City council

A city council, town council, town board, or board of aldermen is the legislative body that governs a city, town, municipality or local government area.

Australia and New Zealand

Because of the differences in legislation between the States, the exact definition of a City Council varies. However, it is generally only those local government areas which have been specifically granted city status (usually on a basis of population) that are entitled to refer to themselves as cities. The official title is "Corporation of the City of ------" or similar.

Some of the larger urban areas of Australia are governed mostly by a single entity (see Brisbane and other Queensland cities), while others maybe controlled by a multitude of much smaller city councils. Also some significant urban areas can be under the jurisdiction of otherwise rural local governments. Periodic re-alignments of boundaries attempt to rationalize these situations and adjust the deployment of assets and resources.

Local councils in New Zealand do vary in structure, but are overseen by the government department Local Government New Zealand. For many decades until the local government reforms of 1989, a borough with more than 20,000 people could be proclaimed a city. The boundaries of councils tended to follow the edge of the built-up area, so little distinction was made between the urban area and the local government area.

Ipswich

Ipswich ⁱ/ˈɪpswɪtʃ/ is a large town in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. Ipswich is located on the estuary of the River Orwell. Nearby towns are Felixstowe, Woodbridge, Needham Market and Stowmarket in Suffolk and Harwich and Colchester in Essex. Ipswich is a non-metropolitan district.

The urban development of Ipswich overspills the borough boundaries significantly, with 75% of the town's population living within the borough at the time of the 2011 Census, when it was the fourth-largest urban area in the United Kingdom's East of England region, and the 38th largest urban area in England and Wales.

The modern name is derived from the medieval name 'Gippeswic', probably taken either from an Old Saxon personal name or from an earlier name of the Orwell estuary (although unrelated to the name of the River Gipping). In 2011, the town of Ipswich was found to have a population of 133,384, while the Ipswich built-up area is estimated to have a population of approximately 180,000.

City of Ipswich

Coordinates: 27°36′40.37″S 152°45′41.95″E / 27.6112139°S 152.7616528°E / -27.6112139; 152.7616528

The City of Ipswich is a local government area which governs the outer western portion of the Brisbane Metropolitan Area, Queensland. It covers an area of 1,090 square kilometres (420.9 sq mi) along the coast about 40 kilometres (25 mi) southwest of Brisbane CBD. Ipswich's population is estimated to grow from the current number of 190,000 people to around 435,000 by 2031.

Ipswich is centrally located in the South East Queensland region of Australia. To the east is the City of Brisbane local government area, and to the west are the rural and agricultural areas of the Brisbane, Lockyer and Fassifern Valleys. The Ipswich local government area comprises an area of 1, 090 square km.

History

Ipswich is the second-oldest local government area in Queensland, after Brisbane. On 16 November 1859, after the enactment of the Municipalities Act of 1858 in New South Wales, a petition containing 91 signatures was received by the Governor of New South Wales seeking to have Ipswich, which at the time had 3,000 people, granted municipal town status. The petition was gazetted the following day, and no counter-petition was received.