Proposals for and surrounds within Borough

12th June 2012

Tim Bowden Review Officer (Rushcliffe), Local Government Boundary Commission for Layden House, 76-78 Turnmill Street, London EC1M 5LG

Dear Sir,

Review of Ward Boundaries – Rushcliffe Borough Council

Keyworth Branch Labour Party welcomes your invitation to help to draw up a new pattern of wards for Keyworth and its surrounding villages.

We propose:

Ward Comprising Electors Variation Neville 203 Owthorpe 82 799 Hickling 427 Upper Broughton 244 Widmerpool 298 2053 -1%

Keyworth West Keyworth GG2 [1] 2092 2092 +1%

Keyworth East Keyworth GG1 [1] 1925 2035 -2%

Keyworth North Keyworth FF [1] 1642 Stanton on the Wolds 337 1979 -5%

Tollerton Tollerton 1518 Clipstone 46 Plumtree 199 Normanton on Wolds 218 1971 -5%

[1] These figures assume that part Nicker Hill 63, Highview Avenue 37, The Ridings 56, Meadow Drive 53 and part Willow Brook 21, a total of 230 electors are moved from polling district GG1 to polling district FF. They also assume that the East side of Road, around 80 electors are moved from polling district GG2 to polling district GG1.

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Background:

We note that Keyworth is greatly over represented in terms of councillors. We do regret that there has been no significant development in the village over the past 30 years as there is a need for additional housing. We are aware of proposals to build more homes within the Parish of Keyworth however those proposals are not yet finalised and can be expected to be controversial we therefore regard your 2018 forecast electorate figures as the only sound basis for proposals. We note that gives a target of 2078 electors per councillor.

We recognise that for the smaller villages, up to perhaps around 1,500 electors, it is reasonable to assume that the community identity is coterminous with parish boundary and polling district boundary. Many of those villages are without shops or leisure activities. We would like those in smaller villages to access such facilities in Keyworth but recognise that they are more likely to drive past Keyworth and on to Nottingham or edge of city supermarkets. Internet shopping also seems significantly more common in such communities.

Keyworth currently has 4 councillors, 3 from Keyworth South Ward and 1 from Keyworth North Ward. We do not feel that this serves us well. With three councillors it is always easy to assume that one of the others will do the work. Indeed with confusion as to which councillor represents who the result is often that the Keyworth North councillor appears to be speaking for the whole village. We feel that we would be better served with single member wards.

Keyworth can best be viewed as 3 communities corresponding approximately to the 3 polling districts: FF, GG1 and GG2.

FF polling district is Keyworth North. It developed when Plumtree Station was open from 1880 to 1949 and wealthy Nottingham Commuters built houses within walking distance of that station. At that time it was part of Normanton on the Wolds Parish and was only transferred to Keyworth Parish during the 1980’s. The polling district boundary between FF and GG1 still seems to correspond to the medieval parish boundary and we recommend that it be modified to fit today’s communities as detailed above.

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GG1 and GG2 polling districts form Keyworth South ward. The current draft Rushcliffe Development plan shows two local centres in Keyworth. Keyworth Square is in GG2 with communications along the High Street and Nottingham Road. Our more modern local centre is in Wolds Drive in GG1 with communication along Wolds Drive and the Fairway.

Nottingham Road is the busiest road in Keyworth and as such it divides rather than links the communities. Our proposed adjusted boundaries would make it the boundary between Keyworth East Ward and Keyworth West Ward for most of its length then the boundary between Keyworth East Ward and Keyworth North Ward along the rest of its length.

Keyworth Parish does include both Plumtree Park and the Manor Road estate. They are fundamentally different in character and will not have the same expectations of their councillors.

For all these reasons we feel that the current multi member and single member ward split leaves a democratic deficit and that accountability would be improved by moving to single member wards in Keyworth.

We believe that our proposal above produces better electoral equality, stronger community links and more democratically accountable local government than any other proposal for Keyworth and district.

We hope that our suggestions will assist you in your deliberations,

Yours sincerely,

Chris Kemp

For and on behalf of Keyworth Branch Labour Party.

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