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Draft recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Ashford in Kent October 2000 LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND The Local Government Commission for England is an independent body set up by Parliament. Our task is to review and make recommendations to the Government on whether there should be changes to local authorities’ electoral arrangements. Members of the Commission are: Professor Malcolm Grant (Chairman) Professor Michael Clarke CBE (Deputy Chairman) Peter Brokenshire Kru Desai Pamela Gordon Robin Gray Robert Hughes CBE Barbara Stephens (Chief Executive) We are statutorily required to review periodically the electoral arrangements – such as the number of councillors representing electors in each area and the number and boundaries of wards and electoral divisions – of every principal local authority in England. In broad terms our objective 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, and the number of councillors and ward names. We can also make recommendations for change to the electoral arrangements of parish and town councils in the borough. © Crown Copyright 2000 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 Local Government 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 03114G. This report is printed on recycled paper. ii LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND CONTENTS page SUMMARY v 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 CURRENT ELECTORAL ARRANGEMENTS 5 3 REPRESENTATIONS RECEIVED 9 4 ANALYSIS AND DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS 11 5 NEXT STEPS 29 APPENDICES A Draft Recommendations for Ashford: Detailed Mapping 31 B Ashford Liberal Democrats’ Proposed Electoral Arrangements 35 C The Statutory Provisions 39 A large map illustrating the existing and proposed ward boundaries for Ashford town is inserted inside the back cover of the report. LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND iii iv LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND SUMMARY The Commission began a review of the electoral arrangements for Ashford on 9 May 2000. • This report summarises the representations we received during the first stage of the review, and makes draft recommendations for change. We found that the existing electoral arrangements provide unequal representation of electors in Ashford: • in 34 of the 45 wards the number of electors represented by each councillor varies by more than 10 per cent from the average for the borough, and 23 wards vary by more than 20 per cent from the average; • by 2005 this unequal representation 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 38 wards and by more than 20 per cent in 29 wards. Our main draft recommendations for future electoral arrangements (Figures 1 and 2 and paragraphs 97-98) are that: • Ashford Borough Council should have 43 councillors, six fewer than at present; • there should be 34 wards, instead of 45 as at present; • the boundaries of 42 of the existing wards should be modified, resulting in a net reduction of 11, and three wards should retain their existing boundaries; • elections should continue to take place every four years. These draft recommendations seek to ensure that the number of electors represented by each borough councillor is as nearly as possible the same, having regard to local circumstances. • In 14 of the proposed 34 wards the number of electors per councillor would vary by no more than 10 per cent from the borough average. • This improved level of electoral equality is expected to improve further, with the number of electors per councillor in all 34 wards expected to vary by no more than 10 per cent from the average for the borough in 2005. LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND v 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 Great Chart with Singleton, Kingsnorth, Sevington, Stanhope and Tenterden. This report sets out our draft recommendations on which comments are invited. • We will consult on our draft recommendations for eight weeks from 17 October 2000. Because we take this consultation very seriously, we may move away from our draft recommendations in the light of Stage Three responses. It is therefore important that all interested parties let us have their views and evidence, whether or not they agree with our draft recommendations. • After considering local views, we will decide whether to modify our draft recommendations and then make our final recommendations to the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions. • It will then be for the Secretary of State to accept, modify or reject our final recommendations. He will also determine when any changes come into effect. You should express your views by writing directly to the Commission at the address below by 11 December 2000: Review Manager Ashford Review Local Government Commission for England Dolphyn Court 10/11 Great Turnstile London WC1V 7JU Fax: 020 7404 6142 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.lgce.gov.uk vi LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND Figure 1: The Commission’s Draft Recommendations: Summary Ward name Number of Constituent areas Map councillors reference 1 Beaver 2 Ashford Brookfield ward (part); Ashford Hampden Map 2 and ward (part); Ashford Musgrove ward (part); Ashford large map Singleton ward (part); Ashford Woolreeds ward 2 Biddenden 1 Unchanged (Biddenham parish) Map 2 3 Bockhanger 1 Ashford Bockhanger ward (part); Ashford Warren Map 2 and ward (part) large map 4 Boughton Aluph 1 Ashford Kennington Lees ward (part); Boughton Map 2 and & Eastwell Aluph ward (part - the parishes of Boughton Aluph large map and Eastwell) 5 Bybrook 1 Ashford Bockhanger ward (part); Ashford Bybrook Map 2 and ward (part); Ashford Henwood ward (part); Ashford large map Queens ward (part); Ashford Warren ward (part) 6 Central 2 Ashford Central ward (part); Ashford Eastmead Map 2 and ward (part); Ashford Musgrove ward (part); Ashford large map Victoria Park ward (part) 7 Charing 1 Charing ward (part - proposed Charing parish ward Map 2 and of Charing parish) map A3 8 Downs South 1 Boughton Aluph ward (part - Molash parish); Map 2 Chilham ward 9 Downs West 1 Ashford Bockhanger (part); Boughton Aluph ward Map 2 and (part - Challock parish); Hothfield ward large map 10 Eastmead 1 Ashford Eastmead ward (part); Ashford Hampden Map 2 and ward (part) large map 11 Godinton 2 Ashford Central ward (part); Ashford Queens ward Map 2 and (part) large map 12 Great Chart & 2 Great Chart ward (part - the proposed Great Chart Map 2 and Singleton parish ward of Great Chart with Singleton parish); large map Singleton ward (part) 13 Highfield 1 Ashford Willesborough Lees ward (part); Mersham Map 2 and ward (part - proposed North parish ward of large map Sevington parish) 14 Isle of Oxney 1 Appledore ward (the parishes of Kenardington and Map 2 Appledore); Wittersham ward (the parishes of Stone-cum-Ebony and Wittersham) 15 Kennington 1 Ashford Bockhanger ward (part); Ashford Bybrook Map 2 and ward (part); Kennington Lees ward (part); Ashford large map Spearpoint ward (part); Ashford Warren ward (part) 16 Little Burton Farm 1 Ashford Spearpoint ward (part) Map 2 and large map LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND vii Ward name Number of Constituent areas Map councillors reference 17 Newtown 1 Ashford South Willesborough ward (part); Ashford Map 2 and North Willesborough ward (part); Ashford Twelve large map Acres ward 18 North 2 Ashford Waterside ward (part); Ashford Map 2 and Willesborough Willesborough Lees ward; Ashford Windmill ward large map 19 Park Farm North 1 Kingsnorth ward (part - proposed Park Farm North Map 2 and parish ward of Kingsnorth parish) large map 20 Park Farm South 1 Kingsnorth ward (part - proposed Park Farm South Map 2 and parish ward of Kingsnorth parish) large map 21 Queens 2 Ashford Queens ward (part); Ashford Henwood Map 2 and ward (part); Ashford Warren ward (part) large map 22 Rolvenden & 1 Rolvenden ward (the parishes of Newenden and Map 2 and Tenterden West Rolvenden); Tenterden South East ward (part - part map A2 of Tenterden South East parish ward of Tenterden parish); Tenterden West ward (part - part of Tenterden West parish ward of Tenterden parish) 23 Saxon Shore 2 Aldington ward (the parishes of Aldington, Map 2 Bilsington and Bonnington); Brabourne ward (the parishes of Brabourne and Brook); Hamstreet ward (part - Ruckinge parish); Mersham ward (part - Smeeth parish) 24 South 1 Ashford South Willesborough ward (part); Ashford Map 2 and Willesborough Twelve Acres ward (part); Ashford Willesborough large map Lees ward (part) 25 St Michaels 1 Unchanged (St Michaels ward) Map 2 and Map A2 26 Stanhope 1 Ashford Stanhope (part) Map 2 and large map 27 Tenterden North 1 Tenterden East ward (part); Tenterden West ward Map 2 and (part) large map 28 Tenterden South 1 Tenterden South East ward (part - part of Tenterden Map 2 and South East parish ward of Tenterden parish) map A2 29 Washford 1 Great Chart ward (part - Chilmington Green parish Map 2 and ward of