Parish and Town councils submissions to the North Somerset District Council electoral review
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Kevin Barrett [email protected]
Banwell Parish Council
Parish clerk
14/05/2013 13:29
Banwell Parish Council comments that any changes to North Somerset's ward boundaries should provide for the parish to remain within the same ward as Winscombe and Sandford Parish Council as it is considered that Banwell has more in common with that parish than with the parishes further to the west bordering Weston-super-Mare. Knag, Daniel
From: Fuller, Heather Sent: 04 June 2013 13:07 To: Knag, Daniel Subject: FW: Electoral review of North Somerset: Ward Boundaries
Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged
From: Barrow Gurney Clerk [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 04 June 2013 12:53 To: Reviews@
Subject: Electoral review of North Somerset: Ward Boundaries
With regard to the consultation on ward boundaries in North Somerset, the Barrow Gurney Parish Council wish to comment as follows:
Barrow Gurney Parish Council has already expressed a concern about the overall reduction in the number of Councillors for North Somerset . However, recognising that the reduced number requires restructuring of the Wards, we have considered how the Parish's interests would be best reflected. Barrow Gurney is entirely rural in character and has a longstanding link, and common issues with the adjacent parish of Flax Bourton. Facilities such as secondary schooling, rail transport and leisure centre all tend to focus on Backwell; we believe that this linkage should continue. Links to other services vary according to their proximity to the different communities in the parish. As a predominantly rural community, located in the Green Belt, Barrow Gurney tends to share common cause with other small rural communities; an association with a predominantly suburban area such as Long Ashton seems less appropriate. In this respect, our existing position, as part of the Backwell Ward has served us well and our preferred option would be to remain part of that Ward. In the event of significant redrawing of Ward Boundaries, and if association with Backwell were no longer an option, our preference would be for an alignment that provided commonality with our neighbouring village communities such as Dundry and Winford.
Yours Sincerely,
Joanna van Tonder Clerk to the Barrow Gurney Parish Council Tel:
1 Gillian Rowley [email protected]
Brockley Parish Council
Parish clerk
12/05/2013 09:38
It is the strong preference of Brockley Parish Council that the parish of Brockley should remain with Backwell, with whom Brockley residents are very closely linked at community level (and dependent for doctors, dentists, church, post office, shops, etc.). If Backwell Ward can retain two councillors, so much the better, but the priority is to remain with Backwell.
2013 KENN PARISH COUNCIL
Review Officer (North Somerset) Local Government Boundary Commission for England Layden House 76-86 Turnmill Street London EC1M 5LG [email protected]
24 May 2013
Dear Mr Knag
ELECTORAL REVIEW OF NORTH SOMERSET
Kenn Parish Council gave careful consideration at their recent meeting to the information provided regarding the current Electoral Review and their observations are as follows;
BACKGROUND; Kenn is very much a rural village with many of its residents involved in the rural economies of farming, agricultural contracting etc. The parish and village very much has as its centre the community interests and resilience of a rural village, just a few example of these being; monthly Village Market held in the Village Hall, monthly News & Views newsletter distributed throughout the village, strong parish independence to work for and support their own community as a whole, existing local residents are all known to each other and new residents are welcomed and provided with a leaflet outlining village contacts and services etc, community events involving everyone and very often resulting in another photograph of residents for displaying on a section of wall for ‘Village Photos’ in the Village Hall.
KENN PARISH COUNCIL COMMENTS; Kenn parish/village wishes to express to the Local Government Boundary Commission that it; most strongly identifies with the Yatton Ward, this ward having more of the rural nature which reflects the community of Kenn, and definitely does not identify with the urban aspects of neighbouring wards in Clevedon and Nailsea.
It is felt that the Yatton Ward could be represented by 2 district councillors if the average electoral representation per councillor across the district is increased from the current approx 2,500 to +/- 3,500 (could also achieve the reduction of 10 district councillors from 61 to 51). This may also result in election cost savings, bearing in mind current turn out at polling stations.
Yours sincerely
Eleanor Wade Clerk to Kenn Parish Council
Parish Clerk – Eleanor Wade [email protected] www.kenn-pc.org.uk Knag, Daniel
From: Eleanor Wade
Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged
Kenn Parish Council considered this item for the second occasion at their meeting last evening and I have been asked to write again on two further matters; (1) further Parish Council comments/observations and (2) a request on behalf of Kenn residents.
Further comments - the following comments are in addition to Kenn Parish Council's letter sent on 24 May 2013.
(1) Kenn Parish Council is greatly concerned at reports in the local press that Clevedon may be putting forward proposals which would include the parish of Kenn within their ward boundaries, therefore, the additional comments the Parish Councillors would like to make are;
1.1 The river Blind Yeo is recognised as a significant boundary marker between urban Clevedon and rural Kenn. Even Clevedon councillors, in their comments to past planning policy documents, have advocated that the river should not be breached by urban development.
1.2 There is a real concern in Kenn that if they were subsumed into Clevedon by ward boundary alterations that in future Kenn could be seen to be a suburb of Clevedon and as such would start the encroachment of development over the river boundary.
1.3 Kenn reiterates that it would wish to see the current Yatton Ward boundary retain as it is currently, and while it is happy with its District Councillors, Kenn feels the ward could be represented by 2 members rather than the current 3.
1.4 Kenn feels Clevedon should concentrate on reviewing its own internal ward boundaries and not look to other/independent parishes to solve their issues of low electorate ratio number to councillor.
Request - on behalf of Kenn residents;
(2) Kenn residents have been busy over the last few weeks limiting the impact of a large music event on the village, this event took place last weekend. The villagers therefore have just begun to look at the impact of the Ward Boundary review. They are endeavouring to get their comments to you in time but would request, if possible, any late observations could still be considered.
Regards, Eleanor Wade, Kenn Parish Clerk
-- Eleanor Wade, Kenn Parish Clerk, Tel: - Web: www.kenn-pc.org.uk ______This email, along with any files transmitted with it, originates from Kenn Parish Council and is for the intended recipient only. It may contain sensitive material and should be handled accordingly. If you are not the intended recipient you may not copy, use, disclose, distribute, or print it to anyone else. If you have received this in error please notify the sender immediately. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender states with authority they are the views of Kenn Parish Council.
1 Knag, Daniel
From: Fuller, Heather Sent: 22 May 2013 08:55 To: Knag, Daniel Subject: FW: Electoral Review of North Somerset
Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged
From: L ALLDAY ] Sent: 21 May 2013 16:48 To: Reviews@ Subject: Electoral Review of North Somerset
Comments of Kingston Seymour Parish Council (Yatton Ward)
The Parish Council is strongly in favour of remaining part of Yatton Ward as presently constituted and with its present boundaries.
KSPC is aware of at least two proposals which would remove Kingston Seymour form Yatton Ward; one to group it together with a number of other small villages (not all geographically contiguous) and another to absorb it (with Kenn) into south Clevedon. The first of these makes no sense at all from a service provision point of view or any other - it would make for a very fragmented Ward with Members having to engage with a variety of different systems and regimes. The second would be unacceptable as it would damage long historic and geographic associations and the cohesion of our community. The current Ward boundary is also the boundary of the combined ecclesiastical parishes of Yatton Moor (Yatton, Kenn and Kingston Seymour) and Cleeve & Claverham which together form one Team Minstry - this functions as a social and economic entity as well as an ecclesiastical one. In addition almost all the children in this parish (around 70) attend or expect to attend primary school in Yatton and secondary school in Backwell. Their social networks are therefore focused primarily in that geographical direction and not towards Clevedon.
Councillors appreciate that the proposed reduction in the number of councillors in North Somerset from 61 to 51 would almost certainly result in the reduction in the number of Ward members for Yatton from 2 to 1. However the two Local Members with whom we are regularly in touch assure us that they could continue to serve the electorate effectively with the current boundaries retained. This would be their preference and it is also the preference of KSPC.
Leonie Allday Clerk, Kingston Seymour PC
1 Janet Turp [email protected]
Long Ashton Parish Council
Parish clerk
04/06/2013 12:43
"Long Ashton Parish Council notes that the Wraxall & Long Ashton ward which includes Failand works well as a two member ward and it would be difficult to split it sensibly. If the ward was required to increase its number of voters including Leigh Woods would seem sensible as it is already in Long Ashton Parish and was at one time in the same ward as Long Ashton. However, Leigh Woods residents, at present in the Gordano ward, do have a good working relationship with their present Councillor. The preference of the Parish Council is to maintain Wraxall and Long Ashton Ward as a two Councillor Ward with the inclusion of Leigh Woods if appropriate." Knag, Daniel
From: Andy Cole
Dear Daniel / Jessica,
Re: the email below, I have asked Ian Morrell to forward the Town Council comments on to you as I am not entirely clear if he has done so.
Also the map he refers to, you would have received from my own submission and from Tom Leimdorfer's submission of the whole district on behalf of the Independent Group on NSC.
Regards Andy.Cole.
----- Original Message ----- From: Ian Morrell To: Mike Jones (Electoral Services) Cc: Andy Cole ; Cole Andy (Councillor) Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2013 9:28 AM Subject: Boundary Review
Mike, I am not sure whether the following comments come within the remit of the current consultation, but the Town Council has made the following resolutions in response to the Boundary Commission review and the decision to reduce the number of councillors from 61 to 51. Key to this is a proposal by Cllr Andy Cole regarding the boundary of wards within Nailsea which I am asking, by copy of this email, that he shares with you: 1. That Nailsea is split into four wards with a single district councillor in each. 2. That the ward boundaries are based on the proposal made by Cllr Cole. 3. That there should be five town councillors in each of the four wards. regards
Ian Morrell Nailsea Town Clerk
http://www.nailseatowncouncil.gov.uk/
1 The Resource Centre 4 Baltic Place Pill North Somerset BS20 0EJ Tel/Fax: Email: [email protected]
3rd June 2013
Review Officer (North Somerset) Local Government Boundary Commission for England Layden House 76-86 Turnmill Street London EC1M 5LG
Dear Sir or Madam
My council responded to your original consultation on the numbers of councillors required to represent the electors of North Somerset (although you do not appear to have included it in the copies of consultation responses received!).
Although you are not recommending that the number should remain at 61, as is currently the case, which was our suggestion, we think it is important that we should put forward a view on the ward boundaries.
If we are unable to retain two councillors for our parish (on the current boundaries) then we believe we would be best served by having 1 district councillor representing our parish This would mean a councillor representing the polling districts of ABB and ABC. We are aware that this is an electorate of 3911, which is in excess of your recommended electorate of 3329 by 17.5%, but we are happy that this better reflects our community identity.
If this variance were too great our second option would be to create a 2 member ward including the polling districts of:-
ABB Pill ABC Easton-in-Gordano ACX Portbury AAA Abbots Leigh ABU Leigh Woods ABE Failand
The total electorate for this is 6623, which is very close to your recommended electorate per councillor. This would also reflect the community identity in that it contains the existing Pill ward, the existing Easton-in-Gordano ward (ABC, AAA and ABU which has the A369 running through it) with the addition of Failand and Portbury which is in the same ecclesiastic parish as Pill and Easton-in-Gordano.
Yours sincerely
Andrew Jopp Chair, Pill & Easton-in-Gordano Parish Council Knag, Daniel
From: Fuller, Heather Sent: 28 May 2013 14:51 To: Knag, Daniel Subject: FW: Electoral Review of North Somerset.
From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 28 May 2013 14:34 To: Reviews@ Subject: Electoral Review of North Somerset.
Dear Daniel Knag, In response to the request in your letter of 26 March 2013, I give below the response from Wraxall & Failand Parish Council:-
Suggestions for where our new division boundaries should be drawn It is Wraxall & Failand Parish Council’s strong view that residents of the parish are well‐served by the District Councillors for Wraxall & Long Ashton. The ward could be expanded to bring us in line with the required resident numbers by the inclusion of Leigh Woods Parish and at the same time maintaining our rural nature. The Parish Council would wish the number of District Councillors to remain unchanged.
Nearby areas with which our area shares a community identity and interests Although there is one element of the parish which adjoins Nailsea, the majority of the parish is washed over by Green Belt and the villages do not have a settlement boundary that is recognised by North Somerset Council’s Core Strategy. A few years ago residents in the area of the parish which adjoins Nailsea voted by a substantial majority not to be part of Nailsea or to change any boundaries.
Natural or constructed features which should be used as boundaries The Parish Council’s view is that the existing ward boundaries for towns, eg Nailsea, should continue.
Where people in our area go to access services, go shopping or use other facilities
• North Somerset Council’s services from the Library at Nailsea or the Council Offices at Castlewood in Clevedon • Avon & Somerset police station at Nailsea and HQ at Portishead • Rail services at Nailsea & Backwell station or Bristol Temple Meads. • GP services in Nailsea , Long Ashton, Pill, Clevedon and Backwell • NHS dentistry in Nailsea, Backwell or Pill • There is a village Post Office and store in Failand. Nailsea, Long Ashton and Bristol (Broadmead, Cabot, Cribbs Causeway, Winterstoke Road) are popular for shopping. • There are well supported Gastro/Pubs in W&F and LA • There are sports facilities in Nailsea, Long Ashton and Backwell (swimming pool)
Kind regards Freda Shattock Clerk to WFPC
1 Crispin Taylor [email protected]
Yatton Parish Council
Parish clerk
14/05/2013 09:36
"Yatton Parish Council considers that the parish of Yatton (comprising the large 'service' village of Yatton and the small village of Claverham) should remain part of a single ward (which would therefore be a two-member ward). There is no obvious way in which the village of Yatton could be divided between two single-member wards as the village is a single community. The only obvious dividing line is the railway (dividing Yatton North parish ward and Yatton Horsecastle parish ward) but this would make Yatton south of the railway line too large to be a single-member ward.
Furthermore there is continuous building along Claverham Road, the road between Yatton and Claverham, and again no obvious dividing line. While Claverham is in many ways a separate community it is represented on Yatton Parish Council and the Parish Council works as a single body in support of the community.
The Parish Council recognises that a two-member ward would be larger than the parish of Yatton but does not wish to comment on what other areas might be included."