NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has announced all mergers which have already been undertaken will remain, Sydney amalgamations will proceed, and council amalgamations yet to occur in regional areas will be halted.

Former Dubbo mayor Mathew Dickerson said it was disappointing to hear the news, and in hindsight he wished Dubbo City Council had made a different decision.

“I feel partly responsible because I was one of the people who said we shouldn’t go down the legal path and maybe if we had gone down that path we could be looking at a different decision,” Mr Dickerson said.

“The people who went down that path against the state government are now being rewarded by the state government.”

Meanwhile those who listened to the advice of former Premier Mike Baird and accepted the decision had been punished, Mr Dickerson said.

“My personal view hasn’t changed, but how far do you keep pushing a dead horse?”

Mr Dickerson said while he still considered it a “soft option”, if the government was not going to look at the merger information compiled before the amalgamation announcement, they should at least hold a plebiscite.

The government wasn’t always perfect, Ms Berejiklian said.

"Had we had our time over, we would have naturally dealt with councils in Sydney very differently to councils outside of Sydney,” she said.

"Hand on heart, as a member of the government that took that decision, I feel we could have addressed that decision differently."

Local government elections will remain in September for councils which have already been merged, such as Dubbo Regional Council, and those that will no longer be amalgamated.

Ms Berejiklian said residents and ratepayers in new councils would be worse off if the amalgamations were undone.

The Premier was adamant during the announcement that the decision was “what’s best for Sydney and what’s best for outside of Sydney”.

The government may not have been perfect in its decision making, she said, but they demonstrated an ability to listen to the public.

When John Barilaro became Deputy Premier and Nationals leader he vowed to stop council amalgamations in the bush.

However speaking on Tuesday, Mr Barilaro said he knew there would still be angst in the community about the amalgamations, including in his own electorate.

When asked about the fear of backlash in his electorate Mr Barilaro said voters would make a decision on what he has said and done, and he trusted in his electorate to make that decision in 2019.

Former Dubbo City Council deputy mayor Ben Shields said it was a “terrible shame” Mr Barilaro hadn’t been in the role earlier as there could have been a different outcome.

With some councils escaping amalgamation and therefore not receiving the $10 million from the NSW government, Mr Shields said the funds should be given to regional councils like Dubbo that were forcibly merged.

The proposed amalgamation of Orange City Council, Cabonne Council and Blayney Shire Council is among those that will not go ahead.