Final Recommendations on the Future Electoral Arrangements for Salford
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Final recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Salford Report to The Electoral Commission August 2003 © Crown Copyright 2003 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 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. This report is printed on recycled paper. Report no. 350 2 Contents Page What is The Boundary Committee for England? 5 Summary 7 1 Introduction 11 2 Current electoral arrangements 13 3 Draft recommendations 17 4 Responses to consultation 19 5 Analysis and final recommendations 21 6 What happens next? 41 Appendices A Final recommendations for Salford: detailed mapping 43 B Guide to interpreting the first draft of the electoral change Order 45 C First draft of the electoral change Order for Salford 46 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 2001 No. 3692). 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 ward boundaries, the number of councillors and ward names. We can also recommend changes to the electoral arrangements of parish councils. This report sets out our final recommendations on the electoral arrangements for the city of Salford in Greater Manchester. 5 6 Summary We began a review of Salford’s electoral arrangements on 8 May 2002. We published our draft recommendations for electoral arrangements on 25 February 2003, after which we undertook an eight-week period of consultation. We now submit final recommendations to The Electoral Commission. • This report summarises the representations that 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 Salford: • in 15 of the 20 wards the number of electors represented by each councillor varies by more than 10% from the average for the city and nine wards vary by more than 20%; • by 2006 this situation is expected to improve slightly, with the number of electors per councillor forecast to vary by more than 10% from the average in 14 wards and by more than 20% in eight wards. Our main final recommendations for future electoral arrangements (see Tables 1 and 2 and paragraphs 132 – 133) are that: • Salford City Council should have 60 councillors, as at present; • there should be 20 wards, as at present; • the boundaries of 19 of the existing wards should be modified, and one ward should retain its existing boundaries. The purpose of these proposals is to ensure that, in future, each city councillor represents approximately the same number of electors, bearing in mind local circumstances. • In 16 of the proposed 20 wards the number of electors per councillor would vary by no more than 10% from the city average. • This level of electoral equality is forecast to improve, with the number of electors per councillor in only one ward, Cadishead, expected to vary by more than 10% from the average for the city in 2006. 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 8 October 2003. 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.) 7 Table 1: Final recommendations: Summary Number of Large map Ward name Constituent areas councillors reference Part of Barton ward; part of Eccles ward; part of 1 Barton 2 and 3 3 Weaste & Seedley ward; part of Winton ward Boothstown & Part of Walkden South ward; part of Worsley & 2 1 and 3 Ellenbrook 3 Boothstown ward Part of Blackfriars ward; Broughton ward; part of 3 Broughton 2 3 Kersal ward 4 Cadishead 3 Cadishead ward; part of Irlam ward 3 5 Claremont 3 Part of Claremont ward; part of Swinton South ward 2 6 Eccles 3 Part of Eccles ward; part of Swinton South ward 2 Part of Barton ward; part of Irlam ward; part of 7 Irlam 3 3 Winton ward Irwell Part of Blackfriars ward; part of Claremont ward; part 8 2 Riverside 3 of Pendlebury ward; part of Pendleton ward 9 Kersal 3 Part of Kersal ward 2 Part of Blackfriars ward, part of Claremont ward; 10 Langworthy 3 Langworthy ward; part of Pendleton ward; part of 2 Weaste & Seedley ward 11 Little Hulton 3 Little Hulton ward; part of Walkden South ward 1 Part of Blackfriars ward; part of Ordsall ward; part of 12 Ordsall 2 3 Weaste & Seedley ward 13 Pendlebury 3 Part of Pendlebury ward; part of Swinton South ward 2 14 Swinton North 3 Part of Swinton North ward 1 and 2 Part of Pendlebury ward; part of Swinton North ward; 15 Swinton South 2 3 part of Swinton South ward Walkden 16 Unchanged (existing Walkden North ward) 1 and 2 North 3 Walkden 17 Part of Walkden South ward 1 South 3 Weaste & Part of Claremont ward; part of Ordsall ward; part of 18 2 Seedley 3 Weaste & Seedley ward Part of Winton ward; part of Worsley & Boothstown 19 Winton 1, 2 and 3 3 ward Part of Swinton South ward; part of Winton ward; part 20 Worsley 1 and 2 3 of Worsley & Boothstown ward Notes: 1. The city is unparished. 2. The wards on the above table are illustrated on Map 2 and the large maps. 3. We have made a number of minor boundary amendments to ensure that existing ward boundaries adhere to ground detail. These changes do not affect any electors. 8 Table 2: Final recommendations for Salford Ward name Number Electorate Number Variance Electorate Number Variance of (2001) of from (2006) of from councillors electors average electors average per % per % councillor councillor 1 Barton 3 8,767 2,922 9 8,531 2,844 6 Boothstown & 2 3 7,595 2,532 -5 7,731 2,577 -4 Ellenbrook 3 Broughton 3 8,552 2,851 6 8,135 2,712 1 4 Cadishead 3 6,808 2,269 -15 7,165 2,388 -11 5 Claremont 3 8,301 2,767 3 8,225 2,742 2 6 Eccles 3 8,277 2,759 3 8,404 2,801 4 7 Irlam 3 7,135 2,378 -11 7,451 2,484 -8 8 Irwell Riverside 3 7,703 2,568 -4 7,700 2,567 -5 9 Kersal 3 7,952 2,651 -1 8,253 2,751 2 10 Langworthy 3 9,577 3,192 19 8,544 2,848 6 11 Little Hulton 3 8,763 2,921 9 8,330 2,777 3 12 Ordsall 3 5,433 1,811 -32 7,440 2,480 -8 13 Pendlebury 3 8,184 2,728 2 8,162 2,721 1 14 Swinton North 3 8,399 2,800 5 8,490 2,830 5 15 Swinton South 3 8,450 2,817 5 8,464 2,821 5 16 Walkden North 3 8,116 2,705 1 7,903 2,634 -2 17 Walkden South 3 8,057 2,686 0 8,364 2,788 3 Weaste & 18 3 8,086 2,695 1 7,680 2,560 -5 Seedley 19 Winton 3 8,474 2,825 5 8,325 2,775 3 20 Worsley 3 8,107 2,702 1 8,402 2,801 4 Totals 60 160,736 – – 161,699 – – Averages – – 2,679 – – 2,695 – Notes: 1. There is a small anomaly between the 2006 electorate totals on Tables 2 and 3. This is due to rounding. 2. The ‘variance from average’ column shows by how far, in percentage terms, the number of electors per councillor varies from the average for the city. The minus symbol (-) denotes a lower than average number of electors. Figures have been rounded to the nearest whole number. 9 10 1 Introduction 1 This report contains our final recommendations for the electoral arrangements for the city of Salford in Greater Manchester. We are reviewing the ten metropolitan boroughs in Greater Manchester as part of our programme of periodic electoral reviews (PERs) of all 386 principal local authority areas in England. The programme started in 1996 and is currently expected to finish in 2004. 2 This is our first review of the electoral arrangements of Salford. The last review of Salford was undertaken by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, which reported to the Secretary of State in August 1979 (Report no.