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Draft recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Telford & Wrekin October 2001 LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND © Crown Copyright 2001 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 Local Government Commission for England 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. ii LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND CONTENTS page WHAT IS THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND? v SUMMARY vii 1 INTRODUCTION 1 2 CURRENT ELECTORAL ARRANGEMENTS 5 3 SUBMISSIONS RECEIVED 9 4 ANALYSIS AND DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS 11 5 WHAT HAPPENS NEXT? 37 APPENDICES A Draft Recommendations for Telford & Wrekin: Detailed Mapping 39 B Code of Practice on Written Consultation 43 A large map illustrating the existing and proposed ward boundaries for the urban area of Telford & Wrekin is inserted inside the back cover of the report. LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND iii iv LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND WHAT IS THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND? The Local Government Commission for England is an independent body set up by Parliament. Our task is to review and make recommendations on whether there should be changes to local authorities’ electoral arrangements. Members of the Commission are: Professor Malcolm Grant (Chairman) Professor Michael Clarke CBE (Deputy Chairman) Peter Brokenshire Kru Desai Pamela Gordon Robin Gray Robert Hughes CBE Barbara Stephens (Chief Executive) 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, and the number of councillors, ward names and the frequency of elections. We can also recommend changes to the electoral arrangements of parish and town councils. LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND v vi LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND SUMMARY We began a review of the electoral arrangements for Telford & Wrekin on 27 March 2001. • This report summarises the submissions we received during the first stage of the review, and makes draft recommendations for change. We found that the current arrangements provide unequal representation of electors in Telford & Wrekin: • in nine of the 34 wards the number of electors represented by each councillor varies by more than 10 per cent from the average for the district; • by 2006 this situation is expected to worsen, with the number of electors per councillor forecast to vary by more than 10 per cent from the average in 17 wards and by more than 20 per cent in five wards. Our main draft recommendations for future electoral arrangements (see Tables 1 and 2 and paragraphs 101 – 102) are that: • Telford & Wrekin Council should have 54 councillors, as at present; • there should be 33 wards, instead of 34 as at present; • the boundaries of 29 of the existing wards should be modified, resulting in a net reduction of one, and five wards should retain their existing boundaries; • whole-council elections should continue to take place every four years. The purpose of these proposals is to ensure that, in future, each district councillor represents approximately the same number of electors, bearing in mind local circumstances. • In 24 of the proposed 33 wards the number of electors per councillor would vary by no more than 10 per cent from the district average. • This level of electoral equality is expected to improve further with the number of electors per councillor in only one ward expected to vary by more than 10 per cent from the average for the district in 2006. Recommendations are also made for changes to parish and town council electoral arrangements which provide for: • revised warding arrangements and the redistribution of councillors for the parishes of Great Dawley, Hadley, Lilleshall & Donnington, Madeley, Newport, Oakengates, Stirchley & Brookside, The Gorge and Wellington; LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND vii • new warding arrangements and the redistribution of councillors for the parishes of Church Aston, Dawley Hamlets, Ketley, Lawley & Overdale, St Georges & Priorslee and Wrockwardine Wood & Trench. This report sets out our draft recommendations on which comments are invited. • We will consult on these proposals for eight weeks from 9 October 2001. We take this consultation very seriously. We may decide to move away from our draft recommendations in the light of comments or suggestions that we receive. It is therefore important that all interested parties let us have their views and evidence, whether or not they agree with our draft recommendations. • After considering local views, we will decide whether to modify our draft recommendations. We will then submit our final recommendations to the Electoral Commission which, subject to Parliamentary approval, with effect from 1 April 2002 will be responsible for implementing change to local authority electoral arrangements. • The Electoral Commission will decide whether to accept, modify or reject our final recommendations. It will also determine when any changes come into effect. You should express your views by writing directly to us at the address below by 3 December 2001: Review Manager Telford & Wrekin Review LGCE Dolphyn Court 10/11 Great Turnstile London WC1V 7JU Fax: 020 7404 6142 E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.lgce.gov.uk viii LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND Table 1: Draft Recommendations: Summary Ward name Number of Constituent areas Map reference councillors 1 Apley Castle 1 part of Hadley parish (the proposed Apley Castle parish Map 2 and ward) Large Map 2 Arleston 1 part of Wellington town (the proposed Arleston town Map 2 and ward) Large Map 3 Brookside 2 part of Stirchley & Brookside parish (the proposed Map 2 and Brookside parish ward) Large Map 4 Church Aston & 1 the parishes of Chetwynd Aston and Preston Upon the Map 2, Map A2 Lilleshall Weald Moors, part of Church Aston parish (the and Large Map proposed Church Aston parish ward) and part of Lilleshall & Donnington parish (the proposed Lilleshall parish ward) 5 College 1 part of Wellington town (the proposed College town Map 2 and ward) Large Map 6 Cuckoo Oak 2 part of Madeley parish (the proposed Cuckoo Oak Map 2 and parish ward) Large Map 7 Dawley Magna 3 part of Dawley Hamlets parish (the proposed Aqueduct Map 2 and parish ward) and part of Great Dawley parish (the Large Map proposed Dawley parish ward) 8 Donnington 2 part of Lilleshall & Donnington parish (the proposed Map 2 and Donnington parish ward) Large Map 9 Dothill 1 part of Wellington town (the proposed Dothill town Map 2 and ward) Large Map 10 Edgmond 1 Unchanged – the parishes of Chetwynd, Edgmond and Map 2 Tibberton & Cherrington 11 Ercall 1 part of Wellington town (the proposed Ercall town Map 2 and ward) Large Map 12 Ercall Magna 1 Unchanged – the parishes of Ercall Magna, Eyton Upon Map 2 and the Weald Moors, Kynnersley and Waters Upton Large Map 13 Hadley & 3 part of Hadley parish (the proposed Hadley & Map 2 and Leegomery Leegomery parish ward) and part of Ketley parish (the Large Map proposed Beveley parish ward) 14 Haygate 1 part of Wellington town (the proposed Haygate town Map 2 and ward) Large Map 15 Horsehay & 2 part of Dawley Hamlets parish (the proposed Dawley Map 2 and Lightmoor Hamlets parish ward), part of Lawley & Overdale parish Large Map (the proposed Lawley parish ward) and part of The Gorge parish (the proposed Lightmoor parish ward) LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND ix Ward name Number of Constituent areas Map reference councillors 16 Ironbridge Gorge 1 part of The Gorge parish (the proposed Ironbridge Map 2 and parish ward and the existing Coalport & Jackfield parish Large Map ward) 17 Ketley & 3 part of Ketley parish (the proposed Ketley parish ward) Map 2 and Oakengates and part of Oakengates town (the proposed Oakengates Large Map town ward) 18 Lawley & 2 part of Lawley & Overdale parish (the proposed Central Map 2 and Overdale parish ward) Large Map 19 Madeley 2 part of Madeley parish (the proposed Madeley parish Map 2 and ward) Large Map 20 Malinslee 2 part of Great Dawley parish (the proposed Malinslee Map 2 and parish ward) Large Map 21 Muxton 2 part of Lilleshall & Donnington parish (the proposed Map 2 and Muxton parish ward) Large Map 22 Newport East 1 Unchanged – part of Newport town (the existing East Map 2 and Map town ward) A2 23 Newport North 1 part of Newport town (the proposed North town ward) Map 2 24 Newport South 1 part of Church Aston parish (the proposed Wallshead Map 2 and Map parish ward) and part of Newport town (the existing A2 South town ward) 25 Newport West 1 part of Newport town (the proposed West town ward) Map 2 and Map A2 26 Park 1 part of Wellington town (the proposed Park town ward) Map 2 and Large Map 27 Priorslee 2 part of St Georges & Priorslee parish (the proposed Map 2 and Priorslee parish ward) and part of Wrockwardine Wood Large Map & Trench parish (the proposed East parish ward) 28 Shawbirch 1 Unchanged – part of Wellington town (the existing Map 2 and Shawbirch town ward) Large Map 29 St Georges 2 part of St Georges & Priorslee parish (the proposed St Map 2 and Georges