Final recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Sheffield Report to The Electoral Commission July 2003 © Crown Copyright 2003 Applications for reproduction should be made to: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office Copyright Unit. The mapping in this report is reproduced from OS mapping by The Electoral Commission with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, © Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Licence Number: GD 03114G. This report is printed on recycled paper. Report no. 345 2 Contents Page What is The Boundary Committee for England? 5 Summary 7 1 Introduction 13 2 Current electoral arrangements 15 3 Draft recommendations 19 4 Responses to consultation 21 5 Analysis and final recommendations 23 6 What happens next? 43 Appendices A Final recommendations for Sheffield: Detailed mapping 45 B Guide to interpreting the first draft of the electoral Order 47 C First draft of electoral change Order for Sheffield 49 3 4 What is The Boundary Committee for England? The Boundary Committee for England is a committee of The Electoral Commission, an independent body set up by Parliament under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. The functions of the Local Government Commission for England were transferred to The Electoral Commission and its Boundary Committee on 1 April 2002 by the Local Government Commission for England (Transfer of Functions) Order 2001 (SI 2001 No. 3692). The Order also transferred to The Electoral Commission the functions of the Secretary of State in relation to taking decisions on recommendations for changes to local authority electoral arrangements and implementing them. Members of the Committee are: Pamela Gordon (Chair) Professor Michael Clarke CBE Robin Gray Joan Jones CBE Ann M Kelly Professor Colin Mellors Archie Gall (Director) We are required by law to review the electoral arrangements of every principal local authority in England. Our aim is to ensure that the number of electors represented by each councillor in an area is as nearly as possible the same, taking into account local circumstances. We can recommend changes to ward boundaries, the number of councillors and ward names. We can also recommend changes to the electoral arrangements of parish and town councils. This report sets out our final recommendations on the electoral arrangements for the city of Sheffield. 5 6 Summary We began a review of Sheffield’s electoral arrangements on 8 May 2002. We published our draft recommendations for electoral arrangements on 11 February 2003, after which we undertook an eight-week period of consultation. We now submit final recommendations to The Electoral Commission. • This report summarises the representations that we received during consultation on our draft recommendations, and contains our final recommendations to The Electoral Commission. We found that the existing arrangements provide unequal representation of electors in Sheffield: • in 20 of the 29 wards the number of electors represented by each councillor varies by more than 10% from the average for the city and eight wards vary by more than 20%; • by 2006 this situation is expected to worsen, with the number of electors per councillor forecast to vary by more than 10% from the average in 19 wards and by more than 20% in nine wards. Our main final recommendations for future electoral arrangements (see Tables 1 and 2 and paragraphs 128-129) are that: • Sheffield City Council should have 84 councillors, three less than at present; • there should be 28 wards, instead of 29 as at present; • the boundaries of all of the existing wards should be modified, resulting in a net reduction of one. The purpose of these proposals is to ensure that, in future, each city councillor represents approximately the same number of electors, bearing in mind local circumstances. • In 27 of the proposed 28 wards the number of electors per councillor would vary by no more than 10% from the city average. • This improved level of electoral equality is forecast to continue, with the number of electors per councillor in no ward expected to vary by more than 8% from the average for the city in 2006. Recommendations are also made for changes to parish council electoral arrangements which provide for: • Revised warding arrangements and the redistribution of councillors for the parishes of Bradfield, Ecclesfield and Stocksbridge. 7 All further correspondence on these final recommendations and the matters discussed in this report should be addressed to The Electoral Commission, which will not make an Order implementing them before 9 September 2003. The information in the representations will be available for public access once the Order has been made. The Secretary The Electoral Commission Trevelyan House Great Peter Street London SW1P 2HW Fax: 020 7271 0667 Email: [email protected] (This address should only be used for this purpose.) 8 Table 1: Final recommendations: Summary Ward name Number of Constituent areas Large map councillors reference 1 Arbourthorne 3 Part of Castle ward; part of Heeley ward; part of Intake ward; 7 part of Park ward 2 Beauchief & 3 Part of Beauchief ward; part of Dore ward; part of Norton ward 6 and 7 Greenhill 3 Beighton 3 Part of Mosborough ward 7 4 Birley 3 Part of Birley ward; part of Mosborough ward 7 5 Broomhill 3 Part of Broomhill ward; part of Netherthorpe ward; part of 6 Sharrow ward 6 Burngreave 3 Part of Burngreave ward; part of Firth Park ward; part of 3,4 and 5 Owlerton ward 7 Central 3 Part of Broomhill ward; part of Burngreave ward; part of Castle 4,6 and 7 ward; part of Heeley ward; part of Netherthorpe ward; part of Park ward; part of Sharrow ward 8 Crookes 3 Part of Broomhill ward; part of Hallam ward; part of Netherthorpe 6 ward; part of Walkley ward 9 Darnall 3 Part of Brightside ward; part of Burngreave ward; part of Castle 4 and 7 ward; part of Darnall ward; part of Manor ward 10 Dore & Totley 3 Part of Beauchief ward; part of Dore ward; part of Ecclesall ward; 5 and 6 part of Hallam ward 11 East Ecclesfield* 3 Part of Chapel Green ward; part of Nether Shire ward; part of 3 and 4 Southey Green ward; part of South Wortley ward 12 Ecclesall 3 Part of Beauchief ward; part of Ecclesall ward; part of Hallam 6 ward; part of Nether Edge ward 13 Firth Park 3 Part of Brightside ward; part of Firth Park ward; part of Nether 3 and 4 Shire ward; part of Southey Green ward 14 Fulwood 3 Part of Broomhill ward; part of Hallam ward 5 and 6 15 Gleadless Valley 3 Part of Beauchief ward; part of Heeley ward; part of Intake ward; 6 and 7 part of Norton ward; part of Park ward 16 Graves Park 3 Part of Beauchief ward; part of Heeley ward; part of Nether Edge 6 and 7 ward; part of Norton ward 17 Hillsborough 3 Part of Hillsborough ward; part of Owlerton ward; part of Walkley 3 ward 18 Manor 3 Part of Castle ward; part of Darnall ward; part of Intake ward; 4 and 7 part of Manor ward 19 Mosborough 3 Part of Mosborough ward 7 20 Nether Edge 3 Part of Beauchief ward; part of Ecclesall; part of Heeley ward; 6 part of Nether Edge ward; part of Sharrow ward 21 Richmond 3 Part of Birley ward; part of Darnall ward; part of Intake ward; part 7 of Handsworth ward; part of Manor ward; part of Park ward 9 22 Shiregreen & 3 Part of Brightside ward; part of Firth Park ward; part of Darnall 4 Brightside ward; part of Nether Shire ward 23 Southey 3 Part of Nether Shire ward; part of Owlerton ward; part of Southey 3 Green ward 24 Stannington* 3 Part of Hillsborough ward; part of South Wortley ward; part of 1,2,3,5 and Walkley ward 6 25 Stocksbridge & 3 Stocksbridge parish; part of South Wortley ward 1,2 and 3 Upper Don* 26 Walkley 3 Part of Netherthorpe ward; part of Owlerton ward; part of Walkley 3 and 6 ward 27 West Ecclesfield* 3 Part of Chapel Green ward; part of South Wortley ward 3 28 Woodhouse 3 Part of Birley ward; part of Darnall ward; part of Handsworth 7 ward; part of Mosborough ward Notes: 1) Bradfield, Ecclesfield and Stocksbridge are the only parished parts of the city and comprise the four wards indicated * above. 2) The wards on the above table are illustrated on Map 2 and the large maps. We have made a number of minor boundary amendments to ensure that existing ward boundaries adhere to ground detail. These changes do not affect any electors. 10 Table 2: Final recommendations for Sheffield Ward name Number Electorate Number of Variance Electorate Number of Variance of councillors (2001) electors from (2006) electors from per average per average councillor % councillor % 1 Arbourthorne 3 13,190 4,397 -3 13,695 4,565 0 2 Beauchief & Greenhill 3 14,215 4,738 5 14,215 4,738 4 3 Beighton 3 12,880 4,293 -5 12,950 4,317 -5 4 Birley 3 13,701 4,567 1 13,242 4,414 -3 5 Broomhill 3 13,119 4,373 -3 13,119 4,373 -4 6 Burngreave 3 14,361 4,787 6 14,003 4,668 3 7 Central 3 11,251 3,750 -17 13,514 4,505 -1 8 Crookes 3 13,428 4,476 -1 13,428 4,476 -2 9 Darnall 3 14,243 4,748 5 14,274 4,758 5 10 Dore & Totley 3 13,268 4,423 -2 13,341 4,447 -2 11 East Ecclesfield 3 14,193 4,731 5 14,280 4,760 5 12 Ecclesall 3 13,699 4,566 1 13,709 4,570 0 13 Firth Park 3 13,677 4,559 1 13,500 4,500 -1 14 Fulwood 3 13,053 4,351 -4 13,168 4,389 -3 15 Gleadless Valley 3 13,286 4,429 -2 13,051 4,350 -4 16 Graves Park 3 14,116 4,705 4 14,116 4,705 3 17 Hillsborough 3 12,937 4,312 -4 13,265 4,422 -3 18 Manor 3 13,711 4,570 1 13,864 4,621 2 19 Mosborough 3 13,289 4,430 -2 13,669 4,556 0 20 Nether Edge 3 12,871 4,272 -5 12,951 4,317 -5 21 Richmond 3 13,259 4,420 -2 13,232 4,411 -3 22 Shiregreen & 3 14,275 4,758 5 14,343 4,781 5 Brightside 23 Southey 3 13,709 4,570 1 13,429 4,476 -2 24 Stannington 3 13,107 4,369 -3 13,128 4,376 -4 25 Stocksbridge & Upper 3 14,583 4,861 8 14,669 4,890 8 Don 26 Walkley 3 14,048 4,683 4 13,953 4,639 2 27 West Ecclesfield 3 14,095 4,698 4 14,229 4,743 4 28 Woodhouse 3 13,613 4,538 1 13,613 4,538 0 Totals 84 379,123 - - 381,950 - - Averages - - 4,513 - - 4,547 - Note: The ‘variance from average’ column shows by how far, in percentage terms, the number of electors per councillor varies from the average for the city.