City of Willoughby

This article is about the local government area. For the Sydney suburb, see Willoughby, New South Wales.

City of Willoughby New South Wales
Location in Metropolitan Sydney
Coordinates
Population	67,356 (2011)
• Density	2,980.4/km2 (7,719/sq mi)
Area	22.6 km2 (8.7 sq mi)
Mayor	Gail Giles-Gidney
Council seat	Chatswood
Region	Metropolitan Sydney
State electorate(s)	Willoughby Lane Cove
Federal Division(s)	Bradfield North Sydney Warringah
Website	City of Willoughby
LGAs around City of Willoughby: Ku-ring-gai Ku-ring-gai Warringah Ryde City of Willoughby Manly Lane Cove North Sydney Mosman

The City of Willoughby is a local government area on the North Shore of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located 6 kilometres (3.7 mi) north of the Sydney central business district.

The main commercial centre of the City of Willoughby is Chatswood, home to one of Sydney's suburban skyscraper clusters. Other commercial centres are the suburbs of Willoughby, St Leonards and Artarmon. Willoughby is situated on an elevated plateau, and all of Sydney's television stations broadcast from towers in the area. Within the City of Willoughby is the Royal North Shore Hospital, located at St Leonards, one of Sydney's major hospitals.

Suburbs in the local government area

Map of City of Willoughby local government area.

Suburbs in the City of Willoughby are:

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Demographics

At the 2011 Census, there were 67,356 people in the Willoughby local government area, of these 48.2% were male and 51.8% were female. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people made up 0.2% of the population. The median age of people in the City of Willoughby was 37 years. Children aged 0 – 14 years made up 19.1% of the population and people aged 65 years and over made up 12.6% of the population. Of people in the area aged 15 years and over, 54.0% were married and 8.3% were either divorced or separated.

Population growth in the City of Willoughby between the 2001 Census and the 2006 Census was 9.06%; and in the subsequent five years to the 2011 Census, population growth was 5.90%. When compared with total population growth of Australia for the same periods, being 5.78% and 8.32% respectively, population growth in Willoughby local government area was generally on par with the national average. The median weekly income for residents within the City of Willoughby was higher than the national average.

At the 2011 Census, the proportion of residents in Willoughby local government area who stated their ancestry as Chinese was in excess of four times the state and national averages; and the proportion of households where an Asian language was spoken at home was approximately seven times higher than the national average.

Selected historical census data for Willoughby local government area
Census year			2001	2006	2011
Population		Estimated residents on Census night	58,319	63,605	67,356
		LGA rank in terms of size within New South Wales		19
		% of New South Wales population			0.97%
		% of Australian population	0.31%	0.32%	0.31%
Cultural and language diversity
Ancestry, top responses		English			20.5%
		Australian			18.3%
		Chinese			14.5%
		Irish			7.4%
		Scottish			5.6%
Language, top responses (other than English)		Cantonese	6.7%	7.6%	7.5%
		Mandarin	3.6%	5.5%	7.2%
		Korean	1.7%	2.7%	3.6%
		Japanese	2.4%	2.4%	2.3%
		Armenian	n/c	1.4%	1.3%
Religious affiliation
Religious affiliation, top responses		No religion	18.6%	22.0%	27.6%
		Catholic	26.1%	25.5%	25.0%
		Anglican	19.5%	17.6%	15.6%
		Buddhism	3.7%	4.4%	4.6%
		Presbyterian and Reformed	n/c	n/c	3.1%
Median weekly incomes
Personal income		Median weekly personal income		A$728	A$858
		% of Australian median income		156.2%	148.7%
Family income		Median weekly family income		A$1,667	A$2,479
		% of Australian median income		162.3%	167.4%
Household income		Median weekly household income		A$2,066	A$1,996
		% of Australian median income		176.4%	161.8%

Council

Willoughby City Council chambers, 6 April 2005

Current composition and election method

Willoughby City Council is composed of thirteen councillors, including the mayor, for a fixed four-year term of office. The Mayor is directly elected while the twelve other councillors are elected proportionally as four separate wards, each electing three councillors. The most recent full Council election was held on 8 September 2012. The former mayor of Willoughby, Pat Reilly, subsequently died on 20 January 2014. Gail Giles-Gidney was elected to the position of Mayor in a by-election on 12 April 2014. Rachel Hill was elected to the vacant position of Councillor in a by-election on 14 June 2014.

Party		Councillors
	Independents	12
	The Greens	1
	Total	13

The current Council is:

Ward	Councillor		Party	Notes
Mayor		Gail Giles-Gidney	Independent
Middle Harbour		Wendy Norton	Independent
		Judith Rutherford	Independent
		Angelo Rozos	Independent
Naremburn		Michelle Sloane	Independent
		Stuart Coppock	Independent
		Nic Wright	Independent
Sailors Bay		Hugh Eriksson	Independent
		John Hooper	Independent
		Rachel Hill	Independent
West		Tony Mustaca	Independent
		Mandy Stevens	Independent
		Lynne Saville	Greens

Willoughby City Council is very active in the arts sector and run the biennale Willoughby Sculpture Prize