BREAKING NEWS: RESIDENTS in Douglas and Mareeba have voted to reclaim their old councils in Saturday's landmark de-amalgamation referendums.
The new councils will be resurrected from January 1 next year, when the shires formally break away from the Cairns and Tablelands regional councils they were forced into by the State Government in 2008.
In Douglas, residents voted 57.29 per cent to 42.71 per cent in favour of splitting from the CRC.
In Mareeba, 61.87 per cent of residents voted to break away from the Tablelands Regional Council while only 38.13 per cent wanted to stay.
Huge cheers went up in Mareeba and Port Douglas, where the camps of de-amalgamation campaigners had gathered to await the outcome of today's one-off referendums.
Their long-running campaigns to revive the extinct shire councils faced tenacious opposition from newer lobby groups that wanted the regional councils to remain in place.
In Port Douglas tonight, councillor Julia Leu said the residents of old Douglas finally had the say they were denied when the forced mergers were announced in 2007.
The new councils will be resurrected from January 1 next year, when the shires formally break away from the Cairns and Tablelands regional councils they were forced into by the State Government in 2008.
In Douglas, residents voted 57.29 per cent to 42.71 per cent in favour of splitting from the CRC.
In Mareeba, 61.87 per cent of residents voted to break away from the Tablelands Regional Council while only 38.13 per cent wanted to stay.
Huge cheers went up in Mareeba and Port Douglas, where the camps of de-amalgamation campaigners had gathered to await the outcome of today's one-off referendums.
Their long-running campaigns to revive the extinct shire councils faced tenacious opposition from newer lobby groups that wanted the regional councils to remain in place.
In Port Douglas tonight, councillor Julia Leu said the residents of old Douglas finally had the say they were denied when the forced mergers were announced in 2007.
