Draft recommendations on the new electoral arrangements for Cumbria County Council Electoral review October 2011 Translations and other formats For information on obtaining this publication in another language or in a large-print or Braille version please contact the Local Government Boundary Commission for England: Tel: 020 7664 8534 Email: [email protected] The mapping in this report is reproduced from OS mapping by the Local Government Boundary 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 100049926 2011 Contents Summary 1 1 Introduction 3 2 Analysis and draft recommendations 5 Submissions received 6 Electorate figures 6 Council size 6 Electoral fairness 7 General analysis 8 Electoral arrangements 9 Allerdale Borough 9 Barrow-in-Furness Borough 11 Carlisle City 12 Copeland Borough 13 Eden District 15 South Lakeland District 15 Conclusions 16 Parish electoral arrangements 16 3 What happens next? 21 4 Mapping 23 Appendices A Glossary and abbreviations 24 B Code of practice on written consultation 27 C Table C1: Draft recommendations for Cumbria County 28 Council Summary The Local Government Boundary Commission for England is an independent body that conducts electoral reviews of local authority areas. The broad purpose of an electoral review is to decide on the appropriate electoral arrangements – the number of councillors, and the names, number and boundaries of wards or divisions – for a specific local authority. We are conducting an electoral review of Cumbria County Council to provide improved levels of electoral equality across the authority. The review aims to ensure that the number of voters represented by each councillor is approximately the same. The Commission commenced the review in October 2010. This review is being conducted as follows: Stage Stage starts Description Council 12 October 2010 Submission of proposals for council size to the LGBCE Size One 29 March 2011 Submission of proposals of warding arrangements to the LGBCE Two 20 June 2011 LGBCE’s analysis and deliberation Three 25 October 2011 Publication of draft recommendations and consultation on them Four 17 January 2012 Analysis of submissions received and formulation of final recommendations Submissions received We received 37 submissions during its initial consultation on council size. During Stage One, we received 30 submissions, although these did not include any scheme which covered the whole of the county. The Liberal Democrat Group on the council provided some proposals for Carlisle, Eden and South Lakeland districts, but not for Barrow-in-Furness, Copeland or Allerdale. The Labour Party put forward limited proposals for the Barrow-in Furness, Allerdale and Copeland areas. The Commission also received localised evidence of community identity from parish councils and local residents. All submissions can be viewed on our website at www.lgbce.org.uk Analysis and draft recommendations Electorate figures Cumbria County Council has forecast an increase in electorate of 3% across the whole county, for the six-year period 2010-2016. We were not initially persuaded that the Council had sufficiently justified its electorate forecasts. In particular we noted that the Council had calculated a figure for electorate growth by district and simply provided a pro-rata figure for each constituent polling district. We considered it a significant risk that the forecasts would not take account of specific development sites within the county and queried the Council’s methodology but it said it stood by its original forecast methodology. While we remain concerned about the Council’s approach, on balance we are willing to accept these figures as the only forecast available at this time. However, we would welcome any further comments on this issue during the consultation phase. 1 Council size Cumbria County Council currently has a council size of 84 councillors. We received 37 submissions during our consultation on council size. The Council recommended the retention of 84 members, providing evidence of its geographic and socio-economic conditions. It also asserted that size, rurality, sparsity and deprivation levels present additional challenges to county councillors, adding to their workloads. Its proposal had cross party support. We also received representations on a council size of 65 from John Stevenson MP and Carlisle City Council and South Lakeland District Council. A number of other respondents also expressed support for a reduction in council size. Overall, we were not persuaded that there was sufficient rationale to justify any of the proposed council sizes. However, following further discussions with the political leadership of the Council, we obtained more detailed information relating to the roles and responsibilities of elected members. In light of this, we propose the retention of a council size of 84 for Cumbria County Council. General analysis In the absence of an authority-wide scheme and substantive evidence in many parts of the county, the Commission has been obliged to develop proposals based primarily on the need to achieve good levels of electoral equality. This has been balanced against evidence of community identity where such localised submissions have been received. Our draft recommendations provide for 84 single-member divisions. In each district, where possible we have sought to reflect communication links, geographic factors and evidence of community identity received during Stage One. Given the absence of substantial evidence so far about appropriate boundaries, based on our statutory criteria, we are especially keen to receive evidence during the consultation period which will helps us to determine our final scheme. What happens next? There will now be a consultation period, during which time we encourage comment on the draft recommendations for the proposed electoral arrangements for Cumbria County Council contained in the report. We take this consultation very seriously and it is therefore important that all those interested in the review should let us have their views and evidence, whether or not they agree with these draft proposals. We will take into account all submissions received by 16 January 2012. Any received after this date may not be taken into account. We would particularly welcome local views backed up by demonstrable evidence. We will consider all the evidence submitted to us during the consultation period before preparing our final recommendations. Express your views by writing directly to us at: Review Officer Cumbria Review The Local Government Boundary Commission for England Layden House 76–86 Turnmill Street London EC1M 5LG [email protected] The full report is available to download at www.lgbce.org.uk 2 1 Introduction 1 The Local Government Boundary Commission for England is an independent body that conducts electoral reviews of local authority areas. This electoral review is being conducted following our decision to review Cumbria County Council’s electoral arrangements, to ensure that the number of voters represented by each councillor is approximately the same across the authority. 2 We wrote to Cumbria County Council as well as other interested parties inviting the submission of proposals first on the council size and, subsequently, on division arrangements for the Council. The submissions received during these stages of the review have informed our draft recommendations. 3 We are now conducting a full public consultation on the draft recommendations. Following this period of consultation, we will consider the evidence received and will publish our final recommendations for the new electoral arrangements for Cumbria County Council in the spring of 2012. What is an electoral review? 4 The main aim of an electoral review is to try to ensure ‘electoral equality’, which means that all councillors in a single authority represent approximately the same number of electors. Our objective is to make recommendations that will improve electoral equality, while also trying to reflect communities in the area and provide for effective and convenient local government. 5 Our three main considerations – equalising the number of electors each councillor represents; reflecting community identity; and providing for effective and 1 convenient local government – are set out in legislation and our task is to strike the best balance between them when making our recommendations. Our powers, as well as the guidance we have provided for electoral reviews and further information on the review process, can be found on our website at www.lgbce.org.uk Why are we conducting a review in Cumbria? 6 We decided to conduct this review because, based on the December 2009 electorate figures, more than 30% of the divisions have electoral variances of over 10% from the average for the county. In addition, one division, Dalston & Cummersdale varies by 33% from the average for the county. How will the recommendations affect you? 7 The recommendations will determine how many councillors will serve on the County Council. They will also decide which division in which you vote in, which other communities are in that division and, in some instances, which parish or town council wards you vote in. Your division name may change, as may the names of parish or town council wards in the area. If you live in a parish, the name or boundaries of that parish will not change. 1 Schedule 2 to the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. 3 8 It is therefore important that you let us have your comments and views on the draft recommendations. We encourage comments from everyone in the community, regardless of whether you agree with the draft recommendations or not. The draft recommendations are evidence based and we therefore stress the importance of providing evidence in any comments on our recommendations, rather than relying on assertion. We will accept comments and views until 16 January 2012. After this point, we will be formulating our final recommendations which we are due to publish in spring of 2012.