Draft Recommendations on the Future Electoral Arrangements for Oldham
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Draft recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Oldham February 2003 © Crown Copyright 2003 Applications for reproduction should be made to: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office Copyright Unit. The mapping in this report is reproduced from OS mapping by The Electoral Commission with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, © Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Licence Number: GD 03114G. This report is printed on recycled paper. 2 Contents Page What is The Boundary Committee for England? 5 Summary 7 1 Introduction 13 2 Current electoral arrangements 15 3 Submissions received 19 4 Analysis and draft recommendations 21 5 What happens next? 45 Appendix A Draft recommendations for Oldham: 47 Detailed mapping B Code of Practice on Written Consultation 49 3 4 What is The Boundary Committee for England? The Boundary Committee for England is a committee of The Electoral Commission, an independent body set up by Parliament under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. The functions of the Local Government Commission for England were transferred to The Electoral Commission and its Boundary Committee on 1 April 2002 by the Local Government Commission for England (Transfer of Functions) Order 2001 (SI 2001 No. 3692). The Order also transferred to The Electoral Commission the functions of the Secretary of State in relation to taking decisions on recommendations for changes to local authority electoral arrangements and implementing them. Members of the Committee are: Pamela Gordon (Chair) Professor Michael Clarke CBE Robin Gray Joan Jones CBE Ann M Kelly Professor Colin Mellors Archie Gall (Director) We are required by law to review the electoral arrangements of every principal local authority in England. Our aim is to ensure that the number of electors represented by each councillor in an area is as nearly as possible the same, taking into account local circumstances. We can recommend changes to ward boundaries, the number of councillors and ward names. We can also recommend changes to the electoral arrangements of parish and town councils. 5 6 Summary We began a review of the electoral arrangements for Oldham on 14 May 2002. • This report summarises the submissions we received during the first stage of the review, and makes draft recommendations for change. We found that the current arrangements provide unequal representation of electors in Oldham: • in six of the 20 wards the number of electors represented by each councillor varies by more than 10% from the average for the borough and one ward varies by more than 20% from the average; • by 2006 this situation is expected to continue, with the number of electors per councillor forecast to vary by more than 10% from the average in six wards and by more than 20% in one ward. Our main draft recommendations for future electoral arrangements (see Tables 1 and 2 and paragraphs 151–152) are that: • Oldham Borough Council should have 60 councillors, the same as at present; • there should be 20 wards, the same as at present; • the boundaries of 18 of the existing wards should be modified, and two wards should retain their existing boundaries. The purpose of these proposals is to ensure that, in future, each borough councillor represents approximately the same number of electors, bearing in mind local circumstances. • In all of the proposed 20 wards the number of electors per councillor would vary by no more than 6% from the borough average. • This improved level of electoral equality is forecast to continue with the number of electors per councillor in all wards expected to vary by no more than 6% from the average for the borough in 2006. Recommendations are also made for changes to parish council electoral arrangements which provide for: • revised warding arrangements and the redistribution of councillors for Shaw & Crompton parish; • a number of minor modifications to the parish ward boundaries of Saddleworth parish. This report sets out our draft recommendations on which comments are invited. • We will consult on these proposals for eight weeks from 25 February 2003. We take this consultation very seriously. We may decide to move away from our draft recommendations in the light of comments or suggestions that we receive. It is therefore important that all interested parties let us have their views and evidence, whether or not they agree with our draft recommendations. • After considering local views, we will decide whether to modify our draft recommendations. We will then submit our final recommendations to The Electoral Commission which will be responsible for implementing change to local authority electoral arrangements. 7 • The Electoral Commission will decide whether to accept, modify or reject our final recommendations. It will also determine when any changes come into effect. You should express your views by writing directly to us at the address below by 22 April 2003: Team Leader Oldham Review The Boundary Committee for England Trevelyan House Great Peter Street London SW1P 2HW 8 Table 1: Draft recommendations: summary Large Number of Ward name Constituent areas map councillors reference 1 Alexandra 3 Part of Alexandra ward; part of Lees ward; part of 4 St Paul’s ward 2 Chadderton Central 3 Part of Chadderton Central ward; part of 2 Chadderton South ward 3 Chadderton North 3 Unchanged - Chadderton North ward 2 4 Chadderton South 3 Part of Chadderton Central ward; part of 2 Chadderton South ward 5 Coldhurst 3 Part of Coldhurst ward; part of Royton South 2, 3 & 4 ward; part of St Paul’s ward; part of Werneth ward 6 Crompton 3 Part of Shaw & Crompton parish (the proposed 1 & 3 North and West parish wards) 7 Failsworth East 3 Part of Failsworth East ward; part of Failsworth West ward; part of Hollinwood ward; part of St 2 & 4 Paul’s ward 8 Failsworth West 3 Part of Failsworth East ward; part of Failsworth 2 West ward 9 Hollinwood 3 Part of Hollinwood ward; part of St Paul’s ward 2 & 4 10 Lees & Saddleworth West 3 Part of Saddleworth parish (the proposed Springhead Lower parish ward); part of Lees 3 & 4 ward; part of St Mary’s ward 11 Royton North 3 Part of Shaw & Crompton parish (the proposed Fir 2 & 3 Lane parish ward); part of Royton North ward 12 Royton South 3 Part of Coldhurst ward; part of Royton North ward; 2 & 3 part of Royton South ward 13 Saddleworth North 3 Part of Saddleworth parish (the proposed Delph, 1, 3 & 5 Dobcross and Springhead Higher parish wards) 14 Saddleworth South 3 Part of Saddleworth parish (the proposed 3, 4 & 5 Greenfield and Uppermill parish wards) 15 St James’ 3 St James’ ward; Part of Waterhead ward 3 16 St Mary’s 3 Part of Alexandra ward; part of Lees ward; part of 3 & 4 St Mary’s ward; part of St Paul’s ward 17 St Paul’s 3 Part of Alexandra ward; part of St Paul’s ward 4 9 Large Number of Ward name Constituent areas map councillors reference 18 Shaw 3 Unchanged - part of Shaw & Crompton parish (the 1 & 3 proposed East and South parish wards) 19 Waterhead 3 Part of St Mary’s ward; part of Waterhead ward 3 & 4 20 Werneth 3 Part of St Paul’s ward; part of Werneth ward 2 & 4 Notes: 1) Saddleworth and Shaw & Crompton are the only parished parts of the borough, as indicated above. 2) The wards on the above table are illustrated on Map 2 and the large maps. 3) We have made a number of minor boundary amendments to ensure that existing ward boundaries adhere to ground detail. These changes do not affect any electors. 10 Table 2: Draft recommendations for Oldham Number of Variance Number of Variance Number Electorate electors from Electorate electors from Ward name of (2001) per average (2006) per average councillors councillor % councillor % 1 Alexandra 3 7,543 2,514 -6 7,617 2,539 -5 2 Chadderton Central 3 7,826 2,609 -2 8,159 2,720 1 3 Chadderton North 3 8,157 2,719 2 8,012 2,671 0 4 Chadderton South 3 8,104 2,701 2 7,976 2,659 -1 5 Coldhurst 3 7,992 2,664 0 8,033 2,678 0 6 Crompton 3 8,257 2,752 3 8,146 2,715 1 7 Failsworth East 3 7,813 2,604 -2 7,842 2,614 -2 8 Failsworth West 3 8,017 2,672 0 7,935 2,645 -1 9 Hollinwood 3 7,798 2,599 -2 7,966 2,655 -1 10 Lees & Saddleworth 3 8,346 2,782 5 8,524 2,841 6 West 11 Royton North 3 8,403 2,801 5 8,306 2,769 3 12 Royton South 3 8,213 2,738 3 8,408 2,803 5 13 Saddleworth North 3 7,510 2,503 -6 7,858 2,619 -2 14 Saddleworth South 3 7,514 2,505 -6 7,699 2.566 -4 15 St James’ 3 8,039 2,680 1 8,245 2,748 3 16 St Mary’s 3 8,109 2,703 2 8,003 2,668 0 17 St Paul’s 3 7,846 2,615 -2 7,964 2,655 -1 18 Shaw 3 8,078 2,693 1 8,007 2,669 0 19 Waterhead 3 8,407 2,802 5 8,314 2,771 3 20 Werneth 3 7,691 2,564 -4 7,759 2,586 -3 Totals 60 159,663 – – 160,773 – – Averages – – 2,661 – – 2,680 – Source: Electorate figures are based on information provided by Oldham Borough Council.