What happens next? We have now completed our review of Halton Borough Council. September 2019 Summary Report The recommendations must now be approved by Parliament. A draft order - the legal document which brings The full report and detailed maps: into force our recommendations - will be laid in Parliament. consultation.lgbce.org.uk www.lgbce.org.uk Subject to parliamentary scrutiny, the new electoral arrangements will come into force at the local elections in @LGBCE May 2020.

Our recommendations:

The table lists all the wards we are proposing as part of our final recommendations along with the number of Halton Borough Council voters in each ward. The table also shows the electoral variances for each of the proposed wards, which tells you how we have delivered electoral equality. Finally, the table includes electorate projections for 2024, so you Final recommendations on the new electoral can see the impact of the recommendations for the future. arrangements

Ward Number of Electorate Number of Variance Electorate Number of Variance Name: Councillors: (2018): Electors per from (2024): Electors per from Councillor: average % Councillor: Average % Appleton 3 4,902 1,634 -9% 5,069 1,690 -9% Bankfield 3 5,280 1,760 -2% 5,121 1,707 -8% Beechwood & 3 6,116 2,039 14% 6,043 2,014 8% Heath Birchfield 3 6,045 2,015 13% 5,880 1,960 6% Bridgewater 3 5,727 1,909 7% 6,085 2,028 9% Central & West 3 4,983 1,661 -7% 5,075 1,692 -9% Bank , 3 3,334 1,111 -38% 6,238 2,079 12% Moore & Sandymoore Ditton, Hale 3 5,265 1,755 -2% 5,177 1,726 -7% Village & Halebank Who we are: Electoral review: ■ The Local Government Boundary Commission for An electoral review examines and proposes new Farnworth 3 6,034 2,011 13% 6,031 2, 010 8% England is an independent body set up by Parliament. electoral arrangements for a local authority, including: Grange 3 5,980 1,993 11% 5,785 1,928 4% ■ We are not part of government or any political party. ■ The total number of councillors representing the Halton Castle 3 4,923 1,641 -8% 5,156 1,719 -7% ■ We are accountable to Parliament through a council’s voters (‘council size’). committee of MPs chaired by the Speaker of the House ■ The names, number and boundaries of wards or Halton Lea 3 5,102 1,701 -5% 5,823 1,941 5% of Commons. electoral divisions. Halton View 3 5,338 1,779 0% 5,269 1,756 -5% ■ Our main role is to carry out electoral reviews of local ■ The number of councillors for each ward or division. authorities throughout England. Highfield 3 5,225 1,742 -3% 5,078 1,693 -9% Our proposals: Why Halton Borough Council? ■ Halton Borough Council currently has 56 Hough Green 3 5,581 1,860 4% 5,454 1,818 -2% ■ Halton Borough Council currently has high levels of councillors. Based on the evidence we received, we Mersey & 3 5,752 1,917 7% 6,020 2,007 8% electoral inequality: some councillors represent many recommend that 54 councillors should serve the Weston more - or many fewer - voters than others. borough in the future. Norton North 3 5,819 1,940 8% 5,906 1,969 6% ■ Therefore the value of your vote, in 2019 council ■ We believe our final recommendations meet our elections, varies depending on where you live in Halton. statutory criteria to: Norton South & 3 5,136 1,712 -4% 5,082 1,694 -9% ■ We are seeking to improve levels of electoral equality (1) Deliver electoral equality for voters. for local voters (2) Reflect community interests and identities. Totals: 54 96,542 - - 100,292 - - (3) Promote effective and convenient local government. Averages: - - 1,788 - - 1,857 - Summary of our recommendations

Our review of Halton’s electoral arrangements was triggered by Overview of final recommendations the large amount of housing development in the northern part of in recent years, which has led to a high level of electoral for Halton Borough Council Key: inequality, meaning that some people’s votes carry less weight View this map online and explore it in more detail at: than others’. Our recommendations address both the legacy of consultation.lgbce.org.uk 1 Appleton development in Widnes and the implications of future 2 Bankfield development south of the river. Follow us on Twitter: @LGBCE 3 Beechwood & Heath 4 Birchfield We recommend that Halton Borough Council should have a total If you are viewing this page online, click on the map to go straight to our interactive consultation area. 5 Bridgewater of 54 councillors, 2 less than there are now. As the Council holds 6 Central & West Bank elections by thirds, all wards will have three members. 7 Daresbury, Moore & Sandymoor 8 Ditton, Hale Village & Halebank Residents, particularly those in Hale and Preston Brook, objected to the inclusion of their areas in wards which also 9 Farnworth include parts of Widnes and respectively. However, we 10 Grange have made recommendations which consider the best balance 11 Halton Castle of local views with the legal obligations which govern our work. 12 Halton Lea 13 Halton View 14 Highfield An outline of the proposals is shown in the map to the right. A 15 Hough Green detailed report on the recommendations and interactive 16 Mersey & Weston mapping is available on our website at: www.lgbce.org.uk . 17 Norton North 18 Norton South & Preston Brook Find out more: consultation.lgbce.org.uk :

■ view the map of our recommendations down to street Three-Councillor Ward level. ■ zoom into the areas that interest you most. ■ find more guidance on the review process. ■ read the full report of our recommendations.

Stage of Description review

26 June - Public consultation on new ward 3 September 2018 boundaries

4 December 2018 - Public consultation on draft 11 February 2019 recommendations

28 May 2019 - Public consultation on draft 24 June 2019 recommendations

3 September 2019 Publication of final recommendations

Subject to parliamentary approval May 2020 - implementation of new arrangements at local elections