Electoral Review Stage Two – Warding Arrangements Alternative (Opposition / Conservative Group) Submission to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (March 2019) Civic Centre Lampton Road Hounslow TW3 4DN Contents SECTION ONE: Overview of Submission.................................................................................................. 3 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Scope of Review .................................................................................................................................. 3 Divergence from Council submission .................................................................................................. 4 Background ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Historic Considerations ....................................................................................................................... 5 Naming Conventions ........................................................................................................................... 6 Summary of Proposals ........................................................................................................................ 7 SECTION TWO: Borough Profile .............................................................................................................. 8 Overview ............................................................................................................................................. 8 Hounslow - The people ....................................................................................................................... 8 Transport ............................................................................................................................................. 9 Economic Information ...................................................................................................................... 10 Deprivation ....................................................................................................................................... 11 Challenges Facing the Council and Council Priorities ....................................................................... 11 SECTION THREE: Identifying the new ward boundaries for Hounslow for 2022 .................................. 13 Background ....................................................................................................................................... 13 Proposals ........................................................................................................................................... 13 Electorate in 2024 forecast by new proposed wards ........................................................................... 14 Maps of the London Borough of Hounslow .......................................................................................... 15 Map 1: Map showing current Hounslow ward boundaries .............................................................. 15 Map 2: Map Showing Proposed New Boundaries ............................................................................ 16 SECTION 4: WARD BY WARD PROPOSALS............................................................................................. 17 The Reasoning for the Proposed Wards for the London Borough of Hounslow from 2024 in Alphabetical Order ................................................................................................................................ 17 BEDFONT ........................................................................................................................................... 17 BRENTFORD ....................................................................................................................................... 18 CHISWICK HOMEFIELDS .................................................................................................................... 19 CHISWICK RIVERSIDE ......................................................................................................................... 20 CRANFORD ........................................................................................................................................ 21 FELTHAM NORTH .............................................................................................................................. 22 FELTHAM WEST ................................................................................................................................. 23 GUNNERSBURY AND CHISWICK ........................................................................................................ 24 HANWORTH ...................................................................................................................................... 25 HEATHSIDE ........................................................................................................................................ 26 HESTON CENTRAL ............................................................................................................................. 27 1 HESTON EAST .................................................................................................................................... 28 HESTON WEST ................................................................................................................................... 29 HOUNSLOW CENTRAL ....................................................................................................................... 30 HOUNSLOW SOUTH .......................................................................................................................... 31 HOUNSLOW WEST ............................................................................................................................ 32 ISLEWORTH ....................................................................................................................................... 33 OSTERLEY AND SPRING GROVE ......................................................................................................... 34 PARK HEATH ...................................................................................................................................... 35 SYON ................................................................................................................................................. 36 SECTION SIX: Appendices ...................................................................................................................... 37 Appendix 1 - Timetable ..................................................................................................................... 37 2 SECTION ONE: Overview of Submission Introduction The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) is undertaking a review of the London Borough of Hounslow’s local government electoral arrangements. The outcome of the review will be implemented for the May 2022 Council elections. The review is in two stages. The preliminary stage was concerned with determining “Council Size” in terms of the number of Councillors. Having identified the size, the next stage is concerned with determining the warding arrangements in terms of the number, their size and the number of representatives in each. The Opposition Group welcomes the review and the opportunity to submit its preferred option to the Commission. This report, which has been directed by a working party of the opposition group, with support from local communities, and contains the opposition response to the second stage – warding arrangements. An official group response explaining the reasons for our divergence from the proposals voted on at the Council on Tuesday 12th March 2019 is included, on page four, in the section below entitled Divergence from the Council Submission. The Opposition welcomes the outcome of the first phase of the electoral review that the LGBCE is minded to accept the proposal for the Council to comprise sixty councillors for the London Borough of Hounslow and has worked on this as the basis of our warding proposals. Scope of Review The review being undertaken by the Boundary Commission covers the entire area of the London Borough of Hounslow. In making its proposals, the Boundary Commission will apply the following statutory criteria making its proposals: The need to secure electoral equality (a consistent number of electors per Councillor) Community identity (strong ward boundaries that reflect communities); and Securing effective and convenient local government (coherent wards) The review was initiated in June 2018 and dealt first with the preliminary stage which was to determine the future size of the Council (specifically the number of elected Councillors who will form the Council from 2022). This phase was completed in November 2018. The second phase which looks at warding arrangements commenced in earnest in January 2019 and concluded in March 2019 when a final position was determined by the Council for submission to the Boundary Commission. In this part of the process, the opposition group was required to identify proposals for ward boundaries (and associated relevant considerations such as the number of 3 wards and the number of members within each) which complied with three criteria used by the Boundary Commission (above). These will then be submitted to the Commission which will