Political Groups submissions to the North Somerset Council electoral review
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North Somerset
Personal Details:
Name: Kate Buss
E-mail:
Postcode:
Organisation Name: Leigh woods Society
Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database rights 2013.
Map Features:
Comment text: As Chairman of the Leigh Woods Society which represents around 40% of the households in Leigh Woods we would like to stay part of the Easton in Gordano ward as Leigh Woods is primarily affected by the A369 and the Clifton Suspension Bridge, concerns more closely allied with Abbots Leigh, Portbury and Easton than Long Ashton.
1356674.5,172069.5 356674.5,172069.532: Please ensure we stay as nearly as possible the same with the reduced number of Councillors, ie part of the Easton in Gordano ward. Ashton Court lies between us and Long Ashton and our community is affected by the suspension bridge and A369 unlike Long Ashton. 2' name="gml"/>
https://consultation.lgbce.org.uk//node/print/informed-representation/2551 23/10/2013 Local Government Boundary Commission for England Consultation Portal Page 2 of 2
https://consultation.lgbce.org.uk//node/print/informed-representation/2551 23/10/2013
Leigh Woods, about 270 households. we would like to remain part of the A369 corridor as this impacts our community and we like being part of Abbot''s Leigh Easton in Gordano and Portbury.
Please ensure we stay as nearly as possible the same with the reduced number of Councillors, ie part of the Easton in Gordano ward. Ashton Court lies between us and Long Ashton and our community is affected by the suspension bridge and A369 unlike Long Ashton.
Cooper, Mark
From: Fuller, Heather Sent: 15 November 2013 16:03 To: Cooper, Mark Subject: FW: Submission on draft recommendations for North Somerset Attachments: Boundary Review submission from the Liberal Democrat Group on North Somerset Council.docx
From: Mike Bell (Councillor) Sent: 15 November 2013 15:19 To: Reviews@ Cc: Subject: Submission on draft recommendations for North Somerset
Please find attached a submission on the Boundary Commission's draft recommendations for North Somerset Council from the Liberal Democrat Group on North Somerset Council.
Kind regards
Mike Bell Leader, Liberal Democrat Group North Somerset Council
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25 SUBMISSION TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND IN RESPONSE TO THEIR DRAFT PROPOSALS FOR NORTH SOMERSET COUNCIL
Submission from the Liberal Democrat Group on North Somerset Council – 15th November 2013
INTRODUCTION
Overall, we welcome the draft proposals from the Local Government Boundary Commission for England in respect of new boundaries for North Somerset Council. The proposed boundaries, which are based in large part on suggestions made in our initial submission, offer a balanced and well-thought out approach.
There are two main areas where we seek to modify the proposed boundaries to secure further improvements in terms of community identity and electoral cohesion. These are in respect of the towns of Portishead and Weston-super-Mare.
PORTISHEAD
While we recognise the efforts made by the Commission in producing their scheme, we have concerns about the mixture of 2-member wards and 1-member wards, in what is by their own admission a town of one community. Residents are often confused when ward boundaries change. Adding a mixture of 1 and 2 member wards, for reasons that will not appear obvious to most residents, would not be helpful in maintaining, and even improving upon, residents’ participation in the democratic process.
West Ward in particular gives us cause for concern. Nore Road, along the Coast, has vehicle connection with Down Road, the spine road along the top of the hill, in only two places. One is the junction where the two roads meet, and the other is via Hillcrest Road and Queen’s Road (shown as Queen’s Way on the Commission map) not far from that junction. The only other vehicle connection between the two roads is in North Ward, where West Hill meets Nore Road. From the West Hill junction to the Hillcrest Road junction is almost 1.5 miles. This lack of connectivity, together with the nature of much of the housing – steep roads, and houses with steep drives, makes it a very difficult area to service with leaflets, calls on residents etc. Thus the accountability of councillors is challenged.
We would propose a split of this ward into two single-member wards, with one ward centred on the coast road (Nore Road), and the other principally along the top of the hill, centred on Down Road. In addition, we would propose a change of boundary for West Ward, whether it remains a two-member ward, or a single-member ward.
If this is acceptable, there is then no logic in having only one two-member ward in the town, and we would propose that East Ward is also split. We endorse the proposals of Portishead Town Council on how these are implemented.
Portishead Ward names
We propose that the names of the six single member wards should be:
South (as in the draft report);
Redcliffe Bay (centred on Nore Road) and West Ward (centred on Down Road) from the suggested West Ward;
Central Ward and East Ward from the suggested East Ward;
Coast Ward, in place of the suggested North Ward.
This has the advantage that some traditional names are kept.
Portishead Town Council
The suggested allocation of Town Councillors to the suggested wards goes against the principle of electoral fairness quoted in section 26 of the report. We propose that there should be three Town Councillors elected for every single member ward. If the Commission decides to retain the two-member wards, then those wards should elect six Town Councillors. This will return the Town Council to 18 members, as before 2011. This is line with the size of councils in the other towns of the district.
The Town Council is to propose reducing the size to 12 members, ie two Town Councillors to every single member ward. While this fits the principle of electoral fairness, it is out of line with other towns in the district. Portishead would be the second largest town in the district, with one of the smallest Town Councils. Given the increasing responsibilities of Town Councils under the Localism Act and the growing trend of responsibilities from principal authorities being devolved or transferred to parish and town councils, we do not believe that a reduction is sensible.
WESTON-SUPER-MARE
We broadly accept the boundaries proposed in the draft recommendations for Weston-super-Mare, with three exceptions, where we suggest division of wards to form new wards which better reflect the character of the community.
Divide proposed Weston-super-Mare Central Ward into two single-member wards
The main reason for proposing a split is the very real difference between the character and community identity of the town centre, which is based around the retail and leisure heart of the town, and the primarily residential and non-commercial areas around Clarence Park and Whitecross Village. We suggest that division of this ward into to single-member wards can provide good levels of electoral equality and a much more meaningful sense of community cohesion. We propose:
A new Weston Central ward with a boundary that would run from Boulevard to (and including) Ellenborough Park South and from Ashcombe Road to the sea front. This proposed ward is substantially the same as the present Weston Central ward, offering the benefit of continuity for residents. The ward would entirely coincide with the area defined as the town centre. The shops, pubs, community facilities and schools used by most residents within this area would fall within the boundaries.
A new Weston Clarence ward with a boundary from Ellenborough Park South through to Quantock Road and from Drove Road to the sea front. This ward would be substantially the same as the existing parish ward of Clarence, again offering continuity. This ward would enable the substantially residential communities around Whitecross Village and Clarence Park to sit within one ward. The natural shopping and community focus of this area lies with the retail facilities around Whitecross Road and the leisure and community facilities provided by Clarence Park and St Paul’s Church.
Artificially combining these areas into a single, two-member ward as proposed by the Commission, needlessly puts together two areas with very different challenges and perspectives on local issues.
Divide proposed Weston-super-Mare Milton ward into two single-member wards
The proposed Milton ward contains communities that are firmly not part of Milton and which have little if anything in common with each other. We suggest that division of this ward into two units – one based around the Earlham estates and one around Milton village would make for a better sense of community cohesion whilst still offering good levels of electoral equality. We propose:
A new Weston Earlham ward using the draft recommendation boundary as far as Locking Moor Road on the Locking Road and as far as Chesham Road North on the Milton Road. This would be substantially the same as the existing Earlham parish ward and is a community which shares retail, education and community facilities in common, including shops on Milton Road, Ashcombe Primary School and Vintage Church in Hughenden Road. These are facilities which would not be used by significant numbers from the traditional Milton village area. There is a cycle path and public footpath that runs through the heart of this ward along the route of a former railway line, tellingly it does not continue into the Milton area.
A new Weston Milton ward, which would be formed from the remainder of the ward. This would cover the traditional areas around Milton village including the shops and Primary School which most residents in this area would support and use. We believe that a ward which identifiably feels like Milton to residents living within it will improve community identity and electoral engagement.
Divide proposed Kewstoke ward into two single-member wards
The proposed Kewstoke ward covers a large area of three distinct communities – Kewstoke village (a separate parish), Worlebury Hill and parts of old Worle village. We do not believe that a single ward covering all this area makes sense and therefore propose further division to create two single member wards. We propose:
A new Worlebury and Kewstoke ward which would comprise all of Kewstoke parish and the parts of the draft ward along Upper Bristol Road as far as Milton Hill. We support combining Kewstoke and Worlebury into the same ward and proposed this in our initial submission. The character of the communities in Kewstoke and Worlebury are similar and the school communities of Kewstoke Primary and Worlebury Primary share much in common – indeed they are both located either side of the same ridge. There is direct road access from Worlebury into Kewstoke. Therefore, we propose a single member ward that combines the area known as Worlebury and the Kewstoke parish. This should be named to reflect the two component parts that make up the whole.
A new Worle West ward which would comprise the remainder of the original proposed Kewstoke ward and would be focussed around Worle High Street, local schools and old Worle village. This must be split from Worlebury and Kewstoke as it is a community of entirely different character. Residents here will look to Worle High Street, Worle Community Centre and the Worle schools (including Worle Village Primary and St Martin’s) as their focus. We are not aware of any significant shared relationships between Worle High Street and Worlebury and Kewstoke and cannot support combination into a single two-member ward.
Weston-super-Mare ward names
In addition to the new wards suggested above, we propose the following changes to ward names as proposed by the Commission:
Weston-super-Mare Ashcombe to be renamed Weston Hillside. Whilst Ashcombe Park does lie in the corner of the proposed ward, most residents would not consider their community to have any strong links with the park. The area around Birnbeck Pier, the area around Grove Park and the area of hillside above Boulevard and Milton Road would not, in the main, be traditionally considered Ashcombe. Indeed, a former ‘Ashcombe’ ward covered the area around Earlham Grove and Ashcombe Primary School, neither of which is included within the proposed ward. We prefer ‘Weston Hillside’ as the ward name. It is an established description for the area and accurately reflects the geographic location of the ward. We are aware that ‘Weston West’ has been suggested as an alternative name, we reject that on the basis that the ward does not in fact cover the western part of the town and is therefore a misnomer.
Weston-super-Mare Bournville to be renamed Weston Bournville and Oldmixon. This change would reflect the two distinct communities covered by the proposed ward, the Bournville and Oldmixon. Some have proposed a return to the former name of Weston South. We do not support this. ‘South Ward’ is a name widely used by local estate agents to describe a historic area of the town that does not coincide with the boundaries of this ward. We believe that this creates confusion for residents which could be easily resolved. Furthermore, Bournville and Oldmixon are both clearly identifiable communities with established identities e.g. Bournville Residents Association, Oldmixon Childrens Centre, Oldmixon Primary School, Bournville Primary School. Nobody outside of local government describes the area in which they live as ‘Weston South’.
Weston-super-Mare Town Council
In respect of Weston-super-Mare Town Council, our proposals for splitting the district wards set out earlier would have a knock-on effect on the Town Council arrangements. We have accepted the Commission’s target of a council size of 31 and adjusted the numbers to reflect the adjustments referred to above.
The number of Town Councillors would therefore be:
Bournville & Oldmixon 3 Central 2 Clarence 2 Earlham 2 Hillside 3 Mid Worle 2 Milton 2 North Worle 3 South Worle 3 Uphill 3 Winterstoke 3 Worle West 2 Worlebury 1 Local Government Boundary Commission for England Consultation Portal Page 1 of 2
North Somerset
Personal Details:
Name: Terry Lester
E-mail: k
Postcode:
Organisation Name: North Somerset Constituency Labour Party.
Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database rights 2013.
Map Features:
Comment text: From; North Somerset Constituency Labour Party. North Somerset Constituency Labour Party. Dear Sirs, As an interested party in terms of local democracy and enfranchisement of the electorate, this constituency party contributed a detailed submission to the boundary review consultation for the North Somerset Council. We only dealt with the half of the council we know well, and therefore, confined our detailed work to the constituency boundary while supporting the work of others in the Weston-super-Mare constituency. We felt that a priority with the electorate was clarity of both representation and responsibility. To this end we felt it was important that each ward was represented by only one councillor who could then be held to account at the election. In pursuing that overall objective it was necessary in order to achieve parity that the final submission did in fact reduce the overall representation by one further councillor, although we did in fact prefer no overall reduction at all. It was therefore disappointing that the results of the Commission have both reduced the overall number of councillors and left double sized wards with double representation in one of the three large towns in the constituency, namely, Portishead. We feel that this does not improve representation and accountability, and leads to a further democratic deficit. We do not feel that two member wards in a town environment are necessary or desirable and could lead to ineffective representation. This confusion is then perpetuated in the Town Council elections with even larger number of councillors per double ward. We would ask the Commission to reconsider the double wards in Portishead so that all areas of the three main towns of North Somerset constituency have single representative wards for North Somerset Council. Yours sincerely, Terry Lester (Ms) Vice-Chair, North Somerset Constituency Labour Party
https://consultation.lgbce.org.uk//node/print/informed-representation/2646 21/11/2013 Local Government Boundary Commission for England Consultation Portal Page 2 of 2
https://consultation.lgbce.org.uk//node/print/informed-representation/2646 21/11/2013 Cooper, Mark
From: Fuller, Heather Sent: 16 October 2013 13:33 To: Bowden, Tim Cc: Cooper, Mark Subject: FW: Removal of Cleeve from Yatton Ward
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