Fuller, Heather

From: Fuller, Heather Sent: 08 May 2014 13:09 To: Ward, Lucy Subject: FW: District Review

Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged

From: ANTHONY O SULLIVAN Sent: 08 May 2014 12:08 To: Reviews@ Subject: Canterbury District Review

Dear Ms Ward,

Wickhambreaux Parish Council's response to the Commission's draft recommendations:

The Parish Council opposes the proposed two-member "Barham. Bridge and " ward on the grounds that 1. The proposed ward covers an excessively large rural area with poor communication links across its entirety. It also includes ten Parish Councils. 2. The area is currently served by two members of different political parties. Under the proposed arrangement, there could be (a) conflicts of political interest which could get in the way of effective local governance or (b) if the two members were elected on a "first past the post" basis, possible electoral advantage could be gained, given the demography of the whole area. 3. As a small Parish, we have valued the regular contact with our City Councillor (who attends most meetings). The disparate nature of the new ward would, we suspect, make this less likely.

We therefore propose that, in approximate accordance with our previous submission, the proposed ward should be divided into two one - member wards, with a north - south split using the A2 trunk road as the dividing line. For us, this would effectively represent the old ward with the addition of At over 3,000, the electorate would still be above average, for the District, but we would accept this as our proposal would still be much more cohesive, being composed of five Parishes. There are reasonable road and transport links between the five communities, a good deal of community-based activity takes place (Churches, youth organisations, social clubs, interest groups, the Four Villages Post Office and Shop to name but a few) and the Parish Council's general feeling is that its proposal would promote much more effective local government, preserving the natural identity of the various communities in a ward structure that would both be coherent and promote community cohesion.

Yours sincerely, Dr A V O'Sullivan Chairman, Parish Council

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