BOLSOVER DISTRICT COUNCIL REVIEW - LABOUR GROUP SUBMISSION Electoral Review of Bolsover District Council Submission of Proposals for New Pattern of Wards to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England. This document sets out the submission of the Labour Group in response to the Local Government Boundary Commission’s invitation to submit proposals for rewarding the Bolsover District Council area. Table of Contents 1. Introduction 2. Guidance on Proposing a Pattern of Wards 3. The Labour Group’s Approach 4. The Labour Group’s Proposals 4.1 Barlborough – 2 Seats 4.2 Bolsover – 6 Seats 4.3 Shirebrook – 5 Seats 4.4 Tibshelf – 2 seat ward and new Ault Hucknall and Tibshelf North member ward 4.5 Blackwell – 2 Seats 4.6 Clowne - 4 Seats 4.7 Elmton with Creswell – 3 Seats 4.8 Pinxton – 2 Seats 4.9 Pleasley – 2 Seats 4.10 Scarcliffe – 2 Seats 4.11 South Normanton – 5 Seats 4.12 Whitwell – 2 Seats 5. Conclusions 1 1. INTRODUCTION In 2015, the Boundary Commission confirmed that an electoral review of the district electoral Wards in Bolsover would take place as there were some imbalances in various parts of the District Wards with variances of more than 10% and one ward, Tibshelf, had a electoral variance of 31%. The review covered the entire Council not just the electoral wards where there was evidence of electoral inequality and consisted of three phases: Preliminary period - information gathering. Stage 1- Council size i.e. proposals for the total number of Councillors/electoral wards. Stage 2 – area definition i.e. proposals for revised boundaries of electoral wards. During the first meeting at Wingerworth with Professor Colin Mears, Chair of the Boundary Commission and Jolyon Jackson, CEO of the Boundary Commission, it was highlighted that the Authority should look at their CIPFA family in preparing any subsequent submission with regards to the number of Councillors. The Professor said that at 37 Members, Bolsover was at the low end within the CIPFA family and could reasonably argue for additional Councillors. 2. GUIDANCE ON PROPOSING A PATTERN OF WARDS In this stage interested parties were invited to make their proposals. The Commission’s guidance suggested that proposals, supported by evidence, consider the following areas: How the proposed ward pattern reflects community identity; How recommendations would impact on the community; Rationale for the proposed wards. In terms of evidence, the Commission had three statutory criteria: 1. Electoral Equality – each Councillor within the district should represent approximately the same number of electors; 2. Community Identity - ward boundaries should recognise and support strong community links, such as parishes, shared facilities and transport links; 2 3. Effective and Convenient Local Government - wards should be co- herent with good internal communication links. For example, ensuring the Councillor can effectively travel to all parts of his or her ward. Parish and parish ward boundaries should be adhered to, and consideration will not be given to: Constituency Boundaries Local political implications School catchment areas Postcodes or addresses Polling districts 3. THE LABOUR GROUP’S APPROACH The following have been considered and form part of the Labour Group’s proposal: Summaries of current electorate by polling districts 2016 Projections of total electorate by polling districts 2022 Forecast housing completions 2016-2022 GIS maps using data from the Electoral Registers 4. THE LABOUR GROUP’S PROPOSAL In order to best meet the requirements of the Boundary Commission i.e. the three statutory criteria (achieve optimum electoral equality, community identity and effective and convenient local government) across the wards, the Labour Group is firmly of the opinion that the Council requires one extra Councillor. Therefore the number of Councillors would rise from the present 37 which the Commission is currently minded to propose to 38 in order to best achieve the statutory criteria and without detriment to the communities of the Bolsover district area. The Labour Group consider that rewarding proposals based on 37 Councillors will not satisfy the criteria set by the Commission in terms of reflecting the interests and identities of local communities and promoting effective and convenient local government. Any marginal improvements in equality achieved with 37 Councillors will mean division and disruption to long established and settled communities and ineffectual and inconvenient local government. 3 Set out below are the proposed electoral wards including the electorate at 2022 together with the level of variances across the district. a) Total electorate as at 2016 - 59,480 ÷ 37 = 1,607 b) Total electorate as at 2022 - 62,097 ÷ 37 = 1,678 c) Total electorate as at 2022 - 62,097 ÷ 38 = 1,634 The optimum electoral equality as per the Boundary Commission is 1,678 as at b). Breakdown of Wards with 37 Councillors and proposed 38 Councillors together with the variations This proposal aims to increase Councillors to 38 to reflect minimum change and cause least disruptions to existing ward boundaries and minimise confusion to the represented electorate. With regard to the 2022 estimates the key issues would be Barlborough, Bolsover, Tibshelf and Shirebrook Wards where there is expected to be the greatest variance with electoral equality (+ or - 10%). 4.1 Barlborough It is proposed to retain two Councillors in this Ward with no changes to the current ward boundaries. The equality (with 37 Councillors in 2022) would be 2,838 ÷ 2 = 1,419, which gives a variance of -15% - but with 38 Councillors improves to -13%. Whilst this is above the electoral equality, the rationale behind this is to protect the identity and interests of communities in the distinctive village of Barlborough and also ensure that Councillors are able to effectively represent the electors. Any further marginal improvement in equality would, in the opinion of the Labour Group, be very much at the expense of community identity and representation. 4 4.2 Bolsover It is proposed to retain six Councillors across the three wards in Bolsover. The electoral equality (with 37 Councillors in 2022) would range from 1,531 to 1,642, electors per Councillor across the 3 wards and the variances in those wards would be between -12% and -2%. However, with 38 Councillors the variance improves to between -9% and 0%) With 38 Councillors the variances for each existing ward would be as follows:- Bolsover South 0% Bolsover West -9% Bolsover North West -6% It is possible that the equality could be improved further by redrawing the present ward boundaries provided the other two criteria, namely the identity and effective representation, are fully met. However, the Labour Group are not proposing any changes to the existing ward boundaries. Whilst it is not directly relevant to this review the Commission should be aware that significant housing development is planned for the Bolsover area (for example the redevelopment of the Coalite site and the Welbeck Road development). 4.3 Shirebrook It is proposed to retain five Councillors across the 5 single member wards in Shirebrook and improve the electoral variances by rewarding within the extent of the current Shirebrook ward boundaries. The electoral equality (with 37 Councillors in 2022) would range from 1,275 to 2,400, electors per Councillor across the 5 wards and the variances in those wards would be between -6% and +43%. With 38 Councillors this would change to between -3% and +47%. The Labour Group propose to improve equality in the Shirebrook area by redrawing the boundaries in accordance with the attached plan and list of streets. 5 With 38 Councillors the variances after redrawing the boundaries would be as follows:- New Ward name No. of New electoral variance Electors in (with 38 Councillors) New Ward Shirebrook North East 1682 +3% Shirebrook South East 1680 +3% Shirebrook South West 1803 +10% Shirebrook North West 1613 -1% Shirebrook West 1650 -1% The Labour Group is of the opinion that redrawing the ward boundaries as indicated would meet the Commission’s criteria of improving equality and maintaining community identity and effective representation. 4.4 Tibshelf The 2022 electorate forecast for Tibshelf is 4,400. The current ward is represented by 2 Councillors. The electoral variance forecast for 2022 (with 37 Councillors) is +31%. Increasing the Council size to 38 would facilitate an additional Councillor in this area. This would address the significant imbalance by improving electoral equality within the current ward boundary to -10%. However, the Labour Group are further proposing the creation of a single member ward to include the parish of Ault Hucknall and a small part of Tibshelf North. The remainder of the current Tibshelf Ward would continue to be represented by two Councillors. The Labour Group is of the opinion that the creation of the single member ward including the Ault Hucknall parish improves community ties and identity and provides for more effective representation. It is recognised that the -10% is at the maximum of the tolerance however, the Group consider that the current ward boundary has a strong community identity and provides effective representation. In order to create the single member Ault Hucknall and Tibshelf North ward it is proposed to transfer 1460 electors (from the current Tibshelf Ward) into the new ward. The new ward would comprise the Parish of Ault Hucknall and would include all properties in the northern part of Tibshelf from the northern side