Local Government Boundary Review for the Nottingham City Council Local Authority Submission for Stage One (Public Consultation on new ward boundaries) on behalf of: Nottingham Conservatives September 2017 1 Contents Introduction 3 Background 4 Rationale and Methodology 5 Clifton and south of the River Trent 7 Wollaton; Lenton and University 12 City Centre and the Inner City 16 North Nottingham 24 Nottingham East and the Gedling Fringe 32 Appendix 1 40 Appendix 2 41 2 Introduction This is a submission of proposals for Stage One (Public Consultation on new ward boundaries) for the Local Government Boundary Commission for England’s (the LGBCE) current Review of the Nottingham City Council Local Authority area. This submission is on behalf of the members of Nottingham Conservatives and the Conservative Group of Councillors on Nottingham City Council. The following pages contain a detailed proposed warding pattern for the entire Authority area along with justifications and arguments as to why Nottingham City Council should be restructured with this arrangement. These proposals have been assembled following consultation with members of Nottingham Conservatives from across the City and the Conservative Group of Councillors on Nottingham City Council. The Review was initiated following the identification of a number of wards in the Authority area that have evolved to have a variance of electors greater than the statutory +/-10% tolerance for electoral equality. These wards are: Bilborough: 12% Bridge: 25% Dunkirk & Lenton: -27% Wollaton East & Lenton Abbey: -34%. 3 Background The current warding arrangements for Nottingham City Council have existed since the 2000 Local Government Elections and many parts of the city area have changed substantially over the past seventeen years. As with any major metropolitan city, new developments and investment covering the commercial; residential; education and transport sectors have had a significant impact in the way in which different communities within the city have evolved. Some of these communities have changed very little or not at all; whilst others have changed significantly. In Nottingham, perhaps the most visible change to the city since the last electoral boundary review has been the reintroduction of trams to Nottingham’s streets in the form of Nottingham Express Transit. This first carried passengers from the north of the city to the City Centre in spring 2004; and then on to Clifton and the south of the city in August 2015. This has had a major impact on the way people travel across the city and has been a catalyst for change along the corridor which it serves. Overall, this submission proposes a new pattern of wards which hopes to reflect that evolving scene in Nottingham and has not been designed to just cover the minimal of amendments to the existing boundaries that would be required to rebalance the wards which no longer have an equality of electors. 4 Rationale and Methodology In April 2017 Nottingham Conservatives submitted a proposal for the City Council to continue to comprise 55 councillors. This was also the proposal submitted by Nottingham City Council and the LGBCE have announced that they will be seeking to assemble a warding pattern based around this number of councillors. Nottingham Conservatives received from the City Council the projected figures for the electorate for the entire Local Authority area. This forecasts that the Authority will represent 211,255 electors by 2023. With a Local Authority consisting of 55 councillors this equates to 3841 electors per councillor if every councillor is representing an equal number of constituents across the city. In order to allow for the structural +/-10% tolerance that is permitted with this target for electoral equality the proposals in this submission ensure that no councillor will be representing a number of electors greater than 4225 or less than 3457. Warding Strategy Following the changes outlined in the Background above, the overall strategy for constructing the wards in this Submission has been to move away from the existing three-member arrangement to a mostly two-member warding arrangement. This is due to the strong belief of Nottingham Conservatives that the current wards are too large geographically and swamp many of the diverse minority communities within them. This has the negative consequence of providing generally ineffective representation to the often complex issues that are prevalent in some of these communities. This is very evident in some of the existing wards such as Bridge; Mapperley; Clifton North and Radford & Park – all of which are examples of wards that combine communities with little or even no social cohesion; transport connectivity or any other tangible community ties. Even if a three-member warding approach was still adopted following the Review then whilst many of the existing wards would still satisfy the requirement of electoral equality (Radford & Park for instance) many would continue to breach the LGBCE’s other criteria of reflecting the interests and identities of local communities and promoting effective local government. Additionally, the Nottingham City Council Local Authority is unusual among its neighbouring core cities in that the entire Council is elected in one election (which normally takes place every four years) rather than “by thirds” (where one councillor per ward is normally elected on an annual basis.) This further reduces the case for continuing with the arrangements of three-member wards as a “by thirds” electoral cycle has never been adopted for Nottingham City Council and it is highly unlikely that such an electoral framework will be adopted in the future. 5 Methodology and Submission Structure Nottingham Conservatives proposal for the future electoral arrangements for Nottingham City Council can be summarised as follows: Continuation of 55 councillors to all be elected in one cycle every four years. (As per statutory requirements.) Assembly of 31 new wards in the following pattern: 1 three-member 22 two-member 8 single-member Approximately 3841 electors per councillor (with not more than 4225 or less than 3457 per councillor.) The numbers used to generate these proposals and help ensure electoral equality were provided by Nottingham City Council and these comprise the projected electorate for the Authority area in 2023, five years following the completion of the Review. Where possible, existing polling districts have been used to construct proposed wards. However where it has been necessary to split polling districts then a Street List (also provided by Nottingham City Council) has been used to calculate the total projected electorate. The submission is broken down into five broad sections that separately cover the main geographic components of the city. Within each section a list of the proposed wards is given along with their projected number of electors; proposed number of councillors and a justification as to why each is an acceptable ward. The justification is produced to suit the following criteria as outlined by the LGBCE: Delivering electoral equality for local voters. Reflecting the interests and identities of local communities. Promoting effective and convenient local government and reflecting electoral cycles. To support the argument for each ward (and provide clarification regarding where those wards should be) maps have been provided showing some of the identifiable communities within the city; as well as the proposed boundaries for the suggested wards. As stated in the Introduction, these proposals were assembled following consultation with the Conservative Group of councillors on Nottingham City Council and the members of Nottingham Conservatives who represent different parts of the city and interact closely with many of the local residents groups in their respective communities. 6 Clifton and south of the River Trent The areas of the City covered by the current Clifton North and Clifton South wards are perhaps the most geographically distinctive part of the Authority area due to it being the only area to lie south of the River Trent. This, coupled with the extensive Queens Drive/Lenton Industrial and Retail areas; as well as the large green space around the river near Clifton Bridge creates a natural boundary between this block and the rest of the City. The closest point in residential areas either side of the River Trent is on the north of the Wilford peninsular; however access between the two communities is still pedestrian-only (via Wilford Toll Bridge) or via tram which uses the same bridge. Reliable access between the communities south of the River Trent and the rest of the city is restricted almost to road transport only via Clifton Bridge on the A52 and A453 and this is not expected to change in the future. For these reasons, these proposals follow the rationale that the River Trent remains the boundary between wards south of the River Trent and wards in the rest of the city. The only significant change in connectivity here is the opening of the Nottingham Express Transit extension from Nottingham Railway Station south to Clifton in August 2015. Whilst this has had a positive impact on connectivity between Wilford; Clifton and the City Centre, and will continue to do so in the future, there is no evidence to assume that this impact will be substantial enough to consider proposing a ward which incorporates communities on both sides of the River Trent. (For example, The Meadows and Wilford.) Within the area to the south of the River Trent the following areas can be identified as distinct communities; either by natural boundary, or by demographic and community ties: 1. Wilford (including Wilford Village and the residential areas alongside Ruddington Lane.) 2. Silverdale. 3. Clifton Estate. 4. Clifton Grove (Fabis Drive Estate) 5. Nottingham Trent University Halls of Residence. (Clifton Campus). 6. Clifton Village. 7. Hartness Road Estate. 7 Figure 1A – General identifiable communities south of the River Trent. Under the current arrangements Wilford; Silverdale and the northern half of the Clifton Estate (including Clifton Grove) have been tied together in the Clifton North ward which is represented by three Councillors.