Parish and Town Council Submissions to the Dorset County Council Electoral Review
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Parish and town council submissions to the Dorset County Council electoral review This PDF document contains all parish and town council submissions. Some versions of Adobe allow the viewer to move quickly between bookmarks. Local Boundary Commission for England Consultation Portal Page 1 of 1 Dorset County Personal Details: Name: Nicholas Gore E-mail: Postcode: Organisation Name: Affpuddle and Turnerspuddle Parish Council Comment text: Affpuddle and Turnerspuddle Parish Council are concerned regarding the potential addition of urban areas to wards that are principally rural in character. With experience of the recent Purbeck District Council Governance and Boundary Review it has become apparent that the criteria of ward population is the over riding priority of LGBCE. This has the impact of trying to create communities where they did not exist previously. LGBCE will need to address the issue of increased population growth in urban areas against restricted growth in rural communities by applying different weighting to their criteria. To continually attempt to change the identities of communities by the addition of urban areas to those of a rural nature will leave both parties with a perception of misrepresentation in governance and potential conflict of interests of Councillors, particularly where the current austerity measures could mean retaining urban services in one area at the expense of the other. At the next district elections our Parish has been joined with the urban areas of Wool and Bovington as a result of the recent LGBCE Purbeck review. This was done purely to bring numbers within the 10% margin at the expense of good community governance and community identity. It would therefore make sense to consolidate this marriage of communities by ensuring that they are represented by the same County Councillor as well. We regard it as important that the District Ward remains represented in it's entirety within the County Ward. The recent national discussion on identity is strong evidence that communities fear that their voice will be lost within alteration of representation arrangements. Nicholas Gore Chairman, Affpuddle and Turnerspuddle Parish Council Uploaded Documents: None Uploaded https://consultation.lgbce.org.uk/node/print/informed-representation/4280 01/12/2014 Fuller, Heather From: Fuller, Heather Sent: 02 December 2014 09:20 To: Ward, Lucy Subject: FW: Dorset County Council Electoral Review Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged From: Bob Gillis (Bridport TC) Sent: 01 December 2014 17:06 To: Reviews@ Subject: Dorset County Council Electoral Review The Town Council notes that the proposal from the Local Government Boundary Commission is to increase the number of Dorset county councillors from 45 to 46 and that there are no specific proposals for boundary changes or representation at this stage. The Town Council would like to re-iterate its previous comments (which it made in response to the review of West Dorset District Council boundaries), that the Town Council supports the aim of ensuring that the boundaries reflect community identities and address any anomalies. However, the Town Council did regret that County, District and Parish boundaries were not being reviewed together and, as it had stated previously, the reviews did appear to be conducted in a piecemeal fashion, which resulted in many communities being frequently moved from one electoral area to another and often being split between the different levels of local government. Whilst this might meet the objective of seeking to equalise the number of electors represented, it did not seem to meet the objectives of reflecting community identity or providing consistent and locally understandable democratic representation. It was hoped that any County Council boundary changes were undertaken with the full support of the local communities themselves and did reflect community identities. It looked forward to considering this matter further when specific proposals were brought forward. Bob Gillis Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail This communication is intended solely for the person (s) or organisation to whom it is addressed. It may contain privileged and confidential information and if you are not the intended recipient (s), you must not copy, distribute or take any action in reliance on it. If you have received this e-mail in error please notify the sender by return and confirm that its contents have been destroyed and copy the message to [email protected] 1 Individuals are advised that by replying to, or sending an e-mail message to West Dorset District Council or Weymouth & Portland Borough Council, you accept that you have no explicit or implicit expectation of privacy. 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Please direct telephone enquiries to West Dorset District Council on 01305 251010 or Weymouth & Portland Borough Council on 01305 838000. 2 Fuller, Heather From: Fuller, Heather Sent: 14 November 2014 13:27 To: Ward, Lucy Subject: FW: Electoral Review of Dorset Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged From: Sarah Mitchell Sent: 14 November 2014 12:02 To: Reviews@ Subject: Electoral Review of Dorset Here are the views of Buckland Newton Parish Council. Buckland Newton Parish Council would like to remain being part of the Piddle Valley Ward as we have close connections with the villages through the valley and can identify with Piddle Valley. Speed Watch links ‐we operate a speed watch and share equipment with Alton Pancras Community Transport ‐ is linked with villages in Piddle Valley Shared community and sports groups Shared Doctors surgery Buckland Newton Residents need to be able to access facilities of Dorchester (eg transport system) Regards Sarah Mitchell Parish clerk 1 Fuller, Heather From: Fuller, Heather Sent: 28 November 2014 11:31 To: Ward, Lucy Subject: FW: Electoral Review of Dorset County Council - Colehill and Stapehill Division Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged From: Tracey Paine Sent: 28 November 2014 10:47 To: Reviews@ Subject: Electoral Review of Dorset County Council - Colehill and Stapehill Division Dear Sirs Thank you for consulting with the Council on the electoral review of Dorset County Council. The Council considers that no changes should be made to the County Division boundary for Colehill and Stapehill. This is because the areas of Colehill and Stapehill work well together and there is community cohesion. I look forward to hearing from you when you open the consultation on draft recommendations. Best regards Tracey Paine Clerk to the Council Colehill Parish Council Tel: Web: Twitter: 1 Fuller, Heather From: Fuller, Heather Sent: 01 December 2014 10:17 To: Ward, Lucy Subject: FW: Dorset County Review Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged From: Freda Hennessy Sent: 30 November 2014 11:24 To: Reviews@ Subject: Dorset County Review ELECTORAL REVIEW OF DORSET We are a group Parish Council in West Dorset. Recently the district wards were reviewed and new boundaries created (we understand as from May 2015). This brings our parishes within the Beaminster ward – which pleases us greatly as our cultural, community and economic links are with that town. Previously we were in the Beaminster division which was helpful and rational from an operating point of view. At the last change we were included in Sherborne Without division. We protested against this as we have no ties with the Sherborne area and our inclusion in it crossed many service boundaries (health, planning etc etc). It also made it difficult for the County Councillor to play an effective role across such a diverse area. We would urge that consideration be given to somehow including our parishes in the Beaminster division again. We understand that you are primarily concerned with balancing elector numbers, but perhaps some juggling could be envisaged? Freda Hennessy, clerk Corscombe, Halstock and District Parish Council 1 Fuller, Heather From: Fuller, Heather Sent: 21 November 2014 13:17 To: Ward, Lucy Subject: FW: Electoral Review of Dorset Follow Up Flag: Follow Up Flag Status: Flagged From: Lisa Goodwin Sent: 21 November 2014 12:13 To: Reviews@ Subject: Electoral Review of Dorset Dear Lucy Ward, Please find below comments on the above review from Holt Parish Council: We are concerned that the area suggested includes such a large number of parishes that one County Councillor will be unable to attend all parish council meetings on a regular basis and therefore we will lose the close communication and feedback we currently enjoy. We see no objection to being