Warwickshire County Council – 10 April 2014 Item 2 Appendix Warwickshire County Council’s Draft Proposals for a new pattern of Divisions 2014 1 Warwickshire County Council Proposed Arrangements for Divisions Background The Council made a submission to the Boundary Commission for a Council size of [57] Members. The Commission accepted the submission on [ ]. This report contains Warwickshire County Council’s (WCC) proposals for division arrangements, including [the number of and proposed names for the divisions and the number of Councillors per division]. Division Arrangements and Community Identities Warwickshire County Council has taken into account the Boundary Commission’s technical guidance when reviewing the division arrangements and making these submissions. The Council is mindful of the three statutory criteria of Electoral Equality, Community Identity and Effective and Convenient Local Government when putting forward its proposals. The County Council has a general preference for single member divisions, as the potential sheer scale of dual member divisions both in terms of the numbers of the electorate affected and the geographical areas call for caution. The perception might be that each councillor represents half the electorate but in practice both councillors are elected for the whole division. This potentially represents a substantial increase in the workload and all the tasks normally associated with their representative role e.g. canvassing, constituent queries, correspondence and telephone calls etc. The office of councillor is a voluntary one and the potential scale of the workload presented by a two-member division at county council level may adversely affect the equality of opportunity to those seeking public office and the objective of improving diversity of representation. Where very diverse communities are bounded together into one division there is an increased likelihood that the councillors will not be from the same political parties. The difficulties that this can create for clarity, accountability and community leadership on any given issue for the electorate should not be under estimated. This may well cause alienation of the electorate, disengagement with democracy and local government in general, resulting in a decrease in the turnout at elections and disenfranchisement. However the Council does accept that in certain circumstances a dual member division may be the preferred choice in meeting the three statutory criteria. Realistically they are only an option in relatively heavily populated urban areas where the geographical size of the area is comparatively small. It is with these considerations in mind that WCC recommends [57] divisions, comprising of [ ] single member divisions and [ ] dual member divisions. The geographical and demographic layout of Warwickshire lends itself to this proposal due to the combination of rural, less densely populated areas and urban and more highly populated areas. The dual member divisions proposed are [ ]. 2 1. North Warwickshire North Warwickshire Borough is the smallest District/Borough in Warwickshire in terms of population, around 62,000 at the time of the 2011 Census, and lies between Birmingham, Solihull, Coventry, Nuneaton and Tamworth. The area is characterised by attractive open countryside, served by the market towns of Atherstone, Coleshill and Polesworth. There are a number of small villages together with hamlets of only a few houses. Communities vary from former mining settlements, where incomes remain generally low and deprivation is experienced, to more affluent settlements where many residents commute to work in towns outside the Borough. In recent years there has been a rapid expansion in the number of jobs in the Borough, on employment sites such as Hams Hall and Birch Coppice, with these being home to a wide range of employers such as BMW and Ocado. The Borough has excellent transport links by both road and rail, and a new Coleshill Parkway Station has opened in recent years. The proposed HS2 route is currently planned to run through North Warwickshire. The overwhelming land use throughout the area is agriculture, largely in extensive estates and accompanied by countryside recreation. Nationally, farming has declined as an employer, but is still of major importance in the local economy and underpins the rural scene. There is no main urban centre as the area is served by small market towns and villages. There is competition from the surrounding conurbations for the growing number of new jobs in the Borough, shopping and other services. Due to the dispersed rural nature of the area, people can have to travel considerable distances to access jobs, services and facilities causing problems for those with mobility problems and lack of transport. Transport is a major barrier to accessing employment and services in the area, and many of the new jobs are taken by in-commuters who can often access the employment sites more easily.. There is a varied supply of housing, often in pleasant rural surroundings, and house prices appear to be more affordable than elsewhere in Warwickshire. The proposal for the electoral division of North Warwickshire has been drawn up around the major communities in the area and where possible the areas which they serve in terms of facilities. This is a predominantly rural area and inevitably some anomalies arise as a result of this. The communities of Polesworth, Water Orton, Dordon / Baddesley, Kingsbury, Atherstone, Hartshill / Mancetter and Coleshill each form the nucleus of their districts: The proposed pattern of divisions for North Warwickshire is for single member divisions. There is one division which falls outside of the permitted electoral variance from the county average [Kingsbury -13.06%]. This is however a relatively small deviation and more than compensated for by its contribution to enabling a sensible pattern of divisions across the district. Despite trying a number of variants and having regard to the three statutory criteria one division always seem to come out with less than the required number of electors. No parishes require warding under these proposals and we have achieved 58.8% in terms of 3 coterminosity with district wards. The standard deviation from the average number of electors for this district is 262 and therefore we have achieved a good level of electoral equality across North Warwickshire. The proposed pattern of divisions is what we consider the best fit having regard to the statutory criteria. See the attached Map 1 NW1 Polesworth Polesworth, Shuttington, Newton Regis, Seckington, No Mans Heath, Austrey Electorate: 7162 Our proposal keeps the town of Polesworth together within a single division. This will satisfy the community in that area, who identify as residents of the town, are keen for it not to be split, and will avoid confusion among the electorate. The villages of Shuttington, Seckington, Newton Regis and Austrey are all linked to Polesworth by roads and the town forms the community centre for this rural area on the edge of Tamworth (in neighbouring Staffordshire). Polesworth is the largest community in the North of the Borough and serves the villages to the north in terms of the High school, Library, childrens’ centre and some shopping facilities. NW2 Baddersley and Dordon Warton, Grendon, Baddesley Ensor, Dordon, Wood End Electorate: 7578 This division includes the former mining communities of Baddesley, Grendon, Dordon, and Warton. This fairly reflects community identities as the mining villages have similar interests and share local community history. Warton is a rural village, which has more in common with the other villages in Baddesley and Grendon than the town of Polesworth. Baddesley and Grendon have always been in an electoral division with Dordon and there are many links between these communities, not least the A5 road that joins them. The larger villages of Dordon, Baddesley and Grendon are a focus for the other smaller villages in the division. Dordon and Baddesley are again two significant communities in close proximity who are served by Polesworth High School. The anomaly here is the community of Warton which shares a Parish council with Polesworth but if added to Polesworth would put that division way outside the upper 10% electoral variance. A unifying factor is the local GP Practice which serves all of the surrounding villages and is based in Dordon. The Division is also home to the Birch Coppice Business Park, where there have been an increasing number of job opportunities over recent years as the employment site has been redeveloped. 4 NW3 Atherstone Atherstone Electorate: 7519 Our proposal keeps the town of Atherstone as a single electoral division by combining the district wards of Atherstone North with most of the Atherstone South and Mancetter ward. Atherstone is a thriving market town and community in its own right and is essentially provided with its own discrete facilities. Atherstone has its own railway station. The community also holds the annual Atherstone Ball Game, which been played through the streets of Atherstone every Shrove Tuesday since the Middle Ages. It also holds the ‘Dickens Night’ every year, which is held in November and recreates the town's Victorian era. NW4 Hartshill and Mancetter Caldecott, Mancetter, Harts Hill, Ansley Common, Church End, Old Arley, England Electorate: 7047 Ansley village is a former mining community and many of its residents worked in the mines in the locality when they were operational: Both Ansley Common