LOCAL DEMOCRACY AND BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR WALES Review of Community Arrangements in the County of Monmouthshire Report and Recommendations VOLUME 2 January 2019 © LDBCW copyright 2019 You may re-use this information (excluding logos) free of charge in any format or medium, under the terms of the Open Government Licence. To view this licence, visit http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government- licence or email: [email protected] Where we have identified any third party copyright information you will need to obtain permission from the ycop right holders concerned. Any enquiries regarding this publication should be sent to the Commission at [email protected] This document is also available from our website at www.ldbc.gov.wales LOCAL DEMOCRACY AND BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR WALES REVIEW OF COMMUNITY ARRANGEMENTS IN THE COUNTY OF MONMOUTHSHIRE REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS Contents Page Volume 1 Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Monmouthshire County Council’s proposals 2 Chapter 3 The Commission’s Consideration 4 Chapter 4 Procedure 4 Chapter 5 Proposals 5 Abergavenny 6 Caerwent 38 Caldicot 60 Chepstow 92 Crucorney 124 Devauden 136 Goetre Fawr 148 Grosmont 162 Gwehelog Fawr 170 Llanarth 176 Llanbadoc 192 Llanelly 196 Volume 2 Chapter 5 Proposals (continued) 1 Llanfoist Fawr 2 Llangattock Vibon Avel 12 Llangwm 13 Llangybi 14 Llanhennock 18 Llanover 20 Llantilio Crossenny 26 Llantilio Pertholey 28 Llantrisant Fawr 44 Magor with Undy 48 Mathern 66 Mitchel Troy 74 Monmouth 82 Portskewett 100 Raglan 108 Rogiet 116 Shirenewton 120 St Arvans 132 Tintern 138 Trellech United 148 Skenfrith (proposed) 158 Whitecastle (proposed) 170 Chapter 6 Responses to this report 192 Chapter 7 Acknowledgements 193 APPENDIX 1 GLOSSARY OF TERMS APPENDIX 2 EXISTING COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEMBERSHIP APPENDIX 3 PROPOSED CONSEQUENTIAL COMMUNITY COUNCIL MEMBERSHIP APPENDIX 4 EXISTING ELECTORAL WARD ARRANGEMENTS APPENDIX 5 PROPOSED CONSEQUENTIAL ELECTORAL WARD ARRANGEMENTS 1st Edition printed January 2019 The Commission welcomes correspondence and telephone calls in Welsh or English. Mae’r ddogfen ar hon ar gael yn y Gymraeg. The Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales Hastings House Fitzalan Court CARDIFF CF24 0BL Tel Number: (029) 2046 4819 Fax Number: (029) 2046 4823 E-mail: [email protected] www.ldbc.gov.wales MONMOUTHSHIRE FINAL REPORT AND PROPOSALS Chapter 5. PROPOSALS (continued) The Commission’s proposals are described in detail in this chapter. For each new proposal the report sets out: • The name(s) of the existing community areas which wholly or in part constitute the proposed amended new communities; • a brief description of the existing community arrangements in terms of the number of electors and warding arrangements (if applicable); • key arguments made during the Council’s deliberations; • the views of the Commission; • the composition of the proposed community arrangements; and, • a map of the proposed community and/or community ward. LDBCW Existing Community Existing Community Recommended Boundaries Ward Boundaries Boundary MCC Proposed Proposed Area to Proposed Area to Boundary be transferred (in) be transferred (out) (if applicable) Page 1 LOCAL DEMOCRACY AND BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR WALES LLANFOIST FAWR 395. The current community arrangements in Llanfoist Fawr consist of four wards: Llanellen, Llanfoist, Llanwenarth Citra and Llanwenarth Ultra. The community has a total electorate of 2,716 and is represented by 12 community councillors. The electorate per ward and number of councillors is as follows: Community Ward Electorate Number of Councillors Llanellen 411 2 Llanfoist 1026 3 Llanwenarth Citra 139 1 Llanwenarth Ultra 1140 6 396. As a result of these proposals the electorate within the Community of Llanfoist Fawr will decrease to 2,584. Representations 397. The Council received several representations concerning the Community of Llanfoist Fawr which they have summarised and included within their final proposals report. This summary has been included below. Initial Representations 398. Representation was received from Llanfoist Community Council in relation to its community arrangements. On the whole, the Community Council wish for the current arrangements to remain in place with an increase to the number of councillors representing the Llanfoist ward from 3 to 6. 399. Abergavenny Town Council submitted representation proposing that the Llanfoist ward and Llanwenarth Citra ward be merged in to the community of Abergavenny due to the need for communities to be fit for purpose and be large enough to take advantage of economies of scale. 400. Llanfoist Community Council submitted a secondary representation in response to the proposal put forward by Abergavenny Town Council and, in summary, highlighted the following reasons as to why the areas should not be merged: That Llanfoist is geographically separate from Abergavenny with the River Usk forming an obvious boundary; that the proposed increase in population will ensure that the Llanfoist community remains a viable and extremely effective community with members who have developed a good relationship with the electorate, and, it would be detrimental to the identity of Llanfoist to merge with Abergavenny as the needs of Llanfoist as a rural community are very different to those of the town. 401. The Council working group also attended a meeting of Llanfoist Community Council to better understand the concerns and nature of the community to assist them in the review process. Page 2 MONMOUTHSHIRE FINAL REPORT AND PROPOSALS Draft Representations 402. Llanfoist Community Council provided an overview of the current arrangements and responsibilities the community undertake for each ward, included ownership and maintenance of assets in Govilon that are currently the responsibility of Llanfoist Fawr Community Council. 403. The representation submitted, objected to the proposals to separate Govilon and Llanfoist into separate communities due to the costs associated with running separate councils and potential increase in precept to residents, and, proposed a new scheme of electoral arrangements for the community. The Community Council also objected to the proposal for Llanwenarth Citra to be included in the Town of Abergavenny. Community boundary proposals 404. The County of Monmouthshire Council’s recommendation is to apply three changes to the existing community boundary, which involves proposals to transfer areas between the Community of Llanfoist Fawr and the following communities: • Abergavenny • Llanelly • Llanover (proposed to be named Gobion Fawr) 405. See paragraph 28 (Volume 1) above, for details of The Council’s proposed transfer of the Llanwenarth Citra ward from the Community of Llanfoist Fawr into the Town of Abergavenny. This proposal is displayed on the map on page 10 of Volume 1. 406. See paragraph 379 (Volume 1) above, for details of The Council’s proposed transfer of one area from the Community of Llanfoist Fawr (Llanwenarth Ultra Ward) into the Community of Llanelly (Gilwern ward). This proposal is displayed on the map on page 198 of Volume 1. 407. The Council propose to transfer the area between the Heads of the Valleys Road (north) and Llanellen (south) from the Community of Llanover (Llangattock-Nigh-Usk ward) into the Community of Llanfoist Fawr (Llanellen ward). This proposal includes all land which is located to the west of the railway line which runs parallel to the A40 and sits between the Hardwick Roundabout and the current community boundary north of Llanellen, affecting seven electors. This proposal is displayed on the map on page 5. 408. The Commission received no objection to the final proposals and are satisfied that the proposed changes are desirable and in the interests of effective and convenient local government and are recommended. Page 3 LOCAL DEMOCRACY AND BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR WALES Page 4 MONMOUTHSHIRE FINAL REPORT AND PROPOSALS Page 5 LOCAL DEMOCRACY AND BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR WALES Community ward boundary proposals 409. Alongside the changes being proposed to the community boundary outlined in the previous section, the County of Monmouthshire Council’s recommendation is to apply one change to the existing internal ward boundaries of the Community of Llanfoist Fawr and to change the name of one existing community ward. This proposal involves a change to the existing boundaries of the following wards: • Llanfoist • Llanwenarth Ultra (proposed to be named Govilon) Llanfoist 410. The Council propose to transfer the area west of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal from the Llanfoist ward into the proposed Govilon ward of the Community. The Council recommend this is to provide a clear boundary following natural features between these two areas. The proposal sees the boundary extend southwards along the canal until Brecon Park boat hire site and Wharfingers Cottage, before heading southwards up along the natural spring and enveloping all the arable land to the west. This proposal seems to affect one property. 411. A map displaying the proposed Llanfoist ward of the Community of Llanfoist Fawr is shown on page 7. Llanwenarth Ultra 412. The Council propose to change the name of the existing Llanwenarth Ultra ward of the Community of Llanfoist Fawr. The new name of the ward is proposed to be Govilon. 413. See paragraph 410 for details of The Council’s proposed transfer of one area from the Llanfoist ward into the proposed Govilon ward of the community. 414. A map displaying the proposed Govilon ward of the Community