ELECTORAL REVIEW OF WEST DEVON BOROUGH

Submission by Cllr Terry Pearce on the draft Warding arrangements for the West Devon Borough Council area

Dear Sirs

I am very surprised and disappointed to learn that following the recent Electoral Review carried out by The Local Government Boundary Commission for England, the draft recommendations of warding arrangements for West Devon Borough will remove the existing Mary Tavy Ward completely and that Mary Tavy and Petertavy Parishes will become part of a huge rural Dartmoor Ward.

I consider that this recommendation goes against the vision of the Boundary Commission in keeping those communities together who had shown in the past a desire to work in partnership.

The three parishes of Brentor, Peter Tavy and Mary Tavy that make up the Mary Tavy Electoral Ward for West Devon, have worked together on a number of issues which have been of benefit to their residents in the past. Both Brentor and Peter Tavy Parishes have strong links to Mary Tavy with the local primary school and pre-school group having the titles of Mary Tavy and Brentor Community Primary School and Mary Tavy and Brentor Under 5s Group respectively, with the children who attend coming from the three parishes. All three parishes have parish churches where the local clergy take services on a alternate shared basis. The Mary Tavy Post Office and Shop is strongly supported by residents from all three parishes. Also the Mary Tavy Dartmoor Commoners Association draws it’s membership from farmers and commoners from the three parishes that make up the existing Mary Tavy Ward.

I consider that incorporating Brentor Parish into a very large Bridestowe Ward would not be of benefit to that parish as there is not a natural synergy between the two areas. The parishes that make up the existing Bridestowe Ward look to the north of the Borough for their services, using to a large part Okehampton and Exeter for their needs, whilst the parishes from the Mary Tavy Ward look to the south using Tavistock and Plymouth for theirs.

The proposed creation of two very large wards ( Bridestowe and Dartmoor) covering a huge geographical area does not take into account the very poor road network, a number of the roads are only single track, also the Broadband coverage is very poor and virtually non existent in large areas of the proposed Dartmoor and Bridestowe area, with little improvement promised within the next five years because of viability issues involving providers.

Despite the recommendation that the proposed wards will become two member wards, I strongly believe that this will not provide the parishioner engagement that is sought by the Boundary Commission Review.

It should be recognised by the Boundary Commission that the electoral turnout for the Mary Tavy Ward at the last two Borough Council elections has been in excess of 60% thereby providing evidence for retaining the ward as a single member ward. The parishes that make up the Mary Tavy Ward appear to be penalised because of the large housing developments which have taken place in the north of the Borough in recent years. The Commission statement under item 64 that Brentor was included in the Bridestowe ward because of a poor level of electoral equality appears rather demeaning to the residents of Brentor, given that the Mary Tavy Ward as a whole has only a 3% variance on the electoral figures at the moment and that average is unlikely to change by 2019 because of increased housing being provided.

There appears to be major discrepancies in the electoral roll numbers quoted for the three parishes in 2019 and I have been advised that these numbers do not take into account the housing developments which are likely to take place in the next five years.

Therefore, I cannot support the LGBCE proposals for the very strong reasons given above and request that the Mary Tavy Ward is retained as a three parish, single member ward. This is also the view that was forwarded to you by West Devon Borough Council in their original submission to you as Option 4 at the beginning of the Boundary Review.

I strongly believe that the only way that electoral fairness can be achieved in a way that the Boundary Commission seeks is for the number of councillors to be increased to 32 with the extra member being placed between the Lew Valley and Hatherleigh Wards and all other wards to remain as they are at present, mostly single member wards.

Yours sincerely

Cllr Terry Pearce Elected Independent Councillor for the Mary Tavy Ward West Devon Borough Council