Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council Liberal Democrat Group

Submission to the Boundary Commission review of electoral arrangements in Redcar & Cleveland Borough 2017

Introduction

The Liberal Democrat Group on Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council is pleased that there is an opportunity to review the boundaries of the wards served by members.

The current ward arrangements are out of date, with much over-representation and under-representation. In some cases the current ward structure never reflected communities particularly well.

This submission is based largely on a draft proposal devised independently by council officers for the benefit of a cross-party working group of councillors. It made a great deal of sense in equalising representation, whilst respecting community identities. The following proposal uses the council officer’s base, with minor improvements which, it is felt, better represent the needs of community, population changes and major housing development plans.

This proposal is illustrated throughout with broad area maps, more detailed mapping is available electronically and accompanies this submission.

Headlines: This proposal for new ward boundaries will deliver:

 A Loftus Ward containing more of the area served by Loftus Town Council.  The Mickledales area of Redcar included in a Redcar ward.  Urban wards for Guisborough, rather than parts of the town combined with villages.  A Kirkleatham Ward which includes Kirkleatham Village.  A Dormanstown Ward which much more closely resembles the area commonly referred to as Dormanstown.  A Newcomen Ward which includes Newcomen Primary School.  A South Bank Ward which much more closely resembles the area commonly referred to as South Bank.  Unification of the Whale Hill community within Eston Ward.  An end to the division of Eston town centre between two wards.  Unification of the Lockwood Parish Council area in one ward.  No single member wards.

Starting points

Speaking generally, this submission uses current polling districts as the “building blocks” for new wards. However, in a small number of cases, it makes sense to organise polling districts differently in order to better reflect community identities.

A balance has to be reached between equality of representation (the ratio of councillors to electors represented) and the need for council wards to reflect identifiable communities. Broad areas

A logical starting point is to divide the borough into three broad areas: Greater Eston (the western urban core of the borough plus Lazenby and Wilton), Redcar & Marske (including New Marske, Yearby and Kirkleatham) and East Cleveland (Guisborough, Saltburn, Skelton, Brotton and Lofus, plus smaller settlements).

The projected population figures for 2023 suggest that a rebalance across the broad areas is necessary, with one of the Greater Eston councillors being redistributed to a less well represented part of the borough.

Broad area Current Projected Divide by councillors 2023 1814 electors (average no. of electors per councillor Greater Eston 17 29359 16.2 Redcar & 21 38963 21.5 Marske East Cleveland 21 38707 21.3

The table below illustrates the population change in the broad areas since 2001. Further planned development in Redcar & Marske and East Cleveland, is likely to create an even greater imbalance by 2023.

Broad area 2001 electors 2005 electors 2017 electors Change 2001- 2017 Greater Eston 30742 29810 28382 -2360 Redcar & 36877 37692 37931 1054 Marske East Cleveland 37387 37997 37750 363

Clearly, this disparity is unsustainable and the boundary review provides a good opportunity to address this imbalance.

A case could be made for either of the other two broad areas being given an additional representative (in order to have a total of 59). In terms of numbers, Redcar & Marske has the stronger claim to the extra member.

However, this proposal outlines the case for 22 members to be allocated to East Cleveland instead. This is because East Cleveland has a much larger geography, and is largely made up of small towns and large villages, which are much less easily divided than the larger conurbation of Redcar.

East Cleveland

Guisborough

The current Guisborough wards all contain a mix of urban parts of the town with villages outside the town. On the west of the town, this is unavoidable, as the small villages of Hutton, Pinchinthorpe and Newton-under-Roseberry are in a corner at the edge of the borough and cannot fit in anywhere else – there is no case for including them in the Greater Eston bloc for reasons of either geography or community identity.

The recommendation in this submission, is to create wards more urban in character for the town of Guisborough. Particularly unsatisfactory is the current Westworth Ward, which combines a swathe of Guisborough town with some relatively large villages to the east which are from a different parish council area.

It is therefore proposed that Guisborough be divided into three, largely urban wards:

A 2-member Guisborough North Ward, consisting of the current Guisborough Ward minus OG (Upleatham, see Saltburn below), minus OA (Woodhouse Road area) and minus OD (Belmangate area).

An amended 3-member Hutton Ward consisting of the current over-sized Hutton Ward minus PD (Dorset Road area) and PE (Aldenham Road area), plus OA (Woodhouse Road area).

A3-member Belmont Ward, consisting of the current Westworth Ward minus the villages of Boosbeck, Charltons and Margrove Park, plus OD (Belmangate), PD (Dorset Road area) and PE (Aldenham Road area). This will allow the villages to be integrated into a ward with the other parts of the Lockwood Parish Council area, as discussed later.

Loftus and Brotton

The current Loftus Ward is untenably small and outside the acceptable tolerance. To address this, the NC (Skinningrove) polling district from Brotton should be added to it. This creates a large ward but it is within the tolerance and unites more of the Loftus Town Council area in Loftus ward.

This creates a small Brotton Ward but which is within the tolerance and reflects an identifiable community.

Lockwood and Skelton

Representation by councillors in Redcar & Cleveland borough is largely based on two or three-member wards, where residents have a choice of councillors to contact for help and advice.

In this respect, the current single-member Lockwood Ward is an anomaly. It causes a problem as there is nobody for residents to contact if the member is on holiday, ill, etc.

In addition, the name is misleading as it only covers roughly half of the Lockwood Parish Council area.

Skelton is over-sized so it is recommended that Skelton Green (UD) polling district be removed. This is not ideal but it needs to be done to keep the electorate size within the tolerance, especially in light of further planned housing development in Skelton.

Skelton Green should be added to the current Lockwood Ward along with Boosbeck and Margrove Park/Charltons areas (from the current Westworth) to create a new South Cleveland Villages Ward. This does away with single-member representation and has the added advantage of uniting the Lockwood Parish Council area within one ward. The villages have a shared historic mining identity and comparable demographics.

Saltburn

Saltburn Ward is currently under-sized and should be enlarged with the addition of Upleatham (OG) from Guisborough, plus the outlying parts of VC from St Germains Ward.

TS12 postcodes in the St Germains ward (e.g. Windy Hill Farm) could be moved into Saltburn Ward, along with some additions of rural land and dwellings from the current Skelton Ward, which align more closely with Saltburn.

Greater Eston

Ormesby/Normanby

For the Ormesby/Normanby area it is proposed to transfer a small part of the southern end of the Spencerbeck Estate from Normanby to Ormesby. We believe this would be sensible in keeping ward electorates within the tolerance, as Ormesby is currently under-sized and Normanby over-sized.

South Bank

Changes are proposed to South Bank Ward which would create a ward more representative of the community of South Bank and reduce it to a 2-member ward, thereby rectifying the imbalance of representation borough-wide.

The current ward includes areas a good way south of the “Trunk Road” which are normally considered to be part of Teesville. South Bank should not include this area but should include the site of the former steelworks which is currently in Dormanstown Ward. Siting the whole of the footprint of the former steelworks in a single ward is important in facilitating its redevelopment, especially in light of the creation of the South Tees Development Corporation, established to oversee the project.

It is acknowledged that, in this proposal, South Bank is over represented, but this is justified by the level of deprivation in the ward and the scale of the task involved in negotiating the redevelopment of the steelworks site.

Grangetown

Grangetown is currently severely under-sized. It is proposed that the Tawney Road area is added to Grangetown from the current Teesville Ward. Residents of that area consider themselves to be from Grangetown, so this appears to be a simple way of both increasing the electorate and creating a ward more representative of the area commonly identified as Grangetown.

Eston/Teesville

It is proposed to unite the whole of the Whale Hill community in the Eston ward (currently split down the middle along Birchington Avenue between Eston and Teesville). The area has a clearly defined sense of identity, centred on a community centre and social club.

It is proposed to move the Lime Road area of the Teesville Ward into Eston Ward, along with southern parts of the current South Bank.

The Tawney Road area should be transferred to Grangetown Ward (see Grangetown above).

The boundary between Teesville and Eston on Eston High Street should be moved slightly northwards in order to unite the shopping area in one ward (Eston).

Redcar & Marske

Coatham

Coatham is currently over-sized to the extent that it is outside the 10% tolerance. It is therefore proposed that the south-eastern areas are transferred to a new ward in East Redcar.

The coastal strip from Coatham Village to South Gare should be included in Coatham Ward (currently Dormanstown), as this is the only ward from which it can be accessed.

Newcomen

Newcomen Ward is currently significantly under-sized, so most of the areas east of Redcar Lane should be added. This would bring Newcomen Primary School into Newcomen Ward instead of Dormanstown. The north-east area of the ward (the Sandringham Road area) would be transferred to Coatham Ward.

Dormanstown

The current Dormanstown Ward includes several areas not usually thought of as part of Dormanstown. Dormanstown is a very distinct and identifiable community separate to Redcar, originally built to house steelworkers and their families. It is therefore proposed that the ward be restricted to a 2-member area, which is more identifiable with the community of Dormanstown.

The area east of Redcar Lane should largely move to Newcomen Ward.

The villages of Kirkleatham Village and Yearby should become part of Kirkleatham Ward.

West Dyke

The current West Dyke ward is over-sized by a huge margin. It is recommended that the ward be split into two new wards, with the addition of more areas from bordering wards.

The area north of Greenstones Road should merge with the south-east part of Coatham ward to become a new 3-member ward called “Borough Park Ward”.

The remainder of the ward should become a new 2-member ward called “Wheatlands Ward” with the addition of the Wheatlands Park estate (from Kirkleatham) and the Mickledales estate (from Longbeck).

Kirkleatham

It makes no sense for a ward called Kirkleatham not to include Kirkleatham Village. Kirkleatham Village and Yearby should be added to Kirkleatham Ward.

At the south-east of the ward, the Wheatlands Park estate, currently only accessible from West Dyke Ward, would be better served as part of the new Wheatlands Ward.

Zetland

No changes are proposed to Zetland Ward, as it is close to the right size for a 2- member ward, and the railway line acts as a sensible boundary.

St Germains/Longbeck

It is proposed that Longbeck be reduced to a 2-member ward without the Mickledales Estate.

The Mickledales Estate, whilst associated with Marske and Saltburn for parish council purposes, is fundamentally part of Redcar. It is therefore proposed that it be transferred to a new ward in East Redcar.

To compensate, the boundary between the current Longbeck Ward and St Germains should be moved westwards in order to create wards of more equal representation.

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RCBC map lib dem 1:80,000 December 4, 2017