Chairman: Mr G A Wilson

Tel. ( LIDDINGTON PARISH COUNCIL Email:

The Review Officer () The Local Government Boundary Commission for Layden House 76-86 Turnmill Street London EC1M 5LG

17th December 2010

Dear Sirs

Electoral Review of Swindon

Thank you for your letter dated 28 September 2010, giving us the opportunity to comment on this review.

This response is on behalf of the village of Liddington and is made by Liddington Parish Council.

We note that you are minded to recommend a new council of 57 elected members in 19, 3 councillor, wards, although we understand that the submission by Swindon Borough Council (“SBC”) recommends that the Council should remain at 59 councillors. This submission supports retaining the 59 councillors and the single councillor Ridgeway Ward.

The electorate of Liddington is currently represented through a single councillor Ward, Ward, which also includes the nearby villages of Wanborough, Badbury, Bishopstone, Hinton Parva and Russley Park which occupy the SE corner of Swindon Unitary Authority (Swindon) and uses the natural barriers of the A419, A420 and A436 trunk and A roads. These villages are downland villages located in the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) and as such have quite a different character to the other adjacent Wards of the Borough with the exception of the Parish of Chiseldon which is located in the adjacent ward of and Chiseldon. In fact the village of Badbury, although being in the Parish of Chiseldon, comes under the Ridgeway Ward.

Ridgeway Ward is therefore a unique rural ward and has little in common with the adjacent urban wards of Swindon (Lawn, Old Town, Dorcan, Covingham, Nythe, Wroughton) and does not identify with them.

There are c2,600 on the electoral roll for the Ridgeway ward at present, represented by one councillor. This is very close to the average electorate per councillor for Swindon (SBC). F or sound historical reasons and the distinctive geography of the area it is very easy to understand why Ridgeway Ward should continue to exist as it has.

The villages co-exist and work together in so many ways, sharing the use of our Village Halls for community groups and clubs: Gardening Club, Theatre Club, Scouts, WI, Scottish Country Dancing, Art Groups, Farmers‟ Market and many others. Also most children attend the same primary and secondary schools. The villages also enjoy a single C of E Benefice and attend each other‟s Summer Fetes and other events and of course the mobile library service. There is no such synergy with the Urban Wards to the West of the A419 with the exception of the village of Chiseldon with which Liddington has shared a special relationship on a number of planning issues. It is therefore important that their special community needs are in evidence in the wider context of Swindon Borough Council.

We therefore feel very strongly that it is very important to have councillors who understand the villages and where their electorate consists of at least 80% village communities which they truly represent. To water this down by joining the rural community with a strong urban community will, in effect, disenfranchise the villages and make it likely that we cease to have any voice on SBC. If the villages of Ridgeway Ward were to be joined with Covingham and Nythe, for example, in a 3 councillor Ward, then there would be <30% rural

PC Meeting 8 &12/12/10 Page 1 of 2 electorate for all 3 Councillors and representation would be heavily biased towards urban issues. This would further undermine our say. As it is we find it very difficult to have our say in SBC on major issues which affect us as there are no more than ~2 councillors out of 59 representing rural communities. This can have a major effect for the planning and the development of the rural-urban fringe where rural issues are overwhelmed by the „need for urban growth‟ and the effects on the rural communities and the adjacent AONB are not adequately considered.

We understand that whilst you wish to make sure, as far as possible, that every councillor in each ward of Swindon should represent the same number of electors, the review will also take into account the identities and interests of local communities in the area. We therefore request that you consider the above comments very carefully in making your decisions for the restructuring of Electoral Wards.

Our preference is that Ridgeway Ward is retained as is. A good alternative may be to extract Chiseldon from Wroughton Ward and join it with the Ridgeway Ward to make a 2 Councillor Ward of about 5,000 electors. Going further than this is not something we would would be happy with without adequate safeguards being included. If you feel more restructuring is required we suggest that there is face to face consultation to discuss the issues in more detail.

Yours faithfully

Gordon Wilson Chairman of Liddington Parish Council

Signed on behalf of, and at the request of the Parish Council

Contact: email:

Please also copy any correspondence to the Clerk to the Council at:

LIDDINGTON PARISH COUNCIL Clerk: Mrs E Carmichael

Tel. Email: [email protected]

PC Meeting 8 &12/12/10 Page 2 of 2