Final recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Leeds Report to The Electoral Commission July 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. 344 2 Contents Page What is The Boundary Committee for England? 5 Summary 7 1 Introduction 13 2 Current electoral arrangements 15 3 Draft recommendations 19 4 Responses to consultation 21 5 Analysis and final recommendations 25 6 What happens next? 73 Appendices A Final recommendations for Leeds: detailed mapping 75 B Guide to interpreting the first draft of the electoral change Order 77 C First draft of the electoral change Order for Leeds 79 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 and town councils. This report sets out our final recommendations on the electoral arrangements for the city of Leeds in West Yorkshire. 5 6 Summary We began a review of Leeds electoral arrangements on 8 May 2002. We published our draft recommendations for electoral arrangements on 11 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 Leeds: • In 17 of the 33 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% from the average. • 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 16 wards and by more than 20% in 11 wards. Our main final recommendations for future electoral arrangements (see Tables 1 and 2 and paragraphs 264-265) are that: • Leeds City Council should have 99 councillors, the same as at present; • there should be 33 wards, the same as at present; • the boundaries of all of the existing wards should be modified. 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 32 of the proposed 33 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 no ward expected to vary by more than 10% from the average for the city in 2006. Recommendations are also made for changes to parish council electoral arrangements which provide for: • revised warding arrangements for Austhorpe and Harewood parishes; • revised warding arrangements and the redistribution of councillors for Otley parish. All further correspondence on these final recommendations and the matters discussed in this report should be addressed to The Electoral Commission at the address below, which will not make an Order implementing them before 9 September 2003. The information in the representations will be available for public access once the Order has been made. 7 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 Ward name Number of Constituent areas Large map councillors reference Arthington parish; Bramhope parish; Pool parish; part of 2, 3 and 6 1 Adel & Wharfedale 3 Cookridge ward; part of Otley & Wharfedale ward Part of North ward; part of Roundhay ward; the proposed Wigton 6 2 Alwoodley 3 parish ward of Harewood parish Ardsley & Robin Part of Middleton ward; part of Morley South ward; part of 3 3 10 Hood Rothwell ward 4 Armley 3 Armley ward; part of City & Holbeck ward; part of Wortley ward 6, 9 and 10 5 Beeston & Holbeck 3 Part of Beeston ward; part of City & Holbeck ward 10 Bramley & 6 3 Part of Bramley ward; part of Pudsey North ward 2 and 9 Stanningley Burmantofts & Part of Burmantofts ward; part of City & Holbeck ward; part of 7 3 6 and 10 Richmond Hill Richmond Hill ward; part of University ward 8 Calverley & Farsley 3 Part of Bramley ward; part of Pudsey North ward 2 and 9 Chapel Allerton ward; part of Harehills ward; part of Headingley 9 Chapel Allerton 3 6 ward; part of University ward Part of Beeston ward; part of City & Holbeck ward; part of 6 and 10 Hunslet ward; part of Kirkstall ward; part of Middleton ward; part 10 City & Hunslet 3 of Richmond Hill ward; part of Rothwell ward; part of University ward Cross Gates & 11 3 Part of Halton ward; part of Whinmoor ward 6, 7 and 11 Whinmoor 12 Farnley & Wortley 3 Part of City & Holbeck ward; part of Wortley ward 9 and 10 Great & Little Preston parish; Sturton Grange parish; Swillington Garforth & 10,11 and 13 3 parish; the proposed Austhorpe East parish ward of Austhorpe Swillington parish; part of Garforth & Swillington ward; part of Halton ward; 12 part of Rothwell ward; part of Richmond Hill ward Part of Burmantofts ward; part of Harehills ward; part of 14 Gipton & Harehills 3 6 University ward 15 Guiseley & Rawdon 3 Part of Aireborough ward; part of Otley & Wharfedale ward 1 and 2 The parishes of Aberford, Bardsey cum Rigton, Barwick in Elmet 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, & Scholes, Collingham with Linton, East Keswick, Lotherton cum 11 and 12 16 Harewood 3 Aberford, Parlington, Scarcroft, Shadwell, Thorner, and Wothersome; the proposed Harewood & Wike parish ward of Harewood parish 17 Headingley 3 Part of Headingley ward 6 Horsforth parish; Horsforth ward; part of Cookridge ward; part of 18 Horsforth 3 2 Otley & Wharfedale ward; part of Weetwood ward Hyde Park & Part of City & Holbeck ward; part of Headingley ward; part of 19 3 6 Woodhouse Kirkstall ward; part of University ward Killingbeck & Seacroft ward; part of Burmantofts ward; part of Harehills ward 6, 7 and 11 20 3 Seacroft Allerton Bywater parish; Ledsham parish; Ledston parish; 11 and 12 21 Kippax & Methley 3 Micklefield parish; part of Barwick & Kippax ward; part of Garforth & Swillington ward 9 Ward name Number of Constituent areas Large map councillors reference Part of Bramley ward; part of Kirkstall ward; part of Weetwood 22 Kirkstall 3 2, 6 and 9 ward 23 Middleton Park 3 Part of Hunslet ward; part of Middleton ward 10 24 Moortown 3 Part of Moortown ward; part of Weetwood ward 6 Churwell and Scatcherd parish wards of Morley parish; part of 25 Morley North 3 9 and 10 Morley North ward Central, Topcliffe, Elmfield and Teale parish wards of Morley 26 Morley South 3 9 and 10 parish; part of Morley South ward Otley parish; Carlton parish; part of Aireborough ward; part of 27 Otley & Yeadon 3 1 and 2 Otley & Wharfedale ward 28 Pudsey 3 Pudsey South ward; part of Bramley ward 9 Hunslet ward; part of Halton ward; part of Middleton ward; part of 29 Rothwell 3 10 and 11 Rothwell ward 30 Roundhay 3 Part of Moortown ward; part of Roundhay ward 6 The proposed Austhorpe West parish ward of Austhorpe parish; 6, 10 and 31 Temple Newsam 3 part of Burmantofts ward; part of Halton ward; part of Richmond 11 Hill ward 32 Weetwood 3 Part of Cookridge ward; part of Weetwood ward 2 and 6 Boston Spa parish; Bramham cum Oglethorpe parish; Clifford 4, 5, 7 and 33 Wetherby 3 parish; Thorp Arch parish; Walton parish; Wetherby parish 8 Notes: 1. Only part of the district is parished and 22 wards comprise the unparished area. 2. The wards on the above table are illustrated on Map 2 and the large maps. 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. 10 Table 2: Final recommendations for Leeds Ward name Number Electorate Number Variance Electorate Number Variance of (2001) of from (2006) of from councillors electors average % electors average % per per councillor