Page 3 Agenda Item 3 Boundary Commission for England Review of Ward Boundary Arrangements in Sutton Sutton Council Proposal Agenda Item 3 Page 4 Ward Boundary Review for Sutton - Council Proposal Purpose 3 Reviewing the boundaries 3 Borough Profile 5 Proposed New Ward Arrangements 8 Electorate Change - 2018-2025 8 Proposal in summary 8 Proposal by Ward 11 Worcester Park 11 Nonsuch 11 Stonecot 12 New Ward - North Cheam 12 Cheam 12 Sutton North 13 New Ward - East Cheam 13 Sutton West 13 Sutton Central 14 Belmont 15 St Helier 15 New Ward - St Helier East 16 Wandle Valley 16 Carshalton Central 17 Carshalton South and Clockhouse 17 Wallington North 18 Wallington South 18 Beddington North 18 Beddington South 19 Appendix 1 - Maps of Ward Proposals 20 2 Page 5 Agenda Item 3 Ward Boundary Review for Sutton - Council Proposal Purpose As part of their ongoing review of Electoral Arrangements in Sutton, the Boundary Commission for England (BCE) are undertaking a review of Sutton’s ward boundaries. The first stage of the review was to establish the number of Councillors that Sutton requires in the future. The Council currently has 54 councillors, with three councillors representing each of the 18 wards. Those councillors are all elected at the same time, every four years. The Commission is minded to recommend no change, and that 54 councillors should be elected to Sutton Council. However, the Commission’s guidance makes clear that Council size should be regarded as provisional until the Commission have made their final recommendations for warding arrangements. Between 25 June and 30 September 2019, the Commission invited proposals from the public about where ward boundaries for Sutton’s 54 councillors should be drawn and what areas and communities will make up their wards. The Commission will then publish its draft recommendations in January 2020 and open a further phase of consultation with local people. New wards are scheduled to come into effect at the 2022 council elections. The purpose of this report is to present Sutton Council’s proposal for new ward arrangements. Reviewing the boundaries Following the BCE’s previous review in 2000, Sutton’s ward boundaries have been in place since the 2002 elections. This current review enables the Council to reflect on the extent to which the Borough has changed since the review, and how ward boundaries may need to change to achieve electoral equality for Sutton in the future and reflect changes in the Borough’s community. When reviewing proposals for new ward boundaries the Commission applies three criteria: ● The pattern of wards should mean that each councillor represents roughly the same number of voters as elected members elsewhere in the authority to secure equality of representation ● As far as is possible, ward patterns should reflect community interests and identities, and boundaries should be recognisable to local residents ● Electoral arrangements should promote effective and convenient local government and reflect the electoral cycle of the council In developing the Council’s proposal, officers from Electoral Services and Planning considered electorate population data projected to 2025. Using mapping software specifically designed to review electoral district boundaries, officers tested a range of options for ward boundary change against the BCE criteria. Although improving Sutton’s electoral equality was a key factor in developing the Council’s proposal, officers also took into account issues and suggestions raised by Members in a ward boundary survey (July 2019) and a Member workload survey (April 2019). These surveys covered a range of issues, such as the appropriateness of ward names, community interest and representation, local area identity, communications, facilities and variations in Member caseloads. The views of Elected Members on changing from the present three-member ward pattern to address over and 3 Agenda Item 3 Page 6 Ward Boundary Review for Sutton - Council Proposal under representation have been acknowledged and the development of the proposal also corrects some historic drafting errors around ward boundaries. Additionally, the proposal follows key principles agreed by a cross-party working group of Members and endorsed by feedback from the Member surveys. These are as follows: ● Members welcome the flexibility that two-member wards could bring but are cautious about reducing to single member wards because of resilience. ● Little appetite from Members for substantial change from the existing pattern of wards. ● Where possible, boundaries should reflect settled communities and make sense to residents. ● Any proposed arrangements need to be robust and flexible enough to deal with increases in the electorate in the future arising from new developments. After officers had taken all of these factors into consideration, they sought the views of Members on an initial proposal during August 2019, revising this in light of Member feedback to create the Council’s final proposal. There were 10 responses to the consultation from members, including two group responses. 4 Page 7 Agenda Item 3 Ward Boundary Review for Sutton - Council Proposal Borough Profile Location The London Borough of Sutton is one of the southern most boroughs of London. It is south of the London Borough of Merton, west of the London Borough of Croydon and east of the Royal Borough of Kingston Upon Thames. It covers an area of 43 km2 (17 sq mi) and is the 80th largest Borough in England by population. Sutton is the principal town. Situated in Transport for London’s Zone 5, the Borough of Sutton is less than 30 minutes by train from central London. South and south west London are easily accessible by public transport. There are 10 train stations which serve key neighbourhoods within the borough providing direct connections to London Victoria, London Bridge, London Blackfriars and St Pancras International. Sutton also has direct rail connections with Epsom, Dorking, Guildford and Horsham, as well as Wimbledon for an interchange with the London Underground and West Croydon for the London Overground. Gatwick and Heathrow airports can be reached easily within 30 and 60 minutes, respectively, and an extensive road network provides close and easy access to the M25 and M23. Administration The Borough is administered by Sutton Borough Council. Created by the London Government Act 1963, Sutton Borough Council replaced three local authorities: Beddington and Wallington Borough Council, Sutton and Cheam Borough Council and Carshalton Urban District Council. There are 18 Sutton wards with 3 Councillors per ward giving a total of 54 Councillors who serve a four year term. Since the most recent local elections in May 2018, the Borough is currently a Liberal Democrat run administration. The political composition is 33 Liberal Democrats, 18 Conservatives and 3 Sutton Independent Residents. The local authority covers two parliamentary constituencies: Carshalton and Wallington and Sutton and Cheam. Both constituencies are entirely within the administrative boundary of the Borough of Sutton. Employment and business growth Between 2010 and 2016, the number of employee jobs in LB Sutton increased by 7,000 (+10.6%) from a total of 66,000 in 2010 to 73,000 in 2016, however, the number of employee jobs fell to around 71,000 in 2017. As of 2017, there were 63,300 employee jobs in services, 6,000 in construction and 1,750 in manufacturing. The number of active businesses in LB Sutton has increased by 3.7% over the last year from 9,225 in 2016 to 9,570 in 2017. The proportion of new enterprises surviving after 1 year increased from 92.9% in 2015 to 94.2% in 2016. The number of out of work benefit claimants as a percentage of Sutton’s working age population (aged 16-64) has increased by +0.4% over the last year from 2.1% in April 2017 to 2.5% in April 2018. 5 Agenda Item 3 Page 8 Ward Boundary Review for Sutton - Council Proposal Social Deprivation According to the government’s Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD 2019), Sutton’s overall social deprivation ranking has improved since 2015, relative to other local authorities in England. Sutton is now ranked within the 8th least deprived decile (having previously been within the 7th) in the country. Sutton is the 4th least deprived borough in London behind Richmond, Kingston and Bromley. However, this masks significant variation in deprivation across the borough, with a number of communities (parts of St Helier, Beddington South and Wandle Valley) experiencing high levels of deprivation (i.e. living in the 30% most deprived areas in the country), and one community (in Beddington South) ranked within the 10% most deprived in the country. Current Population Sutton’s resident population was 203,627 on 30 June 2017 (GLA’s 2017 based population estimates). Sutton’s resident population has increased by 19,069 (+10.4%) over the previous 10-year period since 2007 and by 13,143 (+6.9%) compared to the 2011 Census figure of 190,100. Births increased sharply from 2,009 in 2001-02 to reach a peak of 2,835 in 2011-12 before falling slightly to 2,767 by 2016-17. Net migration to Sutton from other parts of the UK and overseas has fallen sharply from a peak of +1,133 in 2012-13 to only +7 in 2016-17. Projected population - 2018-2028 GLA (2017 housing led estimates) population data projects that Sutton’s overall population will grow by 13,793 additional residents between 2018 and 2028 from 207,378 to 221,171. Much of the 6.7% overall growth is likely to be in the Sutton Central, Sutton North and Wandle Valley wards, and will be largely attributable to residential development in these areas. Section 4 of this report describes the implications of planned development for the size of the electorate and electoral equality.