Mr Toole will attend a meeting of the Namoi Councils Joint Organisation, which includes Tamworth Regional Council and Gwydir, Gunnedah, Liverpool Plains, Moree Plains, Narrabri and Walcha shires. Uralla Shire is an associate member.

It will be an opportunity for the councils to meet with Mr Toole for the first time since Fit for the Future responses closed on November 18.

Namoi Councils Joint Organisation chairman and Tamworth mayor Col Murray said the visit was part of a commitment made to visit all of the pilot joint organisations.

Cr Murray said Mr Toole would make a presentation on the current status of the Fit for the Future process and be party to the joint organisation’s AGM.

“The pilot joint organisation has brought a lot of benefits to the region, including the opportunity to do regional strategic planning,” he said.

Cr Murray also said each council would get 15 minutes to meet with the minister one-on-one to discuss any local concerns.

Liverpool Plains mayor Andrew Hope said he was looking forward to the opportunity and hoped the minister would be able to indicate when the decisions would be handed down.

Cr Hope echoed Cr Murray’s thoughts on the joint organisation and agreed it had been a beneficial venture.

“In principle, there could be a lot of runs put on the board,” he said.

“The joint organisation allows us to go to government as a region, rather than just one council.”

He said the organisation was a group effort and “no one was in there for themselves”.

Walcha Shire mayor Janelle Archdale welcomed the opportunity to speak with Mr Toole, after submitting its preferences in the Fit for the Future response.

Cr Archdale said she wanted to share the concerns that were aired at Walcha’s community meeting about the reforms and potential mergers.