Local resident’s submissions to the Middlesbrough Borough Council electoral review. This PDF document contains 35 submissions from local residents. Some versions of Adobe allow the viewer to move quickly between bookmarks. Click on the submission you would like to view. If you are not taken to that page, please scroll through the document. Gregory, Eleanor From: anitacanderson Sent: 12 February 2013 22:46 To: Pascoe, Mark Subject: Marton West Boundary change proposals Dear Mr. Pascoe I understand that you're the right person to approach with my concerns about the proposal to make the council tax payers at the southern edge of Middlesbrough suffer in the current round of boundary changes. I was shocked to hear that the intention is to combine the disparate areas of Coulby Newham, Marton & Nunthorpe. Whilst you could say there are many similarities between Marton & Nunthorpe, there are major road boundaries between the areas, so it could be dangerous to try to encourage residents to create connections. I'm not sure what your background is, nor whether you're aware of the strength of community feeling that exists in Marton West ward? Residents are hopeful that we may even benefit from cheaper energy prices if the community negotiates successfully. How councillors are supposed to adequately represent such a vast and varied population/property bank, I really can't imagine! In my experience, local councillors are hard-working volunteers who are dedicated to their local area & have sufficient political awareness to ensure they can represent people within the halls of power. They receive very little in the way of expenses or payment for their services. Of course, councillors vary in their dedication but my experience has been positive in this area. You only have to look at the success of the Northumbria in Bloom entries over recent years & the on-going fight to save the vital resource at Longridge Wood to see the power of community feeling & enterprise. As mentioned earlier, that enterprise may even make it more affordable to heat our homes, which is a very attractive thought! Since moving back to this area we've been very fortunate in having excellent local councillors, I'm embarrassed to admit that I've forgotten the name of the councillor who died around 7 years ago, he worked with Chris Hobson, who now works with her husband. This current team, Chris & John Hobson are amazingly patient & caring in their approach to every concern you may express. For example, during the recent snow and ice, we were trapped in the bungalow & the council were unmoved by our circumstances. The Hobson's were concerned enough to arrive on our doorstep on 25th January, equipped to remove snow and ice from the pathway at the foot of our drive & apply sand to the road, spending well over an hour on a very cold day. This meant that we were soon able to leave the bungalow for the first time in over 2 weeks, which was a huge relief; although we were mortified that the Hobson's had to undertake such hard physical work on our behalf. I do hope you and your colleagues will be willing to take the views of council tax payers into account when planning any boundary changes. If such changes are necessary, I feel sure there are areas of Middlesbrough which are better suited to be successfully combined. With regards Anita Anderson 1 Alfred Beaumont Member of the public 12/02/2013 12:51 At present the Kader Ward is a thriving local community and the boundaries of the Kader Ward in my opinion should be left as at present and should not be absorbed into a new ward at present our ward reflects the interests and identities of the local communities and does not want to nbe part of a larger Ward Anthony Bennett Member of the public 25/01/2013 17:12 "We were informed today, by Councillor Chris Hobson, that there is a proposal to change the Boundaries of Coulby Hewham, Nunthorpe and Marton West to reduce the number of Councillors by two. The Councillors concerned are John & Chris Hobson who represent the Conservative Party. To date we, as a community, have not received any information from the local council, or anybody else for that matter regarding the changes, therefore we are not in a position to make any comments. Surely the council is required to inform the electorate regarding any significant changes, such as this, otherwise we are denied our right to participate in a democratic manner. Very few people, we would imagine, routinely visit the council website to keep abreast of local developments such as this extremely important one. Would you kindly confirm where we can obtain the relevant information regarding the proposed new boundaries and how it will affect the way we are represented by our Councillors. If we were to be given a choice then we would prefer to be represented in Nunthorpe Ward rather than Coulby Newham as Nunthorpe is our main focal point e.g. doctors, post office, hairdressers etc. May we conclude by saying that in our experience Councillors John & Chris Hobson carry out their roles with a high degree of commitment and involvement in the community and deserve to remain as representatives of their local community. Tony & Carole Bennett Member of the public 25/01/2013 18:47 "We are very concerned about these boundry changes to our area. At the moment we are in the Marton West Ward which, we understand, is to be divided up into Nunthorpe, Marton and Coulby Newham wards. The area of Marton West in which we live is literally ""over the road"" from Nunthorpe. We attend St. Mary's Church in Nunthorpe, our doctors are in Nunthorpe as are our hair dresssers, post office etc. To my husband and I a transfer into Nunthorpe Ward would be much better than into any other ward. We never visit Marton shops nor do we shop very often at Coulby Newham, prefering the small shops at Stokesley and Asda in Stockton. Though it seems that we are too late to comment on the number of councillors needed for Middlesbrough we are sure that 46 will still be far too many for the area and the much lower figures suggested by some members of the public and councillors who are not linked to the Labour party would have been better. As they have commented the council is no longer responsible for housing, care homes, children's homes etc so why does Mayor Mallon still want so many lackys, just to jump to his bidding. He is the one who has ruined Middlesbrough. Regards Tony & Carole Bennett" Pamela Braithwaite Ayresome Community Council Member of the public 28/01/2013 22:55 We have lived in the area for over 35 years and my family has been involved with the Ayresome Community Council for a long time we would no longer feel part of this community these proposed unneccessary changes will spread our long estabilished community in all directions, in some cases miles from where we live and away from the very few facilities we have.It seems these proposals have been made without any consideration for the residents involved. Our local councillor will now have to choose from three separate wards to represent should these changes go ahead. At present all parts of Ayresome Ward can be accessed without having to cross any main roads the new proposals will as stated earlier take us far away from our present base. Gregory, Eleanor From: Ray Brown Sent: 29 January 2013 22:48 To: Pascoe, Mark Subject: Local Government Boundary Review: Middlesbrough Council Ward Boundaries Dear Mr Pascoe I have viewed suggestions being made by the Middlesbrough Council, as it affects the current Marton West Ward (part TS7 & part TS8) and I wish to lodge a strong objection to the proposal. Currently the Marton West Ward covers a quite distinct geographical area, which essentially is the whole of the western side of Marton! The Ward has definition and is contained within an area bounded by the A174 in the north, the A172 in the east, Brass Castle Lane to the south and Marton West Beck/Longridge Wood/ Fairy Dell, to the west. However, the Council is, I believe, proposing a change which will result in my particular part of Marton (Astbury and other developments to the west of Turnberry Way) being annexed to the Coulby Farm Ward! Please note that the community of Coulby Newham is a completely different area and is geographically separate from Marton. I fear that we will become unrepresented and ignored by whoever the Coulby Farm Councillor happens to be! It makes no sense to extend the Coulby Farm Ward across the open area which is adjacent to Marton West Beck. In addition, it is proposed that the new ward extends to the east of Stokesley Road (A172). Whilst this main commuter artery into Middlesbrough is hardly the M1, it nevertheless is a very busy road and would effectively cut the proposed new Ward in two! Marton West is a community in itself, with its own Community Council and has historic and ongoing initiatives which bind the residents together. For many years, successful participation in Northumbria in Bloom has been a popular feature and the decade long fight to try to save Longridge Wood has brought the community together, for one common purpose. The development of the play area in Bonneygrove Park also came about, principally because of the community drive which carried the project along when it appeared to be floundering.