Corangamite Shire Council's ward system could be removed at the next election as panel reviews

South-central ward councillor Jo Beard said the shire's ward structure could change by 2024 with changes to the local government act.

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Moves towards an unsubdivided shire or seven single councillor wards by the next election cycle are being considered.

"We're actually going under a municipal review at the moment whether Corangamite stays as a ward system," Cr Beard said.

"Under the new local government act, the way we sit now isn't going to stay so we have three people in what we call our central ward, and then single member wards around them so in our next election that won't be the same.

"Our options are either we go completely unsubdivided like Moyne and Warrnambool or the central ward will get divided up into three single member wards.

"When you've got a town like Camperdown basically split in half, one person's on one side and one's on the other so we don't know how that's going to work."

She said the structural change could encourage a number of new candidates. Three councillors have been elected unopposed in every Corangamite Shire council election since 2008.

"The question has come up and it's come up from me saying 'I've been elected unopposed four times, is someone sitting out there that actually really wants to have a crack but they're thinking Jo's always going to get the votes, I won't bother?'," Cr Beard said.

"That person could've been an absolutely amazing next future councillor that I could be deterring."

Warrnambool mayor Vicki Jellie said the board was also considering a restructure.

"I think local government are looking at the wards - Warrnambool may go to wards next time, there's discussion that we won't be open slather," Cr Jellie said.

Moyne Shire councillor Karen Foster said the council was not considering a move but independently said there was a "strong argument" for capping the number of terms in the interest of widening the talent pool.

"I think there's a really strong argument for keeping things fresh," she said.

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