Cheshire West and Chester Liberal Democrats
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Cheshire West and Chester Liberal Democrats Cheshire West and Chester Borough Council Ward Review 2017 Submission to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England 1. Background Following the decision to create Cheshire West and Chester Council Borough Council (CWAC) in 2008, the initial elections in that year were held on the simple expediency of electing three councillors per existing Cheshire County Council division. After that the LGBCE initiated an Electoral Review, which resulted in the redrawing of ward boundaries and the creation of single, double and triple member wards to reflect local conditions. These new wards came into effect from the May 2011 elections, and many of the then Liberal Democrat proposals for single member wards were adopted, particularly in the second review stage after the Commission's draft proposals were published. 2. Single versus Multi Member Wards The objective in this review submission is to create, what we believe, to be the fairest method for local people and their communities to be represented by elected councillors with CWAC, given that the area covered by the Council is very diverse from a large cathedral town to the smallest rural hamlet and many variations between. Our observations of the workings of single and multi-member wards in the past six years have found that there are advantages and disadvantages to both levels of representation. It is claimed if, say, a single member ward Councillor, for instance, was ill or away on holiday when a major issue arose in their ward then the ward constituents could potentially lose out. However, to our knowledge this situation has not arisen, with any loss of appropriate representation, across CWAC since the council was created ten years ago. But we have noticed that multi member ward councillors, quite naturally, tend to split the ward up between themselves. Attending Parish Council meetings, residents groups, etc, just in their "patch", leaving the rest of the ward to their colleague. When one councillor is unavailable for a period of time, their colleague has often not stepped in to “fill the gap”. This can be a particular problem in rural areas with numerous Parish Councils. However there are a few urban areas where splitting a large community into multiple wards can work against effective community representation, such that in a number of cases we believe multi member wards would be in the better interests of residents. From the above we have proposed that although the majority of CWAC wards should be single member wards, there are exceptions and a number of multi member wards have been included in our proposals. 3. Size of Council The LGBCE have proposed that there should be a reduction in the number of councillors from 75 to Page 1 of 7 about 69, with a small margin either way. Given that the Commission also require that the variation in electorate shall not exceed +/- 10%, unless there are very good grounds to exceed those limits, we are proposing that there should be a council size of 73 councillors. We have differed from the Commission's figure of 69 because we believe that the quality of electoral representation to the communities of the CWAC area will be better served by this number of councillors. This is due to the difficulty in converging the necessary electoral size of wards for a 69 council seat, with the electorate for many of the communities with CWAC, without the undue complexity of splitting established communities and parishes to obtain electoral balance. 4. Ward Proposals Our full ward proposals are included in the attached spreadsheet (based on that issued by LGBCE for the purposes of this review). The individual reasoning for each ward are briefly detailed below, in alphabetical order. Average 2023 Electorate Total Number of Cllrs: 73 per Cllr: 3862 Ward Name of new ward Number Electorate Variance Electorate 2023 Variance No. of cllrs 2016 2016 2023 Electorate from per ward per Cllr 2023 Average per Cllr 1 Barnton 1 4275 11.4% 4321 4321 11.9% Barnton is a large former industrial village to the north east of Northwich, mostly surrounded by much smaller villages and hamlets, it has its own identity and characteristics different from nearby communities. Therefore despite the slight level of under-representation, we believe that the community of Barnton is best represented as a single member ward, apart from the surrounding rural areas. 2 Blacon 3 10307 -10.5% 10261 3420 -11.4% The suburb of Chester, Blacon, is large post war development of mostly social housing, with areas of private development. Any breaking up of Blacon into smaller units would be arbitrary thus it is felt better to leave the area as one ward. Although undersize electorally for a three member ward, it would be difficult to add any other nearby area to Blacon, as they are a very different community. 3 Boughton 1 3934 2.5% 4300 4300 11.4% On the eastern outskirts of Chester city centre, the Boughton area is a mixed area of housing along the A51, this has been a long established warding and we believe the local residents will be best served by continuing this arrangement. 4 Boughton Heath 1 3742 -2.5% 3717 3717 -3.7% Boughton Heath, an area bounded by major roads and railway lines on the eastern edge of Chester, is a cohesive area of traditional and more modern housing, until reorganisation was it’s own ward, and we consider that the best option would be to create a single member ward on this boundary. 5 Castle 1 3945 2.8% 4071 4071 5.4% Castle ward, in Northwich, to the west of the River Weaver, contains a mix of 19th terrace, 20th century and social housing, very much based on housing those employed in the chemical Page 2 of 7 industries that made Northwich. There is a strong community feeling to much of this ward and ideal to be created in its own right. 6 Chester City 1 3193 -16.8% 3546 3546 -8.2% An obvious ward, taking in the city within the walls and some areas immediately beyond, bounded on two sides by the River Dee. There are many small communities within the ward and being commonly represented would be the best solution. 7 Christleton & Waverton 1 3815 -0.6% 3842 3842 -0.5% We argued strongly for this ward to be created in 2010, but was merged with Mickle Trafford to form a anonymous ward called “Chester Villages”, again we believe that Christleton and Waverton form a better, more focused single member ward, its interests being better looked after. 8 Cuddington and Delamere 2 6925 -9.8% 7661 3831 -0.8% The large satellite outer suburb of Northwich of Cuddington (including Sandiway and Delamere Park) has a strong identity, too large for a single member ward and too small for a two member ward. Therefore by adding the adjacent Delamere parish electoral balance is maintained. This ward in the past (pre 2010) always had part of the current Delamere parish as part of the ward, restoring a traditional ward link. 9 Davenham and Moulton 2 6606 -13.9% 7342 3671 -4.9% The existing Davenham and Moulton ward has grown too large to be retained as a three member ward, and the areas to the north of the A556 Northwich bypass have been split into two separate wards as below. But the remaining Davenham and Moulton again is too small as a two member ward and not easily split, by adding the parishes to the east (formerly in the Shakerley ward) an electorally balanced ward can be created. Although this new ward does cover a large area, the parishes included do have commonality and would be fairly represented by two members. 10 Dodleston and Huntington 1 3895 1.5% 4628 4628 19.8% In all fairness this was the hardest existing ward to decide upon, the electoral numbers are rather high due to new and planned development, this has been minimised by the transfer of a polling district to Westminster Park, but otherwise we are keeping the distinctive Doddleston area of small villages together, plus the suburb Huntington. 11 Ellesmere Port Town 1 3312 -13.7% 3930 3930 1.8% We have kept most of this ward intact, but removed one polling district to retain electoral balance. Otherwise the central area of Ellesmere Port, as befits the title. 12 Elton 1 3752 -2.2% 3837 3837 -0.6% In order to maintain balance a small area to the west of the existing ward has been added in to the new ward, otherwise part of the rural area of Elton and smaller villages to the south east of Ellesmere Port. 13 Farndon 1 3326 -13.3% 3612 3612 -6.5% Farndon ward represents the rural villages to the south of Chester, bounded by the Welsh border to the west, the electoral balance is reasonably good, some growth in the future, and the area has a history of wards boundaries roughly as they are now, so we think this ward should stay the same. 14 Frodsham North 1 3823 -0.4% 3809 3809 -1.4% Although Frodsham is currently a two member ward for the whole town, there are subtle differences between the north and the south of the town, which we think would be better served if the town was split into two single member wards. Frodsham North is the newer part of town with much post war development and hence tends to be the location for younger families, etc. 15 Frodsham South 1 3606 -6.0% 3686 3686 -4.5% Frodsham South, following on from the above comments, including the older part of town, more established and therefore better served if a single member ward on its own.