Final Recommendations on the Future Electoral Arrangements for Bolton
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Final recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Bolton Report to The Electoral Commission October 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. 356 2 Contents Page What is The Boundary Committee for England? 5 Summary 7 1 Introduction 11 2 Current electoral arrangements 13 3 Draft recommendations 17 4 Responses to consultation 19 5 Analysis and final recommendations 21 6 What happens next? 45 Appendices A Final recommendations for Bolton: detailed mapping 47 B Guide to interpreting the first draft of the electoral change Order 49 C First draft of the electoral change Order for Bolton 51 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 borough of Bolton. 5 6 Summary We began a review of Bolton’s electoral arrangements on 14 May 2002. We published our draft recommendations for electoral arrangements on 25 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 Bolton: • In seven of the 20 wards the number of electors represented by each councillor varies by more than 10% from the average for the borough, and three wards vary by more than 20% from the average. • By 2006 this situation is expected to stay the same, with the number of electors per councillor forecast to vary by more than 10% from the average in seven wards and by more than 20% in three wards. Our main final recommendations for future electoral arrangements (see Tables 1 and 2 and paragraphs 143–144) are that: • Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council should have 60 councillors, the same as at present; • there should be 20 wards, the same as at present; • the boundaries of all of the existing wards should be modified. The purpose of these proposals is to ensure that, in future, each borough councillor represents approximately the same number of electors, bearing in mind local circumstances. • The number of electors per councillor in none of the proposed 20 wards would vary by more than 7% from the borough average. • An improved level of electoral equality is forecast to continue, with the number of electors per councillor in all wards expected to vary by no more than 7% from the average for the borough in 2006. Recommendations are also made for changes to parish council electoral arrangements which provide for: • revised warding arrangements and an increase in the number of councillors for the parishes of Horwich and Westhoughton. 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 25 November 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.) Table 1: Final recommendations: summary Ward name Number of Constituent areas Large map councillors reference 1 Astley Bridge 3 Part of Astley Bridge ward; part of Central ward 2 2 Bradshaw 3 Part of Bradshaw ward; part of Breighmet ward 2 3 Breightmet 3 Part of Bradshaw ward; part of Breighmet ward 2 & 4 4 Bromley Cross 3 Part of Bromley Cross ward; part of Bradshaw ward 2 5 Central 3 Part of Central ward; part of Halliwell ward 2 & 4 6 Crompton 3 Part of Astley Bridge ward; part of Central ward; part of Tonge 2 & 4 ward 7 Farnworth 3 Part of Farnworth ward; part of Burnden ward 4 8 Great Lever 3 Part of Burnden ward; part of Derby ward 4 9 Harper Green 3 Harper Green ward; part of Burnden ward; part of Farnworth 4 ward 10 Heaton & Lostock 3 Part of Blackrod ward; part of Deane-cum-Heaton ward; part of 1, 2, 3 & 4 Hulton Park ward 11 Horwich & Blackrod 3 The parish of Blackrod; the proposed Horwich South West 1 & 3 parish ward of Horwich parish; part of Blackrod ward 12 Horwich North East 3 The proposed Horwich North East parish ward of Horwich 1 parish 13 Hulton 3 Part of Daubhill ward; part of Deane-cum-Heaton ward; part of 3 & 4 Hulton Park ward 14 Kearsley 3 Kearsley ward; part of Farnworth ward 4 15 Little Lever & Darcy 3 Part of Breightmet ward; part of Burnden ward; part of Little 4 Lever Lever ward 16 Rumworth 3 Part of Daubhill ward; part of Deane-cum-Heaton ward; part of 4 Derby ward 17 Smithills 3 Smithills ward; part of Astley Bridge ward; part of Deane-cum- 1, 2 & 4 Heaton ward; part of Halliwell ward 18 Tonge with the 3 2 & 4 Part of Burnden ward; part of Central ward; part of Tonge ward Haulgh 19 Westhoughton North 3 The proposed Chequerbent, White Horse and Wingates parish 1 & 3 & Chew Moor wards of Westhoughton parish; part of Blackrod ward; part of Hulton Park ward 20 Westhoughton South 3 The proposed Central, Daisy Hill and Hoskers & Hart Common 3 parish wards of Westhoughton parish Notes: 1. The wards in the above table are illustrated on Map 2 and the large maps. 2. 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. 9 Table 2: Final recommendations for Bolton 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 Astley Bridge 3 10,418 3,473 1 10,496 3,499 0 2 Bradshaw 3 9,685 3,228 -6 9,777 3,259 -7 3 Breightmet 3 10,703 3,568 4 10,727 3,576 2 4 Bromley Cross 3 10,621 3,540 3 11,169 3,723 7 5 Central 3 10,335 3,445 0 10,567 3,522 1 6 Crompton 3 10,368 3,456 1 10,380 3,460 -1 7 Farnworth 3 10,899 3,633 6 11,131 3,710 6 8 Great Lever 3 9,877 3,292 -4 10,126 3,375 -3 9 Harper Green 3 10,253 3,418 0 10,387 3,462 -1 10 Heaton & Lostock 3 10,794 3,598 5 10,887 3,629 4 11 Horwich & Blackrod 3 9,544 3,181 -7 10,260 3,420 -2 12 Horwich North East 3 10,274 3,425 0 10,427 3,476 0 13 Hulton 3 10,573 3,524 3 10,701 3,567 2 14 Kearsley 3 10,742 3,581 4 10,847 3,616 4 Little Lever & Darcy 15 3 9,783 3,261 -5 10,117 3,372 -3 Lever 16 Rumworth 3 10,504 3,501 2 10,479 3,493 0 17 Smithills 3 10,678 3,559 4 10,763 3,588 3 Tonge with the 18 3 10,160 3,387 -1 10,160 3,387 -3 Haulgh Westhoughton North 19 3 9,867 3,289 -4 10,073 3,358 -4 & Chew Moor 20 Westhoughton South 3 9,745 3,248 -5 10,030 3,343 -4 Totals 60 205,823 – – 209,504 – – Averages – – 3,430 – – 3,492 – 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 borough. The minus symbol (-) denotes a lower than average number of electors. Figures have been rounded to the nearest whole number. 10 1 Introduction 1 This report contains our proposals for the electoral arrangements for the borough of Bolton. We are reviewing the ten metropolitan boroughs in Greater Manchester as part of our programme of periodic electoral reviews (PERs) of all 386 principal local authority areas in England.