He welcomed the joint announcement about considerations of an amalgamation by the West Tamar and George Town Councils but said the City of Launceston needed to be central to the discussions.

“[The municipality should be included] considering its size, and the fact that it is the engine room of economic activity in the north and provides the greatest number of jobs within the region,” Ald van Zetten said.

“The announcement by the West Tamar and George Town councils appears to reflect they are serious about local government reform, however, why not have discussions to include all Northern councils in any pre-feasibility assessment?”

The mayor said the reform of councils in Tasmania was inevitable, but would require “realistic and sensible planning”.

"From our perspective, it is tremendously difficult to plan for an economically and socially sustainable city - and Launceston is clearly the region's major service centre and economic driver - when there are five councils and dozens of elected members between Bell Bay and the Launceston Airport,” Ald van Zetten said.

“Even something as simple as kerbside rubbish and recycling collection is confusing in Northern Tasmania, where there is a mix of weekly or even fortnightly kerbside collection across different municipalities and - because of anachronistic local government boundary systems - even in different areas of the same street.”

Meander Valley mayor Craig Perkins said his council was committed to the regional benchmarking study and looking for opportunities for strategic resource sharing with its northern counterparts.

“The level of regional cooperation amongst councils is as good as I have ever seen it, and if we continue to work together we will achieve great things for our region, the northern LED lights initiative being one current example,” he said.