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Final recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for East Dorset Report to the Electoral Commission April 2002 BOUNDARY COMMITTEE 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 Boundary Committee 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. Report Number: 276 2 BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND CONTENTS page WHAT IS THE BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND? 5 SUMMARY 7 1 INTRODUCTION 13 2 CURRENT ELECTORAL ARRANGEMENTS 15 3 DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS 19 4 RESPONSES TO CONSULTATION 21 5 ANALYSIS AND FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS 23 6 WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? 47 APPENDIX A Final Recommendations for East Dorset: 49 Detailed Mapping A large map illustrating the existing and proposed ward boundaries for Colehill, Ferndown, Verwood and Wimborne Minster is inserted inside the back cover of this report. BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND 3 4 BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND WHAT IS THE BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND? The Boundary Committee for England is a committee of the Electoral Commission, an independent body set up by Parliament under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. The functions of the Local Government Commission for England were transferred to the Electoral Commission and its Boundary Committee on 1 April 2002 by the Local Government Commission for England (Transfer of Functions) Order 2001 (SI 2001 No 3692). The Order also transferred to the Electoral Commission the functions of the Secretary of State in relation to taking decisions on recommendations for changes to local authority electoral arrangements and implementing them. Members of the Committee are: Pamela Gordon (Chair) Professor Michael Clarke CBE Kru Desai Robin Gray Archie Gall (Director) 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 and ward names. We can also recommend changes to the electoral arrangements of parish and town councils. This report sets out our final recommendations on the electoral arrangements for the district of East Dorset. BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND 5 6 BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND SUMMARY The Local Government Commission for England (LGCE) began a review of East Dorset’s electoral arrangements on 27 March 2001. It published its draft recommendations for electoral arrangements on 9 October 2001, after which it undertook an eight-week period of consultation. As a consequence of the transfer of functions referred to earlier, it falls to us, the Boundary Committee for England, to complete the work of the LGCE and submit final recommendations to the Electoral Commission. • This report summarises the representations received by the LGCE during consultation on its draft recommendations, and contains our final recommendations to the Electoral Commission. We found that the existing arrangements provide unequal representation of electors in East Dorset: • in 14 of the 23 wards the number of electors represented by each councillor varies by more than 10 per cent from the average for the district and eight wards vary by more than 20 per cent; • by 2006 this situation is not expected to improve, with the number of electors per councillor forecast to vary by more than 10 per cent from the average in 14 wards and by more than 20 per cent in eight wards. Our main final recommendations for future electoral arrangements (see Tables 1 and 2 and paragraphs 99-100) are that: • East Dorset District Council should have 36 councillors, the same as at present; • there should be 24 wards, instead of the current 23; • the boundaries of 22 of the existing wards should be modified, resulting in a net increase of one, and one ward should retain its existing boundary; • 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 21 of the proposed 24 wards the number of electors per councillor would vary by no more than 10 per cent from the district average. • This improved level of electoral equality is forecast to continue, with the number of electors per councillor in only one ward, Crane, expected to vary by more than 10 per cent from the average for the district in 2006. BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND 7 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 Alderholt, Colehill and Corfe Mullen; • revised warding arrangements and the redistribution of councillors for Ferndown, Verwood and Wimborne Minster town councils; • revised warding arrangements and the redistribution of councillors for the grouped parishes of Pamphill & Shapwick, Knowlton and Vale of Allen; All further correspondence on these final recommendations and the matters discussed in this report should be addressed to the Electoral Commission, which will not make an Order implementing them before 15 May 2002: The Secretary Electoral Commission Trevelyan House 30 Great Peter Street London SW1P 2HW 8 BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND Table 1: Final Recommendations: Summary Ward name Number of Constituent areas Map councillors reference part of Alderholt parish (the proposed Alderholt 1 Alderholt 1 Maps 2 & A2 South parish ward) part of Ferndown parish (the proposed Ameysford 2 Ameysford 1 Large map parish ward) part of Colehill parish (the proposed Colehill East 3 Colehill East 2 Large map parish ward) part of Colehill parish (the proposed Colehill West 4 Colehill West 1 parish ward); part of Wimborne Minster parish (the Large map proposed Cranfield parish ward) part of Corfe Mullen parish (the proposed Corfe 5 Corfe Mullen Central 2 Maps 2 & A3 Mullen Central parish ward) part of Corfe Mullen parish (the proposed Corfe 6 Corfe Mullen North 1 Maps 2 & A3 Mullen North parish ward) part of Corfe Mullen parish (the proposed Corfe 7 Corfe Mullen South 1 Maps 2 & A3 Mullen South parish ward) the parishes of Cranborne, Edmondsham, Wimborne 8 Crane 1 St Giles and Woodlands; part of Alderholt parish Map 2 (the proposed Alderholt North parish ward) part of Ferndown parish (the proposed Ferndown 9 Ferndown Central 2 Large map Central parish ward) part of Ferndown parish (the proposed Ferndown 10 Ferndown Links 2 Large map Links parish ward) the parishes of Gussage All Saints, Gussage St 11 Handley Vale 1 Michael, Long Crichel, Moor Crichel, Pentridge, Map 2 Sixpenny Handley and Witchampton the parishes of Chalbury, Holt, Hinton Martell and 12 Holt 1 Hinton Parva; part of Horton parish (the proposed Map 2 Horton West parish ward) part of Ferndown parish (the proposed Longham 13 Longham 1 Large map parish ward) the parish of West Parley; part of Ferndown parish 14 Parley 2 (the proposed Ferndown Links South and Longham Large map East parish wards) part of St Leonards & St Ives parish (St Leonards & St Leonards & St Ives 15 2 St Ives East and St Leonards & St Ives South parish Map 2 East wards) St Leonards & St Ives part of St Leonards & St Ives parish (St Leonards & 16 West 1 Map 2 St Ives West parish ward) part of Ferndown parish (the proposed Stapehill 17 Stapehill 1 Large map parish ward) the parishes of Shapwick and Sturminster Marshall; 18 Stour 1 part of Pamphill parish (the proposed Pamphill North Map 2 parish ward) part of Verwood parish (the proposed Three Cross & 19 Three Cross & Potterne 1 Large map Potterne parish ward) Verwood Stephen’s part of Verwood parish (the proposed Verwood 20 2 Large map Castle Stephen’s Castle parish ward) part of Verwood parish (the proposed Verwood 21 Verwood Dewlands 2 Dewlands parish ward); part of Horton parish (the Large map proposed Horton East parish ward) part of Verwood parish (the proposed Verwood 22 Verwood Newtown 1 Newtown parish ward) Large map BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND 9 Number of Constituent areas Map Ward name councillors reference the parish of West Moors (West Moors North and 23 West Moors 3 West Moors South parish wards) Map 2 part of Wimborne Minster parish (the proposed Wimborne Minster parish ward); part of Colehill 24 Wimborne Minster 3 parish (the proposed Lacy and Parmiter parish Large map wards); part of Pamphill parish (the proposed Pamphill South parish ward) Notes: 1 The whole district is parished. 2 The wards on the above table are illustrated on Map 2, Maps A1–A3 in Appendix A and on the large map at the back of this report. 10 BOUNDARY COMMITTEE FOR ENGLAND Table 2: Final Recommendations for East Dorset Ward name Number Electorate Number of Variance Electorate Number of Variance of (2001) electors per from (2006) electors per from councillors councillor average councillor average % % 1 Alderholt 1 2,136 2,136 10 2,228 2,228 9 2 Ameysford 1 2,124 2,124 10 2,138 2,138 5 3 Colehill East 2 3,887 1,944 0 3,944 1,972 -3 4 Colehill West 1 1,970 1,970 2 2,013 2,013 -1 5 Corfe Mullen Central 2 4,104 2,052 6 4,150 2,075 2 6 Corfe Mullen North 1 1,968 1,968