In May 1865, 67 residents of the rural District of Willoughby, which included what is now Lane Cove, sent a petition to the governor Sir John Young, requesting the incorporation of the "Municipality of North Willoughby". This resulted in the municipality being formally proclaimed on 23 October 1865. There were no wards until 1876 when the council was divided into three wards: Chatsworth Ward to the north, Middle Harbour Ward to the east and Lane Cove Ward to the west. Lane Cove Ward subsequently became the separate "
Borough of Lane Cove" on 11 February 1895. With the passing of the Local Government Act, 1906, the name was changed to be the "
Municipality of Lane Cove" and with the passing of the Local Government Act, 1993, the council legally changed to "
Lane Cove Council" and aldermen were retitled councillors. A
2015 review of local government boundaries by the
NSW Government Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal recommended that the Municipality of Lane Cove merge with the councils across the river. The government proposed a merger of the
Hunter's Hill, Lane Cove and
Ryde Councils to form a new council with an area of and support a population of approximately 164,000. In July 2017, the
Berejiklian government decided to abandon the forced merger of the Hunter's Hill, Lane Cove and Ryde local government areas, along with several other proposed forced mergers. ==Heritage listings==