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Home , Darnhall, Davenham, Duddon, Foulk Stapleford, Iddinshall, Kelsall

OAKMERE PARISH COUNCIL

Lynwood, Overdale Lane, , , CW8 2EL

Clerk – Mrs G M Carter Telephone :-

Email :-

The Boundary Committee for , Trevelyan House, Great Peter Street, SW1P 2HW 3rd August 2009

REF :- Electoral Review of the new Cheshire West and Unitary Authority.

Dear Sir/ Madam,

It would appear that the status quo will be maintained for the number of Councillors representing Eddisbury, therefore, the Parish Council has no objections to the changes.

Yours faithfully,

G M Carter (Clerk to the Parish Council)

Tarporley Parish Council 30th July 2009

SUBMISSION TO THE BOUNDARY COMMITTEE

Tarporley Parish Council has considered the options available to it for the composition of a new electoral ward of which its parish would be part. It has been very aware of the sensibilities of adjacent parishes and has taken this into consideration by contacting the various Clerks and Chairmen, however due to the tight timescale consultation has been limited and without final consensus.

In 1973 Tarporley became part of Borough Council, with one councillor representing it. More recently there was a boundary change and Tarporley, together with Rushton, , and Darnall, became the Tarporley and Oulton ward, represented by two councillors. This arrangement worked well with one councillor concentrating on Tarporley and the other, the remaining smaller parishes.

With regard to the , Tarporley was included in the Eddisbury Ward that extended from Cuddington in the north to Fearnall in the south and was represented by one councillor. This constituted an unsatisfactorily large geographical spread with the majority of the population living in the Cuddington area.

Tarporley Community Identity

Tarporley is the centre for commerce, social, educational and service provision over a wide area in this part of Cheshire West and Chester (CW&C) bounded by in the north, Little Budworth in the east, (in ) in the south and Bunbury (also in Cheshire East) in the west. Therefore it is reasonable to say that these parishes constitute the wider Tarporley community. Each of these villages does not have the full range of facilities and service provision available in Tarporley and people, living in these areas, both currently and historically, look to Tarporley for the facilities and services not available in their own village.

For example, Tarporley High Street has a large number of commercial premises both retail and office. There are two banks, a Post Office, two large supermarket style convenience stores, one having a filling station, five estate agents, a hotel, three public houses, ladies and gentlemen’s hairdressers, butcher, delicatessen, white goods shop, jeweller, dry cleaners, restaurants, confectioners etc. These service a population from the wide rural area who would otherwise need to travel to or Chester, each some twelve miles distant.

Also Tarporley has a number of health services, which serve this wider Tarporley community. Tarporley’s Health Centre is home to two general practises, housing eight general practitioners together with associated health professionals and administrative staff. One of the practice’s patient catchments is an area that includes Tarvin and Waverton and the villages in between. Doctors from the Tarporley Health Centre, the GP practices in , Tarvin, Bunbury, have admission rights and look after patients in the Tarporley War Memorial Hospital, funded to a significant extent by local contributions. Fund raising takes place for the hospital within these communities. The hospital provides recuperative and respite care for patients discharged from the hospitals in Chester and occasionally from the hospital in . It has a physiotherapy department and consulting rooms for visiting consultants. There are two dental practices in Nantwich Road and a chiropody practice in Forest Road with patients come from the wider Tarporley community.

Three pages in total

Tarporley has a Country Market held on the first Saturday of the month in the High Street. It is a great success with thirty or so stalls and attracts customers from a wide area.

The ecclesiastical parish of St. Helen’s with its ancient church forming part of the High Street scene encompasses the villages of Eaton, in the of Rushton, Cotebrook and in the civil parish of Utkinton.

The number 84 is the only regular bus service running through the village, connecting it via the A51 with Nantwich and Chester. There is no bus service connecting Tarporley with Cuddington, Delamere and .

The and Sixth Form College has a catchment area extending from Calvely in Cheshire East to Delamere, Bunbury also in Cheshire East, to Little Budworth, with the exception of Huxley. Tarporley C of E Primary School and the Done Room pre-school attract children from the wider Tarporley area.

Tarporley is the focus for a number of sporting organisations. Tarporley Vics have two adult football teams, the Tarporley Wanderers five youth football teams, the Tarporley Cricket Club, the Tarporley Tennis Club and four crown green bowling teams all of whom draw their membership from the wider Tarporley community.

Therefore for the above reasons Tarporley Parish Council has taken note of what it considers to be the wider Tarporley community in considering its proposals to the Boundary Commission

Proposal

Tarporley Parish Council is in favour of a single councillor ward serving the community identified above that consists of Tarporley and immediately adjacent smaller rural villages. There would then be only one point of contact, no confusion as to who might be the responsible councillor and direct accountability to the local electorate. While it has, proved difficult to construct a single councillor ward that complies with the numerical criteria the Boundary Committee favours, it is still the Parish Council’s preferred option.

Tarporley Parish Council does not favour the proposition for the three-member ward likely to be proposed by Cheshire West and Chester Council. The wider Tarporley community has no affinity with Cuddington, Sandiway and Delamere, a grouping that has links with Hartford and Northwich. These areas are adjacent, and have transport links to the urban area of Northwich, where residents access health, social, leisure, financial and other facilities and services. Such a ward would also have in excess of fifty percent of the electorate living in the Cuddington, Sandiway and Delamere area, thus possibly diluting the councillors’ attention to be paid to the Tarporley area. It should be noted that the current Cheshire West and Chester Local Development Framework Core Strategy Topic Paper - and Rural East reinforces the above as it states “3.5 ... Tarporley is a large village in the south of the area, surrounded by open countryside and close to the border with Cheshire East. Settlements in the north of the area, including Cuddington, and have strong connections with Northwich.”

Three pages in total Tarporley Parish Council submits the following proposals for wards that include Tarporley and associated parishes.

1. A Single Councillor Ward. The Strongly Preferred Option

Little Budworth, 560; Tarporley, 2200; Rushton, 380; Utkinton, 570; Tiverton & Tilston Fearnall, 428; , 50.

Total electorate 4188

Although strongly favouring a single councillor ward Tarporley Parish Council accepts that the debate may well extend to two and three councillor wards. In such a case the following are presented for consideration as offering a more homogeneous aggregation than the CW&C proposal.

2. A Two-Councillor Ward.

As above plus.

Foulk Stapleford, 140; Huxley, 200; Beeston, 160; , 380; , 260; Willington, 100; , 30; , 60; by Tarvin, 50, 180.

(The figure for the final three parishes is an estimate as only population figures for October 2008 were available.)

Total electorate 5748

3. A Three-Councillor Ward

As above plus

Tarvin, 2000; Kelsall, 2110,

Total electorate 9858

(Please note the 42% of the electorate will live in the two parishes of Tarvin and Kelsall)

Three pages in total Tiverton and Parish Council Boundaries Committee Issues

At its meeting on 14th July 2009 the Council considered the general issues concerning possible ward boundary changes. In particular the pros and cons of the proposals by Cheshire West and Chester Council were discussed at length. These would result in T&TF Parish being included in Eddisbury ward instead of the current Broxton ward. Other migrated parishes would be Beeston, Huxley, Clotton Hoofield and Iddingshall.

No views had been expressed by parishioners in response to the recent newsletter article. The traditional orientation and affinities have been with Tattenhall, but the large number of parishes stretching as far as Malpas were not seen as particularly close in many respects. The majority view of the Council was that the CWAC proposals made a lot of sense since there was a greater day-to-day orientation towards Tarporley. .However, a minority view was strongly expressed that one would not want T&TF to be “swallowed up” by Tarporley. The main, underlying concern is that the views and considerations of T&TF as a rural parish should not be swamped by the more urban considerations of Tarporley. T&TF Council wishes to be re-assured that it will be able to retain its links with other rural parishes and for them to have a collective voice on relevant matters.

There was also some discussion about the practicalities of Eddisbury as a multiple- councillor ward. Again, the main issue was how best to ensure parish access to a ward councillor who is totally familiar with and “tuned in” to the concerns of our parish, given the likely changes in boundaries and personnel. The Council would want to be re-assured on this matter also. Opinion was divided on whether it might be better to have, for example, a single councillor serving only the interests of the Southern rural parishes, which are felt to be quite distinct from the Northern rural parishes and from Tarporley. Dr Gordon Ibbotson, Deputy Chair, Tiverton and Tilstone Fearnall Parish Council

From: Elaine Beech [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 27 July 2009 13:49 To: Jessica Metheringham Subject: warding review - Cheshire West and Chester Authority

Dear Ms Metheringham

Utkinton Parish Council submits the following to the Boundary Committee in response to its request for views on future warding arrangements for the Cheshire West and Chester Council:

Utkinton Parish Council considered warding arrangements for the Cheshire West and Chester Council at its recent meeting and focused its debate particularly on the size of wards as it considered this factor is critical in the formulation of wards.

The Parish Council decided to submit its view to you that 3-member wards are the most effective. It considers that the areas of responsibility of the new Cheshire West and Chester Council are so varied and extensive and affect every element of a community that elected members need to have varied and extensive experience and skills. This could not be covered by one member but having a 3-member ward would more likely enable this amount of experience and skills to be more likely covered.

The Parish Council agreed that it will comment further once draft recommendations are drawn up and consulted on.

I’d be grateful if you would confirm receipt of this e-mail.

Regards

Elaine Beech Clerk Utkinton Parish Council tel: e-mail: [email protected]

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Clerk: Mrs A Dunabin, 69 Linnards Lane, , Northwich, Cheshire CW9 6ED

Telephone: email: [email protected]

27 July 2009

Mr David Owen Policy Manager Policy, Performance and Partnerships Service Cheshire West and Chester Council County Hall Chester

Dear David

Wincham Parish Council discussed the proposals for the electoral review at its meeting on 15 July. Having looked thoroughly at all aspects of your proposals the Parish Council are in agreement with the changes you propose for Marbury Ward.

Wincham remains in the ward with most of the other villages with whom it has close links and with whom it has built up good working relationships. The Parish Council agrees with the requirement for three elected members to serve the ward and again has built up good working relationships with those officers. The Parish Council considers that the other villages in the ward are in similar rural environments to Wincham and share similar problems such as overloaded infrastructure and general highways incapacity and poor maintenance.

The Parish Council looks forward with interest to seeing Cheshire West and Chester’s submission to the Boundary Committee. I will be sending an email to the Boundary Committee with this letter attached.

Yours sincerely

Alison Dunabin Wincham Parish Clerk

To: Jessica Metheringham Subject: ELECTORAL REVIEW OF THE NEW CHESHIRE WEST AND CHESTER UNITARY AUTHORITY

To Jessica

A meeting of Winsford Town Council was held on Monday evening and after a long discussion there was a general agreement that support should be given to single member wards right across the whole of Cheshire West and Chester Unitary Council.

Best wishes.

Emma Hewitt Acting Town Clerk Winsford Town Council Wyvern House The Drumber WINSFORD Cheshire. CW7 1AH

Tel: 01606 593582 Fax: 01606 867999 Email: [email protected]