Reigate and Banstead Borough Council

June 2018 Summary Report The full report and detailed maps: consultation.lgbce.org.uk www.lgbce.org.uk @LGBCE

Have your say: We are now consulting local people on a new pattern of wards for Reigate and Banstead Borough Council. The Commission has an open mind about its final recommendations and will consider every pieceofevidenceit Reigate and Banstead receives from local groups and people, regardless of whom it is from or whether it relates to the whole council area or a part of it.

If you agree with our recommendations, please let us know. If you don’t think our recommendations are right Borough Council for Reigate and Banstead, we want to hear alternative proposals for a different pattern of wards. Draft recommendations on the new electoral arrangements

The Commission aims to propose a pattern of wards for Reigate and Banstead which delivers:

■ Electoral equality: each councillor represents a similar number of voters. ■ Community identity: reflects the identity and interests of local communities. ■ Effective and convenient local government: helping your council discharge its responsibilities effectively.

A good pattern of wards should: ■ Facilities: does your pattern of wards reflect where local people go for shops, medical ■ Provide good electoral equality, with each services, leisure facilities etc? councillor representing, as closely as possible, ■ Interests: what issues bind the community the same number of voters. together or separate it from other parts of your ■ Reflect community interests and identities and area? include evidence of community links. ■ Identifiable boundaries: are there natural or ■ Be based on strong, easily identifiable constructed features which make strong boundaries. boundaries for your proposals? ■ Help the council deliver effective and convenient local government. Effective local government:

Electoral equality: ■ Are any of the proposed wards too large or small to be represented effectively? ■ Does your proposal mean that councillors ■ Are the proposed names of the wards Who we are: Why Reigate and Banstead? ■ The Local Government Boundary Commission for ■ Reigate and Banstead currently has high levels of would represent roughly the same number of appropriate? voters as elsewhere in the council area? England is an independent body set up by Parliament. electoral inequality: some councillors represent many Useful tips: ■ We are not part of government or any political party. more - or many fewer - voters than others. Community identity: ■ We are accountable to Parliament through a ■ Therefore the value of your vote, in borough council ■ Our website has a special consultation area committee of MPs chaired by the Speaker of the House elections, varies depending on where you live in ■ Transport links: are there good links across where you can explore the maps and draw your of Commons. Reigate and Banstead. your proposed ward? Is there any form of public own proposed boundaries. You can find it at ■ Our main role is to carry out electoral reviews of local transport? consultation.lgbce.org.uk. authorities throughout England. ■ Community groups: is there a parish council, ■ We publish all submissions we receive on our Our proposals: residents association or another group that website. Go to: www.lgbce.org.uk Electoral review: ■ Reigate and Banstead Borough Council currently represents the area? An electoral review examines and proposes new has 51 councillors. electoral arrangements for a local authority, including: ■ We propose that the council should have 45 Write to: Our consultation area: ■ The total number of councillors representing the councillors in future, representing 15 three-councillor Review Officer (Reigate and Banstead) consultation.lgbce.org.uk council’s voters (‘council size’). wards across the council area. LGBCE Email: ■ The names, number and boundaries of wards or [email protected] 14th floor, Millbank Tower electoral divisions. You haveuntil 13 August 2018 tohave Twitter: London ■ The number of councillors for each ward or division. your sayon the recommendations SW1P 4QP @LGBCE Summary of our recommendations

We have considered all of the over 170 submissions Overview of draft recommendations received in response to our request for warding proposals, and recognise that many were sent in response to the Borough Council’s proposals for the for Reigate and Banstead Nork, Tattenham Corner and Preston area.

Our draft recommendations propose that Reigate and Borough Council Banstead should have 45 councillors in future. This is View this map online and draw your own boundaries: 6 fewer than the current number of councillors. consultation.lgbce.org.uk Those councillors should represent 15 three-councillor Follow the review on Twitter: wards, four fewer wards than there are now, across the @LGBCE council area. If you are viewing this page online, click on the map to go straight to our interactive consultation area. The boundaries of all wards should change, none will stay the same.

An outline of the proposals is shown in the map to the right. A detailed report on the recommendations and interactive mapping is available on our website at: www.lgbce.org.uk.

The Commission welcomes comments on these draft recommendations, whether you support the proposals or wish to put forward alternative arrangements.

In particular, the Commission welcomes proposals for alternative boundaries or ward names which meet the criteria we must follow as part of electoral reviews and which are described in more detail over the page.

Haveyour say at consultation.lgbce.org.uk:

■ view the map of our recommendations down to street level. ■ draw your own boundaries online. ■ zoom into the areas that interest you most. ■ find more guidance on how to have your say. ■ read the full report of our recommendations. ■ send us your views directly.

Stage of Description review

30 January - Public consultation on new 9 April 2018 ward boundaries

5 June - 13 August Public consultation on draft 2018 recommendations

2 October 2018 Publication of final recommendations