Council mergers will hurt locals: protest

Placards have been strung across the fence at the NSW parliament to protest the government's council amalgamation plans.

Councillors, mayors and resident groups rallied in Sydney's Macquarie Street to condemn the government's plans to merge the 152 councils across NSW.

Local communities will lose services and jobs will be lost, says a Save Our Councils Coalition spokeswoman.

"Evidence tells us that the efficiencies they are claiming have not come to pass," advocate Nella Gaughan said of previous mergers in Queensland.

The policy would "take the `local' out of local government" and would create "supercouncils" too large to represent communities, she said on Monday morning ahead of an upper house inquiry into the plans.