Newcastle under Lyme Borough Council Labour Group Warding Pattern Considerations: The below constitute the proposals for the new arrangement of wards in Newcastle Borough Council following the decision by Newcastle Borough Council to reduce the number of Councillors to 44 from 60 and move the electoral cycle from elections‐by‐thirds to ‘all out’ elections starting in 2018. Proposed wards for parished areas within the Borough Silverdale Ward A multi‐member ward electing 2 councillors bringing together the polling districts of M0001, M0002, M0003 and M0004 from the existing ‘Silverdale and Parksite ward’ and N0003 and N0004 from the existing ‘Knutton and Silverdale ward’. This creates a 2‐member ward exclusively made up of the Parish of Silverdale. 2022 Ward Electorate: 4225 (variance of ‐3%) Loggerheads Ward A multi‐member ward electing 2 councillors covering the whole of the Loggerheads Parish. This would cover polling districts AA001, BB001, CC001 and Z0001 from the current ‘Loggerheads and Whitmore ward’. A single ward electing 2 councillors focusing on Loggerheads alone reflects the growing status of Loggerheads as the principal settlement in the rural south of the Borough, 2022 Ward Electorate: 3999 (variance of ‐8.4%) Whitmore, Maer & A single‐member ward covering the three parishes of Whitmore, Maer Chapel and Hill Chorlton Ward along Chapel and Hill Chorlton from the current ‘Loggerheads and Whitmore ward. This ward covers the polling distrcts of W0001, W0002, X0001, X0002 and Y0001. This would allow for one Councillor to represent similar parishes who already work closely together on joint projects and who have similar issues around planning development, rural transport and community projects. These parishes are already grouped together and form part of the Newcastle Rural County Council division on Staffordshire County Council. 2022 Ward Electorate: 2056 (variance of ‐5.9%) Madeley & Betley Ward A multi‐member ward electing two councillors covering two neighbouring parishes of Madeley and Betley. This would combine the existing polling districts of V0001, V0002, V0003 and V0004 along with S0001, T0001 and U0001. Madeley is currently a two‐member ward covering their parish but the 2022 projected figures means that it would be too big for one member and too small for two members. Betley currently forms part of the Halmerned ward along with a proportion of the Parish of Audley. Betley is a small parish and does not command a sufficient electorate to warrant its own councillor. 1 Joining Betley with Madeley mirrors arrangements already in place for the Staffordshire County Council division of ‘Newcastle Rural’ and the Borough Council’s own ‘Locality Action Partnership’ where Madeley an Betley work together on community infrastructure and development projects. 2022 Ward Electorate: 4507 (variance of +3.1%) Audley & Bignall End Ward A multi‐member ward elected two councillors mirroring the current borders of the existing ‘Audley and Bignall End ward’ on the Borough Council. This would cover the existing polling districs of P0001, P0002, Q0001 and Q0002 and be entirely contained within the boundary of the Parish of Audley. 2022 Ward Electorate: 4727 (variance of +8.1%) Halmerend Ward A single‐member ward covering the polling districts of R0001, R0002 and R0003 from within the Parish of Audley. These polling districts are currently within the ‘Halmerend ward’ along with the parish of Betley. This new Halmerend ward would focus exclusively on the polling districts in the parish of Audley and prevent the parish boundary being breached. 2022 Ward Electorate: 2029 (variance of ‐7.1%) Keele A single‐member ward which is coterminous with the parish of Keele and covering the polling districts of O0001 and O0002. Keele is a unique community within the Borough of Newcastle comprising of the historic village of Keele along with the entire campus population of Keele University. The village has an identity distinct and unlike any of its neighbouring villages to the north (Silverdale), west (Madeley) and south (Whitmore). The population of Keele is considerably greater that the 2022 expected projected electorate of 1636 with a student population living on campus of over 3000 people. Previously, Keele University would automatically register Keele students with the Borough Council but the introduction of Individual Electoral Registration now means that this is not possible and the first register to reflect this new registration process is the one being used as a basis for the 2022 projections. Keele University has now adopted ‘the Sheffield Model1’ of electoral registration whereby it will be an integrated part of the annual enrolment process for students to register to vote. Newcastle Borough Council and Keele University have also agreed a data sharing process which allows the Borough Council to work more closely with the University on better knowing which students are living on campus in order to better target the ‘invitation of register’ letters for those not caught in the process above. 1 http://www.ureports.dept.shef.ac.uk/SROC/2016/3.1.pdf 2 The commissions own projections for 2022 suggests that Keele would only need to add around 350 additional electors to be large enough to command a single councillor – albeit representing on the of the smallest wards within the Borough but within the +/‐ 10% thresholds. Keele is also bordered on three sides by existing parishes and simply adding Keele to either Madeley, Whitmore or Silverdale would create wards which are too big on the current projections. To the east, Keele is contained by polling district I0005 but Keele itself has little affinity with Thistleberry. Indeed, as part of the review of Staffordshire County Council boundaries, Keele was linked with Silverdale as it was considered that it was so different to the neighbouring suburban populations in character that it no longer wanted inclusion within the Westlands and Thistleberry division. An alternative would be to maintain a boundary for a single member seat which is coterminous with the parish boundary but expand the parish boundary to include Leycett in the north making Leycett Lane the boundary and including the electors on Leycett Lane in the Keele ward rather than the Madeley ward and include the properties and electors along Keele Road (A525) between the existing Keele Boundary and the junction of Keele Road with Honeywall Lane to the south and Leycett Lane to the north. For clarity, the Labour Party’s proposals in for a single‐member ward the mirrors the current boundary of the Keele parish acknowledging that the likely level of registration of students will bring the existing ward inside the +/‐10% threshold by 2018 and that Keele. 2022 Ward Electorate: 1636 (variance of ‐25%) (deficit of 331 to have variance of ‐10%) Talke Pits Ward A single‐member ward made from all of CCC02 and everything south of Coalpit Hill in CCC01. This would unite the communities who refer to themselves as ‘Talke Pits’ and ensure that areas such as the ‘Chester Road Estate’ are united in their representative on the Borough Council. 2022 Ward Electorate: 2245 (variance of +2.9%) Butt Lane Ward A multi‐member ward electing two councillors created from the remainder of CCC01( i.e everything north of Coalpit Hill) and all of the existing Butt Lane ward polling districts of BBB01, BBB02 and BBB03. 2022 Ward Electorate: 4199 (variance of ‐3.9%) Kidsgrove South and A multi‐member ward electing two councillors created from Clough Hall Ward BBB04 from the current Butt Lane ward, all of DDD01 and DDD02 from the existing Ravenscliffe ward, with the exception of Whiteridge Road and the cul de sacs from it, namely Weir Grove, Powys Grove, Capper Close and Medina Way etc… 3 2022 Ward Electorate : 4109 (variance of ‐5.9%) Mow Cop and A multi‐member ward electing two councillors representing the very Newchapel Ward northern tip of the Borough and focussed on the very rural edge of the parish of Kidsgrove. It brings together the villages of Harriseahead, Dales Green and Mow Cop and Newchapel all from within the existing polling districts of ZZ001, ZZ002 and ZZ003. It includes electors on Lapwing Road and its offshoots from AAA02 as well as the selection of roads to the west of Mount Road and south of Pennyfields Road from the same polling district, notably Tern Avenue, Dane Gardens and Derwent Crescent. It also includes ‘The High Street’ from AAA04 which leads to as part of the parish of Kidsgrove known as ‘The Rookery’ and is much rural in nature and obviously different from the housing on Newchapel Road. 2022 Ward Electorate: 4098 (variance ‐6.2%) Kidsgrove North Ward A multi‐member ward electing two councillors constructed from polling districts AAA01 and AAA03 in their entirety with with all of Mount Road and the roads coming off it going north from AAA02. This seat also includes all of the electors from both sides of Newchapel Road from AAA04 along with all properties from the same polling district on Gloucester Road inc Cob Moor Road. From DDD002, all electors on the Whiteridge Road and its off shoots are included. This forms a ward focussed on the urban centre of the parish neatly contained in a road boundary by Gloucester Road, Newchapel Road and Mount Road, providing a definite border between the urban and rural parts of the parish. 2022 Ward Electorate: 4097 (variance of ‐6.2%) 4 Proposed wards for urban areas within the Borough Knutton Ward A single‐member ward focusing on the unparished urban village of Knutton covering the polling districts of N0001 and N0002. This village is currently twinned with the parish of Silverdale but has a distinct identity. Knutton boasts an active resident’s association which meets monthly and have very little recent affinity with Silverdale other than geographical proximity.