Draft recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Wychavon in Worcestershire March 2002 LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND © Crown Copyright 2002 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 Local Government Commission for England 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. 2 LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND CONTENTS page WHAT IS THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND? 5 SUMMARY 7 1 INTRODUCTION 13 2 CURRENT ELECTORAL ARRANGEMENTS 15 3 SUBMISSIONS RECEIVED 19 4 ANALYSIS AND DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS 21 5 WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? 41 APPENDICES A Draft Recommendations for Wychavon: 43 Detailed Mapping B Code of Practice on Written Consultation 49 A large map illustrating the existing and proposed ward boundaries for Droitwich and Evesham is inserted inside the back cover of this report. LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND 3 4 LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND WHAT IS THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND? The Local Government Commission for England is an independent body set up by Parliament. Our task is to review and make recommendations on whether there should be changes to local authorities’ electoral arrangements. Members of the Commission: Professor Malcolm Grant (Chairman) Professor Michael Clarke CBE (Deputy Chairman) Peter Brokenshire Kru Desai Pamela Gordon Robin Gray Robert Hughes CBE Barbara Stephens (Chief Executive) 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, ward names and the frequency of elections. We can also recommend changes to the electoral arrangements of parish and town councils. With effect from 1 April 2002, the Electoral Commission will assume the functions of the Local Government Commission for England and take over responsibility for making Orders putting in place the new arrangements resulting from periodic electoral reviews (powers which currently reside with the Secretary of State). As part of this transfer the Electoral Commission has set up a Boundary Committee which will take over responsibility for the conduct of PERs from the Local Government Commission. The Boundary Committee will conduct electoral reviews following the same rules and in the same manner as the Local Government Commission for England. Its final recommendations on future electoral arrangements will then be presented to the Electoral Commission which will be able to accept, modify or reject the Boundary Committee’s findings. Under these new arrangements there will remain a further opportunity to make representations directly to the Electoral Commission after the publication of the final recommendations. Interested parties will have a further six weeks to send comments to the Electoral Commission. LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND 5 6 LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND SUMMARY We began a review of Wychavon’s electoral arrangements on 31 July 2001. · This report summarises the submissions we received during the first stage of the review, and makes draft recommendations for change. We found that the current arrangements provide unequal representation of electors in Wychavon: · in 24 of the 36 wards the number of electors represented by each councillor varies by more than 10 per cent from the average for the district and 15 wards vary by more than 20 per cent; · by 2006 this situation is expected to worsen, with the number of electors per councillor forecast to vary by more than 10 per cent from the average in 26 wards and by more than 20 per cent in 12 wards. Our main proposals for Wychavon’s future electoral arrangements (see Tables 1 and 2 and paragraphs 95 - 96) are that: · Wychavon District Council should have 45 councillors, four fewer than at present; · there should be 32 wards, instead of 36 as at present; · the boundaries of 27 of the existing wards should be modified, resulting in a net reduction of four, and nine wards should retain their existing boundaries; · elections should continue to take place every four years. The purpose of these proposals is to ensure that, in future, each district councillor represents approximately the same number of electors, bearing in mind local circumstances. · In 28 of the proposed 32 wards the number of electors per councillor would vary by no more than 10 per cent from the district 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 9 per cent from the average for the district in 2006. Recommendations are also made for changes to parish and town council electoral arrangements which provide for: · revised warding arrangements and the redistribution of councillors for the parishes of Bredon, Droitwich, Evesham and Hanbury. This report sets out our draft recommendations on which comments are invited. · We will consult on these proposals for eight weeks from 26 March 2002. We take this consultation very seriously. We may decide to move away from our draft LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND 7 recommendations in the light of comments or suggestions that we receive. It is therefore important that all interested parties let us have their views and evidence, whether or not they agree with our draft recommendations. · After considering local views, we will decide whether to modify our draft recommendations. We will then submit our final recommendations to the Electoral Commission which, with effect from 1 April 2002, will be responsible for implementing change to local authority electoral arrangements. · The Electoral Commission will decide whether to accept, modify or reject our final recommendations. It will also decide when any changes come into effect. You should express your views by writing directly to us at the address below by 20 May 2002: Review Manager Wychavon Review LGCE Dolphyn Court 10/11 Great Turnstile London WC1V 7JU Fax: 020 7404 6142 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.lgce.gov.uk 8 LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND Table 1: Draft Recommendations: Summary Ward name Number of Constituent areas Map reference councillors 1 Badsey 1 Aldington parish; part of Badsey parish (Badsey Maps 2 & A2 and Bowers Hill parish wards) 2 Bengeworth 2 part of Evesham parish (the proposed Bengeworth Map 2 & large parish ward) map 3 Bowbrook 1 Unchanged – the parishes of Crowle, Hadzor, Map 2 Himbleton, Huddington, Oddingley and Tibberton 4 Bredon 1 the parish of Bredon’s Norton; part of Bredon Maps 2 & A3 parish (the proposed Bredon parish ward) 5 Bretforton & 1 the parishes of Bretforton and Offenham; part of Maps 2 & A2 Offenham Badsey parish (Blackminster parish ward) 6 Broadway & 2 the parishes of Broadway, Childswickham, Map 2 Wickhamford Wickhamford 7 Dodderhill & 1 the parishes of Dodderhill and Upton Warren; part Maps 2 & A4 Hanbury of Hanbury parish (the proposed Hanbury North parish ward) 8 Drakes Broughton 1 Unchanged - the parishes of Drakes Broughton & Map 2 Wadborough, Pirton and Stoulton 9 Droitwich Central 1 part of Droitwich parish (the proposed Droitwich Map 2 & large Central parish ward) map 10 Droitwich East 2 part of Droitwich parish (the proposed Droitwich Map 2 & large East parish ward) map 11 Droitwich South 2 part of Droitwich parish (the proposed Droitwich Map 2 & large East South East parish ward) map 12 Droitwich South 2 part of Droitwich parish (the proposed Droitwich Map 2 & large West South West parish ward) map 13 Droitwich West 2 part of Droitwich parish (the proposed Droitwich Map 2 & large West parish ward) map 14 Eckington 1 Unchanged – the parishes of Besford, Birlingham, Map 2 Defford, Eckington and Strensham 15 Elmley Castle & 1 the parishes of Aston Somerville, Elmley Castle, Map 2 Somerville Great Comberton, Hinton on the Green, Little Comberton, Netherton and Sedgeberrow 16 Evesham North 2 part of Evesham parish (the proposed Evesham Map 2 & large North parish ward) map 17 Evesham South 2 part of Evesham parish (the proposed Evesham Map 2 & large South parish ward) map 18 Fladbury 1 the parishes of Bricklehampton, Charlton, Map 2 Cropthorne, Fladbury and Wick 19 Great Hampton 1 part of Evesham parish (the proposed Great Map 2 & large Hampton parish ward) map 20 Hartlebury 1 Unchanged – the parish of Hartlebury Map 2 21 Harvington & 1 Unchanged – the parishes of Harvington and Map 2 Norton Norton & Lenchwick 22 Honeybourne & 1 Unchanged – the parishes of Bickmarsh, Map 2 Pebworth Honeybourne and Pebworth LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND 9 Ward name Number of Constituent areas Map reference councillors 23 Inkberrow 2 the parishes of Abberton, Abbots Morton, Church Maps 2 & A4 Lench, Cookhill, Inkberrow, Rous Lench and Stock & Bradley; part of Hanbury parish (the proposed Hanbury South parish ward) 24 Little Hampton 2 part of Evesham parish (the proposed Little Map 2 & large Hampton parish ward) map 25 Lovett & North 2 the parishes of Elmbridge, Elmley Lovett, Hampton Map 2 Claines Lovett, Hindlip, Martin Hussingtree, North Claines, Salwarpe and