LGBCE Review of Warwick District Council Ward Boundaries Warwick District Council Submission on Warding Arrangements 1.0 Introduction 1.1 This submission is made on behalf of Warwick District Council and is based upon the decision of the Council’s Licensing & Regulatory Committee on 11 January 2018. 1.2 This Council has a fundamental principle that wherever reasonably practicable the Electoral Boundaries should be coterminous, but in doing so they should meet the criteria for electoral equality, the interests and identities of local communities and should promote effective and convenient local government 1.3 Having considered this the Council believes that the proposal it has outlined in this submission meets the criteria for the review and would provide an approach that would best meet the needs of the local communities within Warwick District. 1.4 To achieve this outcome, the Council is proposing 20 Wards with a mixture of 1, 2 and 3 Councillors to represent each Ward to give electoral equality but also to recognise the individual communities within the District. 2.0 Delivering electoral equality for local voters 2.1 The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) has accepted the methodology for local elector growth within Warwick District from 109,855 in September 2017 to 123,333 in 2023. Following the decision by the LGBCE to set the Council size at 44, this provides an elector to councillor ratio in 2023 of 2803 to each Councillor. 2.2 The proposal from this Council works on a principle of coterminous boundaries across the District except for a few exceptions, to improve electoral equality within the towns of Leamington and Warwick. 2.3 Table 1, below, sets out the proposed Ward names, number of Councillors and the electorate from 2017. Also included is a reference number to link the Ward to the attached plan (Appendix 1 to this submission). Page 1 of 9 Table 1 in in rate Ward number Proposed Ward name Cllrs No. 2017 electo from % equality 2017 in 2023 electorate from % equality 2023 11 Bishop’s Tachbrook 2 2289 -54 5474 -2 4 Budbrooke 2 5710 14 6416 14 Cubbington & Leek 5 Wootton 2 5301 6 6499 16 3 Kenilworth Park Hill 3 7980 7 9154 9 2 Kenilworth St John's 3 7825 4 8160 -3 Lapworth & West 1 Kenilworth 3 6986 -7 7961 -5 14 Leamington Brunswick 3 8741 17 9292 11 13 Leamington Clarendon 1 2092 -16 2250 -20 15 Leamington Crown 2 4867 -3 4867 -13 12 Leamington Manor 2 5272 6 5342 -5 9 Leamington Milverton 2 5577 12 5632 0 16 Leamington Newbold 2 5773 16 5850 4 18 Leamington Sydenham 1 2215 -11 3056 9 17 Leamington Willes 2 5822 17 6027 8 20 Radford Semele 1 2258 -10 2686 -4 8 Warwick Aylesford 2 5124 3 5186 -7 Warwick Myton & 10 Heathcote 3 5562 -26 8115 -3 7 Warwick Saltisford 2 5433 9 5503 -2 6 Warwick Woodloes 3 7663 2 8200 -2 19 Whitnash 3 7365 -2 7664 -9 Total 44 109855 123333 Ratio 2497 2803 2.4 Set out within the attached Appendix 2 is the detailed breakdown of the electorates per polling district covered by this submission. 2.5 The Council is mindful that there are five Wards outside the tolerance of electoral equality both in 2017 and in 2023. The significant changes within each of the proposed Wards between these times are due the significant electoral growth as accepted by the LGBCE within the Council’s submission on elector growth. 2.6 The Council recognises that it will need to provide strong evidence for those proposed Wards with variances greater than 10% are justified on the grounds of the statutory criteria listed in sections 3 and 4 below. 3.0 Reflecting the interests and identities of local communities 3.1 As stated in the introduction, the Council has a fundamental principle that wherever reasonably practicable the electoral Boundaries should be coterminous, but in doing so they should meet within the criteria for electoral equality. Page 2 of 9 3.2 The Council was faced with the challenge of balancing these needs because of the significant development occurring across the District and the recognition that this level will continue up to and beyond 2023. 3.3 Therefore, the Council has submitted a proposal which recognises the communities within the District as far as possible and at the same time provides a good level of electoral equality. Overall the proposal falls into two main categories Kenilworth, Whitnash and the rural areas; and, Warwick and Leamington. 3.4 In Kenilworth, Whitnash and the rural areas the Council has considered the best approach would be to retain the coterminous boundaries with the current County Council Divisions. 3.5 Within the proposed three Wards to represent Kenilworth, it broadly retains the areas of electoral boundaries within the town that have, by and large been in place, for a significant number of years. This in itself has fostered a sense of identity within the town and it is understood Kenilworth Town Council supports this approach. The main difference to the current Wards is the inclusion of the large rural area to the west of Kenilworth. The large rural area has been represented through a number of different Wards but there is an affiliation between the communities and local Councils, based on the infrastructure within the area. This proposal also reflects the County Council Division of Lapworth & West Kenilworth and it is considered time should be given to enable this community to foster and develop further. This proposal would support that intention. The three proposed Wards all follow clear boundaries identified by the LGBCE as part of the Boundary review of the County Council divisions. 3.6 The proposed Ward of Whitnash largely reflects the Boundary for Whitnash Town Council, with the exception of the Whitnash Town Council East Ward. While this is not ideal, in excluding this Ward, this is an accepted anomaly where the housing development has only started in earnest within the last three years and there is no direct relationship with the rest of Whitnash town, although it has strong significant historical value to the Town. This arises as the areas are separated by a railway line and the access to the East Ward from Whitnash is only through Leamington Spa, albeit there is a pedestrian bridge over the railway. Therefore, it is considered appropriate to follow the boundary as identified by the County Council Division. 3.7 The proposed rural Wards of Cubbington & Leek Wootton and Radford Semele together cover the County Council division of Cubbington & Stoneleigh. The Council has proposed the Radford Semele Ward as it covers the same area as the current District Ward of Radford Semele for which there is a strong community link along the Fosse Way. The retention of this Ward helps to maintain the identity of the community and enables the relationship of electoral representation to continue. With regard to the Cubbington & Leek Wootton Ward, this takes in the remainder of the County Division for this area. While the Council has looked to improve electoral equality within this area it is felt that their maintaining coterminous boundaries in this area will also foster relationships across the communities, which is discussed in section 4 of this submission. There is a strong link of shared issues within the area overall including air traffic and the impact from HS2. In both of these proposed Wards the Boundaries follow established Parish Council Boundaries. Page 3 of 9 3.8 The current County Council Division of Budbrooke & Bishop’s Tachbrook does not have a strong community link and this was evidenced during the Warwickshire County Council election in 2016 with complaints being made by local electors. This arose from the distance between the Parishes of Shrewley and Bishop’s Tachbrook and there being no clear connection or transport link between them without going through Warwick. Therefore the Council has taken the opportunity to provide a proposal to split this area, as closely as possible, to electoral equality, but in a way that reflects the strong community bonds within the Parish areas. The proposed Ward for Bishop’s Tachbrook would also cover the same area as the Bishop’s Tachbrook Neighbourhood Plan. The Council recognises the electoral equality could be improved by moving Wasperton into the Bishop’s Tachbrook Ward however there is no direct relationship between these two areas, as access to the village of Wasperton is via a road running north-south from Barford. 3.9 The District Council is proposing four Wards within the County Town of Warwick. There is a strong level of electoral equality within each of them and also the opportunity for further growth. 3.10 The proposed Ward of Warwick Aylesford, while large in area, is centred around West Street, Stratford Road as well as Henley Road. It includes the Forbes and Chase Meadow estates. The new development of Chase Meadow has its own community centre and small shopping centre including a public house. The area has a number of schools including Aylesford (Secondary), Newburgh and Westgate. The Ward would include the significant public open space of St Mary’s Lands and the community sports clubs of Racing Club Warwick and Warwick Cricket Club. This also reflects the entire current Aylesford District Ward which came into effect in 2015. A continuation will enable this to continue to develop as a community. The proposed Ward would also clearly put Warwick Castle Park within a District Ward representing Warwick. 3.11 The proposed Warwick Woodloes Ward covers all of the County Division with the same name, primarily made up of the Woodloes and Percy estates along with an additional area to the south of the Birmingham Road.