After a legal challenge similar to that mounted by Shellharbour, Land and Environment Court chief justice Brian Preston dismissed Woollahra council’s arguments and awarded it to pay the government’s costs.

Local Government Minister Paul Toole welcomed the legal win, saying it showed the correct processes were followed with regards to the Woollahra, Randwick and Waverley councils merger.

Shellharbour mayor Marianne Saliba said she was disappointed by the decision, but did not believe it would automatically mean a loss in her council’s legal case.

“There are significant differences between our own contentions and Woollahra’s,” she said, noting Shellharbour’s legal team was currently reviewing Justice Preston’s decision.

But Kiama MP Gareth Ward said he thought the Sydney decision was “a sign of things to come” for Shellharbour.

“The case is predicated on similar claims and I think I’ll be proven right that this was an exercise in legal futility and that all Marianne Saliba has done is burn ratepayers’ money in relation to this exercise,” he said.

Wollongong Lord Mayor Gordon Bradbery said the Woollahra decision was worried ratepayers across both cities would have to share in Shellharbour’s legal bill for the “tenuous” case.

“The cost will be obviously shared by a merged council and if it does proceed, which I’m pretty sure it will, it’s the minister's intention that there be a merged council, that that bill will have to be met by both councils and I don’t think it’s going to be anything less than six figures,” he said.

“Wollongong council was aware of the arguments that were being put forward, we thought they were rather spurious and in some respects we’ve been vindicated in as much that Justice Preston has ruled out the objections by Woollahra.   

“The Shellharbour case was also very much contingent upon a lot of their objections as well so, in lots of ways, we’ve been vindicated.”