t only sorting out where to put your rubbish.
Many things around the home can be recycled - clothes, shoes, linen and even toys. Look around your home or school and make a list of all the things you can see that could be made into or used as something else. If you have outgrown your clothes, shoes or toys, you can recycle them by putting them in a charity bin, such as Good Samaritan Industries, St Vincent de Paul or the Salvation Army. Charities also accept furniture and other household items, so give them a ring.
Does your Dad wash out empty Vegemite jars and use them in his shed to hold nails? This too is recycling!
All sorts of household scraps can be made into compost for the garden and with water shortages expected again this summer, you can help by mulching and composting your garden. The City sells compost bins -The Green Cone Digester can be used for food scraps and there is another bin for garden waste such as shrub prunings and lawn clippings.
Strategic and Regulatory Services
Town Planning Service
Building Service
Environmental Health Service
This Division looks after the building and planning areas of the City. It also looks after the environmental health.
To understand how the Building Department works let's look at a typical house building project -
1. The builder submits to the Council 2 copies of the house plans. One is kept as a record and the other is returned to the builder along with a LICENCE, which allows him to start building.
2. Before he is given a licence the plans have to be checked against the Building Regulations to make sure that the building follows the regulations.
3. When the builder is building the house the Building Surveyors from the City make regular visits to check that the right building materials and methods of construction are being used, and that the builder is following the approved plans.
Commercial buildings like shops and factories are also checked to ensure they meet all fire safety requirements.
Swimming pools and spas have very strict laws guiding them to help prevent young children from drowning.
The people who work in the Health Department are called Environmental Health Officers.
This doesn't mean they deal with trees and wildlife! They look after the many things in our environment that are bad for our health and could make us ill. Pests, such as mosquitoes and rats and even excessive noise!
They inspect restaurants and other places where food is prepared to make sure that these places are kept clean and healthy.
If there are any outbreaks of food poisoning or other diseases the Health Department is notified by Doctors or the Hospital. The problem is investigated by Environmental Health Officers to prevent the disease from spreading through the community.
The Environmental Health Officers monitor and control all of these areas and other environmental health issues to help make our City a healthy and pleasant place to live.
So now you know a lot more about how your local government works!
Who knows, maybe one day, you may work for the City of Canning or even become a Councillor or the Mayor!
