Fuller, Heather

From: Waller, Matthew Sent: 05 June 2013 11:17 To: Knag, Daniel Subject: FW: Consultation on Ward Boundaries - North Attachments: WPC response - LGBCE consultation - May2013.doc

Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Completed

From: David Glynn Sent: 04 June 2013 22:42 To: Reviews@ Cc: Clerk Subject: Consultation on Ward Boundaries - North Somerset

Dear Sirs,

Please find enclosed a response from Wrington Council to the LGBCE consultation on North Somerset ward boundaries.

Let us know if you require further information or clarification of any of the points raised in our response.

Yours faithfully

David Glynn Chair, Wrington Parish Council

1 WRINGTON PARISH COUNCIL

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Response to the Local Government Boundary Commission for :

Ward Boundary Review – North Somerset

Introduction: Wrington is in geographical terms a large parish in North Somerset, located to the south of Bristol. Although the parish is rural it is unusual in that the Green Belt boundary runs from west to east through the southern half and, significantly, because Bristol Airport lies wholly within the northern half. The A38 links the airport with Bristol and the south west of the region and runs through the parish from north east to south west. The parish has two wards, with the parish as a whole currently forming the major part of a larger North Somerset ward which includes parish. Wrington parish itself has boundaries with nine (9) other North Somerset .

Analysis: The Boundary Commission forecasts that the North Somerset electorate will be 169,771 in 2018. With a 51 seat district council this is equivalent to 3,328 voters for each councillor with an apparent recommendation by the Commission that this should ideally not vary by more than 10% for each, or between 2995 and 3661 for single member wards and between 5990 and 7321 for two member wards.

The 2018 electorate figures are forecast as: - 943 Brockley - 241 Burrington - 423 Butcombe - 181 Churchill - 1804 Cleeve - 758 - 2869 Winford - 2523 Wrington - 2192 (NE & SW parish wards)

We see the following as North Somerset ward options for Wrington: 1. Wrington, Butcombe, Blagdon - 3316 2. Wrington, Butcombe, Blagdon, Burrington - 3739 3. Wrington, Butcombe, Blagdon, Burrington, Churchill - 5543 4. Wrington, Burrington, Churchill - 4419 5. Wrington, Butcombe, Congresbury - 5242 6. Wrington, Butcombe, Winford - 4896 Comment: First, it should be noted that the Council would much prefer that the parish is not split in terms of representation by separating the parish wards. The Council has close links with Bristol Airport, which is located in the north east parish ward, and we would not want our airport representation to be affected by allocating this parish ward to a different North Somerset ward.

However, even when we considered the possibility of separating the parish wards it became clear that the arithmetic makes it difficult to create many practical options for Wrington which fit with the Boundary Commission objectives, irrespective of how the neighbouring parishes or parish wards are allocated.

Wrington parish does have clear links with Churchill parish (option 3) through Churchill School and the recently relocated Wrington Vale Medical Practice and might beneficially join with Churchill in a two member ward. The difficulty is that the electorate numbers don’t add up to the target size range indicated for a two member ward. Also, the sizes of the potential electorates for joint wards with both Congresbury, to the west, and Winford, to the north east, are well under the target figure (options 5 & 6).

While a joint ward with Churchill might be helpful, a more practical option is probably a single member ward along with Blagdon (option 1), adding in Burrington if possible (option 2). This would form a rural ward which spans Wrington Vale and would provide community representation on rural and village issues from the airport across to the AONB. This is the Council’s preference at this stage.

Note that we would prefer not to share representation with Congresbury, which has different issues, nor with the much larger , and we have discounted any link with Backwell.

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For further information please contact:

Mrs F Burke, Clerk to the Council Wrington Parish Council

email: [email protected]

May 2013