Otterton Parish Council
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Local Boundary Commission for England Consultation Portal Page 1 of 1 Devon County Personal Details: Name: Pauline Williams E-mail: Postcode: Organisation Name: Ilfracombe Town Council Comment text: Ilfracombe Town Council - at an extraordinary meeting of the Town Council, the resposnse to the consultation is : 'That Ilfracombe Town Council is content with the proposed changes to the boundaries as detailed in the draft document, whilst noting the difficulties for a county councillor to cover this expanded area. Uploaded Documents: None Uploaded https://consultation.lgbce.org.uk/node/print/informed-representation/5301 28/05/2015 KENTISBURY AND TRENTISHOE PARISH COUNCIL. PARISH CLERK: MRS SUE SQUIRE. 4 July 2015 Review Officer (Devon) Local Government Boundary Commission for England 14th Floor Millbank Tower Millbank London SW1P 4QP Dear Sirs The Local Government Boundary Commission for England Proposals Councillors wish to make the following representations: Councillors consider that the proposal for the Combe Martin Rural Division is too large, extending almost to South Molton and as far as Molland. It is an impossibly large area for a County Councillor to effectively represent the communities in the Division as due to the geographical nature of the area, much time would be spent travelling and there would be less of a presence at Meetings. Councillors cannot see the benefit of including such places as North Molton, Twitchen and Molland into the Combe Martin Rural Division when, being in such close proximity to South Molton, the main town to which they look, it makes more sense to include those areas in the South Molton Rural Division. In addition, these areas are predominantly agricultural close to the border of Exmoor National Park with no natural association to the seaside village of Combe Martin. Yours faithfully Parish Clerk Pascoe, Mark From: Kilmington Parish Council Sent: 05 July 2015 21:10 To: reviews Subject: ELECTORAL REVIEW OF DEVON Dear Sirs, Kilmington Parish Councillors object to the draft recommendations of the Commision. The recommendation that Kilmington, which is barely a mile to the west of Axminster and with which it has strong community links in terms of medical and educational service provision, amongst many others, should, instead, become part of a Whimple‐Newbridges Division is hard to comprehend. Councillors have struggled to find any community identity which can have suggested such a grouping. All our natural support lies with Axminster. Councillors are concerned, too, that the geographical extent and rural nature of the proposed Whimple‐Newbridges Division does not lendf itsel to effective and convenient government. The existing divisions, centred as they are on the main towns in the district are more compact and travel within them is more sustainable for the member in terms of both time and distance. In addition, the number of parishes proposed for the division will make it harder for the member to visit each parish on a regular basis. Kilmington Parish Councillors would suggest that a slightly modified version of the present composition of the division would better meet the needs of residents, with Uplyme parish replacing Yarcome, which has natural links with Honiton rather than Axminster. Please consider the above objections in making your decision. Yours faithfully, Hilary Kirkcaldie, CLERK TO KILMINGTON PARISH COUNCIL 1 Local Boundary Commission for England Consultation Portal Page 1 of 1 Devon County Personal Details: Name: Martin Johnson E-mail: Postcode: Organisation Name: Kingsbridge Town Council Comment text: At Kingsbridge Town Council's meeting held on 9 June 2015 members received the Local Government Boundary Commission for England’s draft recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Devon County Council (DCC) and considered the same. The proposal is for DCC to reduce from 62 to 60 members. Kingsbridge is currently served by 2 ward members i.e. Kingsbridge & Stokenham and Thurlestone, Salcombe & Allington. The latter takes in the area to the west of the A379 i.e. Trebblepark, Redford, Westville and Kingsway Park locales. The draft recommendation is for one DCC ward member to cover the whole of the town’s local authority area (alongside other communities to the east) to be called “Kingsbridge”. However, members note 2 areas which are intrinsically part of the town but are earmarked to be included in the adjacent “Salcombe” ward area. It is therefore strongly requested that the draft boundary be revised in order that 14 properties in Tacketwood and 4 properties in Archery Close be included in the proposed “Kingsbridge” ward. Thank you. Martin Johnson, Town Clerk, Kingsbridge Town Council, Uploaded Documents: None Uploaded https://consultation.lgbce.org.uk/node/print/informed-representation/5390 17/06/2015 LUPPITT PARISH COUNCIL’S DRAFT RECOMMENDATIONS ON THE ELECTORAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR DEVON COUNTY COUNCIL We would like to suggest a range of amendments to the arrangements for the East Devon District. These amendments are based on the three main criteria: Improve electoral equality Reflect community identity Provide for effective and convenient local government It would appear that the mean average for the number of electors per councillor is 10,400. There is also a suggestion that a 10% variance from the average is acceptable. In speaking to residents, county, district and parish councillors in East Devon, it would appear that the criteria set out above, particularly “community identity” is the most important element of a proposed re-arrangement. Luppitt has always had a strong affiliation with its nearest market town, Honiton. It would have no connection whatsoever with Whimple and Newbridges and would have no chance of maintaining the community identity that it has always enjoyed. Luppitt Parish Council very much appreciates our County Councillor who regularly attends our monthly meetings. As Whimple and Newbridges will comprise 21 parishes, it will be physically impossible for the County Councillor to attend more than a handful of meetings, if that, during the year. It will simply be too big an area for one person to represent effectively. Thus, the relationship with the County Council for all the parishes being swallowed up into Whimple and Newbridges would be severely affected to the detriment of all. In the East Devon District, the TOTAL number of the projected electorate to 2020 is 112,296, with an allocation of 11 councillors. This gives an average number of electors per councillor of 10,209 (which is below the average number suggested of 10,400) If there were only 10 councillors allocated in the East Devon District, this would give an average for the projected electorate to 2020 of 11,300, which is still within the 10% variance. It is our suggestion that this can be achieved by a far more acceptable rearrangement of parishes, providing greatly improved community identity, more convenient local government and still retaining electoral equality. Here are our suggestions: Axmouth and Combpyne Rousdon would be removed from the AXMINSTER division added to the SEATON and COLYTON division The parishes of All Saints, Chardstock, Dalwood, Kilmington, Membury and Shute & Whitford would be added to the AXMINSTER division These are our suggestions for the two divisions in the east of the district. We appreciate that these amendments would have a knock-on effect to the other divisions. However, we suggest that this can lead to a vast improvement to the other divisions as follows: HONITON would include all the parishes surrounding the market town of Honiton and may also include Yarcombe from the current AXMINSTER division. Luppitt would be very happy to remain as part of the Honiton division. This proposal would enable Luppitt and other surrounding parishes to retain their community identity which plays such an important part in this time of severe cutbacks where the villages are being left more and more to their own devices. It also makes more sense from a geographical point of view. Otter Valley (OTTERY) could include some additional small parishes, but would lose some, such as East Budleigh, Bicton and Otterton, which would revert to BUDLEIGH SALTERTON. Ottery would gain some of the adjacent smaller parishes, such as Feniton. SIDMOUTH would probably remain as suggested BUDLEIGH SALTERTON would be separate from Exmouth, but include a number of smaller parishes, including East Budleigh, Bicton and Otterton EXMOUTH could be split to WEST EXMOUTH and EAST EXMOUTH which may be preferable to the town being represented by two councillors. This leaves BROADCLYST where currently 2 councillors are designated. We would suggest this would be split and be redefined as BROADCLYST and CRANBROOK. Each division would include surrounding parishes. eg Broadclyst would include parishes to the north and west, whilst Cranbrook, which is growing extremely fast would include parishes such as Whimple and Rockbeare. Therefore we suggest that the East Devon District would consist of the following 10 divisions: Axminster Broadclyst Budleigh Salterton Cranbrook Exmouth East Exmouth West Honiton Ottery Seaton / Colyton Sidmouth It is our view that this is a far more equitable arrangement, with each division containing a Market or Coastal Town as its hub. This eliminates the 21 parish division termed Whimple and Newbridges, where the local community would struggle with an identity. The numbers may need to be juggled around somewhat, but I believe this is achievable and meets the criteria set by the Commission. Pascoe, Mark From: Mayers, Mishka Sent: 18 June 2015 09:36 To: Pascoe, Mark Subject: FW: Local Gov. Review- Devon County Council From: Mishka Mayers On Behalf Of reviews Sent: 18 June 2015 09:13 To: Pascoe, Mark Subject: FW: Local Gov. Review‐ Devon County Council Devon Email Submission From: David Eeles Sent: 16 June 2015 16:51 To: Subject: Local Gov. Review‐ Devon County Council Dear Sir/ Madam, I have been asked to pass on to you that both Marldon Parish Council and Berry Pomeroy Parish Council at their recent meetings voted to oppose the changes recommended by your body.