LOCAL DEMOCRACY AND BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR WALES REVIEW OF COMMUNITY ARRANGEMENTS IN THE COUNTY OF FLINTSHIRE REPORT AND PROPOSALS LOCAL DEMOCRACY AND BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR WALES REVIEW OF COMMUNITY ARRANGEMENTS IN THE COUNTY OF FLINTSHIRE REPORT AND PROPOSALS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. FLINTSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL’S PROPOSALS 3. THE COMMISSION’S CONSIDERATION 4. PROCEDURE 5. PROPOSALS 6. CONSEQUENTIAL ARRANGEMENTS 7. COMMUNITY ELECTORAL ARRANGEMENTS PROPOSED BY THE LOCAL DEMOCRACY AND BOUNDARY COMMISSION 8. COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTORAL ARRANGEMENTS 9. COMMUNITY WARD CHANGE FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION BY FLINTSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL 10. RESPONSES TO THIS REPORT APPENDIX 1 ANALYSIS OF REPRESENTATIONS RECEIVED APPENDIX 2 FLINTSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL - FINAL PROPOSALS REPORT. The Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales Hastings House Fitzalan Court CARDIFF CF24 0BL Tel Number: (029) 2046 4819 Fax Number: (029) 2046 4823 E-mail: [email protected] www.ldbc.gov.wales THIS PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK Leighton Andrews Esq AM Minister for Public Services Welsh Government 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1. Flintshire County Council have conducted a review of the community boundaries and community electoral arrangements under Sections 55(2) and 57(4) of the Local Government Act 1972 as amended by the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994 (the Act). In accordance with Section 55(2) of the Act Flintshire County Council submitted a report to us detailing their proposals for changes to a number of community boundaries in their area (Appendix 2). 1.2. We have considered Flintshire County Council’s report in accordance with Section 55(3) of the Act and submit the following report on the Council’s recommendations. 2. FLINTSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL’S PROPOSALS 2.1. Flintshire County Council’s proposals were submitted to us on 12 June 2014 (Appendix 2). We received two representations about the proposals. 2.2. As a result of their review the Council have recommended no changes to the following communities: Bagillt Nercwys Brynford Northop Caerwys Northop Hall Cilcain Shotton Gwernaffield Trelawnyd & Gwaenysgor Gwernmynydd Treuddyn Nannerch Ysceifiog 2.3. Changes were made to internal warding arrangements for the communities of: Argoed Llanasa Broughton and Bretton Llanfynydd Buckley Mold Connah’s Quay Mostyn Flint Pen-y-Ffordd Halkyn Queensferry Hawarden Saltney Holywell Sealand Hope Whitford - 1 - These changes to internal warding arrangements were implemented through Orders made by Flintshire County Council. 2.4. Changes to the community boundaries involving Broughton and Bretton; Halkyn; Higher Kinnerton; Holywell, Hope; Leeswood; Mold; and Pen-y-Ffordd were also proposed. 2.5. Flintshire County Council provided maps detailing the recommended community ward boundary changes. For the community boundary changes the Commission Secretariat produced more detailed maps interpreted from the maps and descriptions in the text of the report. These maps were sent to Flintshire County Council who then confirmed that the recommended changes had been correctly interpreted and these are discussed and mapped below. 3. THE COMMISSION’S CONSIDERATION 3.1. We first considered whether the County Council had conducted their review in accordance with the procedure set out in the Act. We then considered whether the proposals recommended were apt for securing effective and convenient local government. 4. PROCEDURE 4.1. Section 60 of the Act requires the Council to take such steps as they think fit to secure that persons who may be interested in the review are informed of the proposal to conduct the review and subsequently of the draft proposals which are to be placed on deposit at the Council’s offices. The final proposals report is also required to be placed on deposit at the Council’s offices for a period of six months. 4.2. We are satisfied that Flintshire County Council have conducted the review in accordance with the procedure set out in Section 60 of the Act. 5. PROPOSALS Draft Proposals Flint Mountain 5.1. A request was made to both the County Council and the Commission by a resident of Flint Mountain asking that consideration be given to moving Flint Mountain out of the Flint Trelawny community ward. This request was supported by Community Councillor Nigel Williams and focused on the difference in character between Flint Mountain’s rural needs and it’s seemingly disproportionate representation on Flint Town Council. 5.2. The area known as Flint Mountain is a settlement in the western part of the Trelawny ward of the Community of Flint Town. The area has 540 electors and lies north of the A55 Expressway, adjacent to the Community of Northop. - 2 - 5.3. Flint Mountain’s electorate of 540 is not of sufficient size to warrant the establishment of the area as a self-supporting community but is of an appropriate size to consider a change of arrangements for it to become a separate community ward. This seemed to us to be a reasonable course of action contributing to effective and convenient local government and it remained to be decided if a new community ward of Flint Mountain would be better fitted with Flint Town Council or Northop Community Council. 5.4. A request was made to the Commission asking that consideration be given to changing the community warding arrangements so that the settlement of Flint Mountain would be moved from the Trelawny Ward of Flint Town Council. It was decided that a consultation should be held to canvass public opinion for this proposed change and to identify a preferred option for future arrangements. 5.5. We identified three possible future options which seem appropriate and which would reflect our obligation to ensure effective and convenient local government for community and town council arrangements. To ascertain the local preference it was decided to conduct a 12-week limited consultation in the area concerned to measure the level of support for either: Option A Flint Mountain is retained within the Trelawny ward of the Community of Flint (the existing arrangement); Option B Flint Mountain is created as a separate community ward of the Community of Flint; or, Option C Flint Mountain is transferred to the Community of Northop and created as a new community ward. Conclusion 5.6. In total 32 representations were made with regard to preferences for a proposed change for Flint Mountain and these representations are summarised in Appendix 1. Of those representations the following levels of preference were noted: OPTION A - 21 representations OPTION B - One representation OPTION C - Nine representations No preference - One representation - from a resident of Flint Mountain The overwhelming majority of these were clearly in favour of maintaining the current community electoral arrangements for the area of Flint Mountain. 5.7. It is concluded, therefore, that there is no change that needs to be made to current arrangements and so there will be no consequential changes to either the Flint Trelawny or Northop electoral wards. - 3 - Final Proposals 5.8. The final proposals for community boundary changes are described in detail in this section. For each new proposal the report sets out: The name(s) of the existing community areas which wholly or in part constitute the proposed amended or new community(ies); A brief description of the existing community arrangements in terms of the number of electors and warding arrangements (if applicable); Key arguments made during the Council’s deliberations and representations received by the Commission (if any). Although not all representations are mentioned in this section, all representations have been considered and a summary can be found at Appendix 1 The views of the Commission; The composition of the proposed community arrangements; and, A map of the area of change containing a red line to indicate the existing community boundaries, a blue line to indicate the proposed community boundaries and a hatched box indicating the area involved in the transfer between communities. COMMUNITY BOUNDARY CHANGES Halkyn and Mold 5.9. Flintshire County Council’s recommendation is for the boundary between the Communities of Halkyn and Mold to be realigned to transfer five properties from the east of Black Brook Lane in the Community Ward of Halkyn Mountain into the Community Ward of Mold East. It was believed that these properties had more affinity with Mold, and we have inspected the relevant maps and found that the proposed change affects five properties and nine electors. We are satisfied that the change will provide for effective and convenient local government. No other proposals were received from interested parties and no further objections to the proposed change were received by the Council. 5.10. The proposed change affects five properties and nine electors. The existing electorate within the Community of Mold is 7,662. The transfer of electors will increase Mold’s electorate to 7,671. The existing electorate within the Community of Halkyn is 2,335. The transfer of electors will decrease Halkyn’s electorate to 2,326. 5.11. This proposal would have minor consequential changes to the Mold East and Halkyn electoral wards. Mapping key Proposed Existing Community NAME Name Community Community ward Community Community ward Area to be transferred Boundary Boundary boundary Name Name from Halkyn to Mold - 4 - Halkyn and Mold HALKYN Halkyn Mountain MOLD Mold Mold East Mold West 0 0.2 kilometres Scale: 1:4,458 - 5 - (H) Hawlfraint y Goron a hawliau cronfa ddata [2015] Arolwg Ordnans [100047875] (C)Map Crown Key copyright and database rights [2015] Ordnance Survey [100047875] Pen-y-Ffordd and Broughton and Bretton 5.12. Flintshire County Council’s recommendation is for the boundary between the Communities of Pen-y-Ffordd and Broughton and Bretton to be realigned to transfer 27 properties from the west of Cherry Orchard Lane in the Community Ward of Pen- y-Ffordd into the Community Ward of Broughton and Bretton South.