PATRICK BROMPTON PARISH COUNCIL Chairman: Cllr Andrew Bull Vice-Chairman: Cllr G Shepherd The Review Officer (Richmondshire) Local Government Boundary Commission for England 14th Floor Millbank Tower Millbank London SW1P 4QP [email protected] Thursday 11 January 2018 Dear Sir/Madam, We are writing to you with regard to your draft recommendations for the review of local government ward boundaries across the Richmondshire District. The Parish Council wish to register their objection to the draft recommendations of the Boundary Commission which would remove the Parish of Patrick Brompton from the current and initially proposed Lower Wensleydale Ward and place it in a new ward of Scotton. The decision to link the Parish of Patrick Brompton in the predominately urban ward of Scotton, where the community interests are predominately focussed on the Garrison community and the Armed Forces is in contradiction to the issues which face the Villages and communities in the Lower Wensleydale area. The removal of Patrick Brompton from the existing Lower Wensleydale Ward and its area of common interest are in contravention to the Local Government’s Boundary Commission’s own terms of statutory criteria and separates our village from other villages in which we share a common interest. The proposal to place Patrick Brompton in Scotton Ward fails one of the Boundary Commission’s key criteria: ­ Community Identities – that the pattern of wards should, as far as possible, reflect the interests and identities of local communities. As a Village our community ties remain with our neighbours particularly the Village of Newton­le­ Willows with whom the Village share a Parish Church community, a joint Village Hall Committee and where both Parish Councils to work jointly. At the same time it should also be noted that the Parish of Patrick Brompton is named in the Domesday Book with reference to Wensleydale. The separation of Patrick Brompton from the Wensleydale area and placing it in a Swaledale ward breaks the strong and historical links which date back to 1086. PATRICK BROMPTON PARISH COUNCIL Parish Clerk: Jon MacNamara PATRICK BROMPTON PARISH COUNCIL The Parish Council would request that the Boundary Commission consider leaving the Parish of Patrick Brompton in the Lower Wensleydale Ward. In asking the Boundary Commission to agree this proposal we would accept that other changes would be required to meet the criteria of the review in terms of seeking wards of 1,608 electors within a variance of plus or minus 10%. However, the Parish Council are concerned that the Boundary Commission figures are inaccurate. The Boundary Commission seem to indicate that by 2023 there will be no population increase in the newly created Colburn Moor ward of the Colburn Town Council. The Commission’s figures suggest that there will be 274 electors in 2017 and 274 electors in 2023. Given the scale of development and the decision to extend the Garrison the Parish Council believe that these figures are inaccurate and there will be more electors in the Scotton Ward by 2023 than is implied as can be seen from the table below. 2017 2023 Appleton East and West 68 68 Arrathorne 72 72 Colburn Moor 274 274 Hornby 100 100 Patrick Brompton 155 164 Scotton 1861 2131 Tunstall 244 244 2774 3053 The Parish Council would propose that the Boundary Commission should leave the Patrick Brompton Parish in the Lower Wensleydale Ward and transfer Spennithorne Parish to the Leyburn Ward to demonstrate that they believe that wards should reflect the interests and identities of local communities. These incremental changes better reflect the community ties within the local area. The Parish Council Proposal would mean that the Boundary Commission would still meet their objectives to equalise the Wards across Richmondshire within a 10% range of the 1,597 average set by the Council, whilst our proposed changes to the Scotton Ward mean that, that ward would be at the upper limit of the variances we still believe that the population estimates for the Colburn Moor Parish Ward will not be flat between 2016 and 2023. Our proposed changes are set out below: ­ 2 PATRICK BROMPTON PARISH COUNCIL Scotton Ward 2017 2023 Appleton East and West 68 68 Arrathorne 72 72 Colburn Moor 274 274 Hornby 100 100 Scotton 1861 2131 Tunstall 244 244 2619 2889 ­12.5% ­10% Lower Wensleydale 2017 2023 Akebar 15 15 Barden 32 32 Constable Burton 130 130 East Hauxwell 29 29 East Witton 198 198 Finghall 140 140 Garriston 21 21 Hunton 354 378 Hutton Hang 20 20 Newton le Willows 295 312 Patrick Brompton 155 164 Thornton Stewart 161 161 West Hauxwell 8 8 1558 1608 4% 0% Leyburn Ward 2017 2023 Caldbergh with East Scrafton 27 27 Coverham with Agglethorpe 59 59 Harmby 306 306 Leyburn 1848 2163 Middleham 617 626 Spennithorne 138 159 West Scrafton 49 49 3044 3389 1% 6% 3 PATRICK BROMPTON PARISH COUNCIL Given the extent of support within the Parish of Patrick Brompton and in the Wensleydale area to retain the link of the Parish of Patrick Brompton with the Lower Wensleydale ward and wider area we would respectively ask the Boundary Commission to consider our alternative. Yours sincerely, Jon MacNamara Parish Clerk Patrick Brompton Parish Council 4.