Final Recommendations on the Future Electoral Arrangements for North Yorkshire County Council
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Final recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for North Yorkshire County Council Report to The Electoral Commission October 2004 Translations and other formats For information on obtaining this publication in another language or in a large-print or Braille version please contact The Boundary Committee for England: Tel: 020 7271 0500 Email: [email protected] The mapping in this report is reproduced from OS mapping by The Electoral Commission 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. Report no: 385 2 Contents Page What is The Boundary Committee for England? 5 Summary 7 1 Introduction 23 2 Current electoral arrangements 27 3 Draft recommendation 37 4 Responses to consultation 39 5 Analysis and final recommendations 41 6 What happens next? 81 Appendix A Final recommendations for North Yorkshire: Detailed mapping 83 3 4 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 No. 3962). 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 Robin Gray Joan Jones CBE Ann M. Kelly Professor Colin Mellors 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 the number of councillors elected to the council, division boundaries and division names. This report sets out the Committee’s final recommendations on the electoral arrangements for the county of North Yorkshire. 5 6 Summary We began a review of North Yorkshire County Council’s electoral arrangements on 30 April 2002. We first published our draft recommendations for electoral arrangements on 28 May 2003. The review was then halted in June 2003 after The Boundary Committee began a review of local government structures for Yorkshire and The Humber. The draft recommendations were re-issued on 2 June 2004, after which we undertook a further period of consultation. • This report summarises the representations we received during consultation on our draft recommendations, and contains our final recommendations to The Electoral Commission. We found that the existing arrangements provide unequal representation of electors in North Yorkshire: • In 40 of the 74 divisions, each of which are currently represented by a single councillor, the number of electors per councillor varies by more than 10% from the average for the county and 24 divisions vary by more than 20%. • By 2006 this situation is expected to worsen, with the number of electors per councillor forecast to vary by more than 10% from the average in 43 divisions and by more than 20% in 23 divisions. Our main final recommendations for North Yorkshire County Council’s future electoral arrangements (see Tables 1 and 2 and paragraphs 197 – 198) are: • North Yorkshire County Council should have 72 councillors, two fewer than at present, representing 68 divisions. • As the divisions are based on district wards which have themselves changed as a result of the recent district reviews, the boundaries of all divisions except Easingwold, North Craven and South Craven will be subject to change. The purpose of these proposals is to ensure that, in future, each county councillor represents approximately the same number of electors, bearing in mind local circumstances. • In 51 of the proposed 68 divisions the number of electors per councillor would vary by no more than 10% from the average. • This improved level of electoral equality is forecast to continue, with the number of electors per councillor in only 15 divisions expected to vary by more than 10% from the average by 2006. 7 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 23 November 2004. The information in the representations will be available for public access once the Order has been made. The Secretary The Electoral Commission Trevelyan House Great Peter Street London SW1P 2HW Fax: 020 7271 0667 Email: [email protected] (This address should only be used for this purpose). 8 Table 1: Final recommendations: Summary Division name Number of Constituent district wards by district council area councillors Craven district Aire Valley with Lothersdale ward; Cowling 1 Airedale 1 ward; West Craven ward Embsay-with-Eastby ward; Gargrave & 2 Mid Craven 1 Malhamdale ward; Grassington ward; Upper Wharfedale ward 3 North Craven 1 Bentham ward; Ingleton & Clapham ward Hellifield & Long Preston ward; Penyghent 4 Ribblesdale 1 ward; Settle & Ribblebanks ward Barden Fell ward; Skipton East ward; Skipton 5 Skipton East 1 South ward 6 Skipton West 1 Skipton North ward; Skipton West ward 7 South Craven 1 Glusburn ward; Sutton-in-Craven ward Hambleton district 8 Bedale 1 Bedale ward; Crakehall ward; Tanfield ward Easingwold ward; Helperby ward; Tollerton 9 Easingwold 1 ward Broughton & Greenhow ward; Great Ayton 10 Great Ayton 1 ward Brompton ward; Osmotherley ward; Rudby 11 North Hambleton 1 ward Northallerton Central ward; Northallerton 12 Northallerton 1 North ward Romanby & Northallerton Broomfield ward; Romanby 13 1 Broomfield ward Sowerby ward; Thorntons ward; Topcliffe 14 Sowerby 1 ward Huby & Sutton ward; Shipton ward; 15 Stillington 1 Stillington ward; White Horse ward 16 Stokesley 1 Stokesley ward; Swainby ward Cowtons ward; Leeming ward; Leeming Bar 17 Swale 1 ward; Morton-on-Swale ward 18 Thirsk 1 Thirsk ward; Whitestonecliffe ward 9 Division name Number of Constituent district wards by district council area councillors Harrogate borough Marston Moor ward; Ouseburn ward; Ribston 19 Ainsty 1 ward Boroughbridge ward; Claro ward; Newby 20 Boroughbridge 1 ward Granby ward; High Harrogate ward; Low 21 Harrogate Granby 2 Harrogate ward Harrogate Nidd 22 2 Bilton ward; New Park ward; Woodfield ward Gorge Stray ward; part of Hookstone ward 23 Harrogate Oatlands 1 (unparished area) Rossett ward; part of Harlow Moor ward 24 Harrogate Rossett 1 (unparished area) Harrogate Saltergate ward; part of Harlow Moor ward 25 1 Saltergate (unparished area) Starbeck ward; part of Hookstone ward 26 Harrogate Starbeck 1 (unparished area) Killinghall & Bishop Bishop Monkton ward; Killinghall ward; 27 1 Monkton Lower Nidderdale ward Knaresborough East ward; Knaresborough 28 Knaresborough 2 King James ward; Knaresborough Scriven Park ward Masham & Kirkby Malzeard ward; Mashamshire ward; 29 1 Fountains Wathvale ward Pannal & Lower Pannal ward; Spofforth with Lower 30 1 Wharfedale Wharfedale ward Nidd Valley ward; Pateley Bridge ward; 31 Pateley Bridge 1 Washburn ward Ripon Spa ward; part of Ripon Minster ward 32 Ripon North 1 (unparished area) Ripon Moorside ward; part of Ripon Minster 33 Ripon South 1 ward (unparished area) Richmondshire district Brompton-on-Swale & Scorton ward; 34 Catterick Bridge 1 Catterick ward; Hornby Castle ward Central 35 1 Colburn ward; Hipswell ward; Scotton ward Richmondshire 10 Division name Number of Constituent district wards by district council area councillors Leyburn ward; Lower Wensleydale ward; Middleham ward; part of Bolton Castle ward (the parishes of Castle Bolton with East & 36 Middle Dales 1 West Bolton, Preston-under-Scar, Redmire and Wensley); part of Penhill ward (the parishes of Carlton Highdale, Carlton Town and West Witton) Richmond Central ward; Richmond East 37 Richmond 1 ward; Richmond West ward Barton ward; Croft ward; Gilling West ward; Richmondshire 38 1 Melsonby ward; Middleton Tyas ward; North Newsham with Eppleby ward Addlebrough ward; Hawes & High Abbotside ward; Reeth & Arkengarthdale ward; Swaledale ward; part of Bolton Castle ward 39 Upper Dales 1 (the parish of Carperby-cum-Thoresby); part of Penhill ward (the parishes of Burton-cum- Walden, Bishopdale, Newbiggin and Thoralby) Ryedale district Ampleforth ward; Hovingham ward; Sheriff Hutton ward; Ryedale South West ward; part Hovingham & 40 1 of Derwent ward (the parishes of Bulmer, Sheriff Hutton Coneythorpe, Henderskelfe, Howsham, Huttons Ambo, Welburn and Westow) Dales ward; Helmsley ward; Kirkbymoorside 41 Kirkbymoorside 1 ward Amotherby ward; Malton ward; Sinnington 42 Malton 1 ward Norton East ward; Norton West ward; part of Derwent ward (the parishes of Acklam, 43 Norton 1 Birdsall, Burythorpe, Langton, Leavening, Scagglethorpe, Scrayingham and Settrington) Cropton ward; Pickering East ward; Pickering 44 Pickering 1 West ward Thornton Dale & Rillington ward; Sherburn ward; Thornton 45 1 the Wolds Dale ward; Wolds ward 11 Division name Number of Constituent district wards by district council area councillors