Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government & Local Government Boundary Commission for England Dorset Council Electoral Ward Mapping Submission Submission on behalf of Dorset Area Joint Committee – May 2018 2 Contents Background……………………………………………………….……..……………………. 3 Purpose of this document……………………………...……………………………… 3 Methodology and Scope of the Warding Review ………….……………….. 3 Member Engagement Roadshows …………………………….…………………… 4 Summary and Recommendation …………………………………………………… 5 Annex 1 – Wider Statistical Area Map …………………………………….. 6 Annex 2 – Consultation Documents ……………………………………….. 7 (Maps and Polling District Forecasts) Annex 3 – Consultation Feedback with appendices A-G …………. 24 Annex 4 – Final Proposal for Electoral Wards …………………………. 49 (Map and supporting information) 3 Background 1. The Task and Finish Group on Boundary Review was established by the Dorset Area Joint Committee to review the electoral arrangements for the Dorset area in anticipation of the agreement of the Structural Change Order to create two new unitary councils for Bournemouth, Dorset and Poole. The Group formed a submission based on a fall-back position and council size, which was submitted by the Joint Committee to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) in January 2018. Purpose of this report 2.1 The Task and Finish Group carried out a review of the electoral arrangements, in accordance with the timetable agreed with MHCLG. A principal objective of the review is that each electoral ward will be served, where possible, by a single councillor. In urban areas, it is accepted, however, that this may not be possible, where it may be more appropriate to elect two or three councillors. 2.2 Fall-back warding arrangements have been approved by the Dorset Area Joint Committee for inclusion within the Structural Change Order. This fall-back position is based on 82 councillors and forms the basis on which wards have been developed. 2.3 This report provides a detailed summary of the engagement undertaken with existing councillors to form the proposed wards of the new Dorset Council. Methodology and Design Principles 3.1 For the creation of new administrative areas to be successful they should wherever possible fulfil appropriate design principles, the following principles have shaped the submission. The design principles look to embed best practice, statutory legislation and future proofing for governance of Dorset Council. They are based on guidance by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS) and recommend that wherever possible the following principles are adhered to: a) Provide equitable electoral representation (within + or -10%). Across the new Dorset council area equitable electoral representation has been achieved in all the council wards apart from one which is twelve electors over the 10% mark. b) Fit with current low level local government structure – parish and town councils. Wherever possible this submission has looked to retain parish and town council boundaries intact. There are a very few occasions (six) where a parish boundary has had to be split – in all cases this has been undertaken to achieve electoral equality. c) Represent community cohesion and identification. In addition to the retention of parish and town boundaries, grouped parish councils have also been kept together wherever possible within a ward. Representation and local knowledge has been utilised to ensure that the areas covered have a good level of cohesion. School Catchment boundaries, GP catchments, road networks and accessibility have all been considered. 4 d) Provide statistical recognition - meeting ONS recognised boundaries. Geography is key to virtually all National and Local Statistics. It provides the structure for collecting, processing, storing and aggregating the data. The framework provided by geography is often the only factor different datasets have in common (https://www.ons.gov.uk/methodology/geography). There are many different geographic unit types (administrative, health, electoral, postcode etc.) and their boundaries frequently do not align. A range of geographies are also liable to frequent revisions. Inconsistent geography has made it extremely challenging to produce and compare meaningful statistics over time. To address this issue the ONS have for some time been using a harmonised, cross-departmental approach to the geographic aspect of statistics. A range of geographies are used by the ONS for this purpose and are referred to as Output Area geographies. The wider area boundaries used for this submission have looked to use grouped Lower Super Output Areas that closely align with Clinical Commissioning Group boundaries (see Annex 1). e) The areas must have Strategic and Operational relevance. The future governance of the new Council area will require appropriate representation – the wider areas adopted for nesting the Electoral Wards looks to provide a strategic approach to delivering services across Dorset. The Electoral Wards themselves and their elected representatives provide democratic representation across these areas. f) Promote effective local government. The submission achieves electoral equality across the Council and looks to ensure that communities are represented wherever is practicably possible in a cohesive and identifiable local area. These local areas sit within a wider geography that Dorset can use to help provide effective governance and prevents democratically elected councillors from having to represent more than one area board or whatever is used to sit between the Unitary authority and the Town and Parish Councils. Guidance from the LGBCE indicates that the new ‘Council Electoral Wards’ should be built largely out of parishes and use polling districts as a building block. This submission has looked to keep the Parish boundary in-tact wherever possible and has not split any polling districts. The electoral forecast data that has been used for this submission is provided at Polling District level and as electoral equality can be achieved by using the existing Polling Districts across the whole council this has been undertaken. Note has been taken of particular concern, in relation to some of the wards, that could only be addressed by creating new or splitting polling districts, however, it is felt that for this submission it is not appropriate for this level of manipulation to occur. Engagement Roadshows 4.1 Five Engagement Roadshows were held to engage with all current district, borough and county councillors between 16-20 April to consider the boundaries in separate areas of Dorset with the main consideration of ensuring Electoral Equality, Community Cohesion, and Effective Local Governance. The principles for the engagement were that: • Each ward is new, and is not associated with any member of an existing Council. 5 • The boundaries must only be changed with a rationale for doing so which is in the best interest of the ward. • Regard will be given to the impact of any changes to a ward and on its neighbouring ward(s). • No parochial matters should influence changes to boundary lines and/or splitting polling districts. 4.2 Annex 2 details the information used to consult all Dorset area councillors which included maps and forecast electorate information. The information shared for roadshows was used as a base for developing each of the electoral wards and changes have been made in areas where there was evidence provided which took into account community identity or access to effective local government, and substantiated through analysis by the Task and Finish Group on 3 May 2018. 4.3 The feedback from the engagement roadshows is detailed at Annex 3. 97 councillors attended the roadshows and further views were received by email. A summary of all feedback is included in the spreadsheet of information together with the analysis of issues raised. Appendices are also included with the feedback document to show where detailed cases for change have been made, although not all have met the principles of the review and could not be incorporated within the final proposal. MHCLG and the LGBCE will also be sent, alongside the warding submission, PDF copies of all views collected at each roadshow, to be used as background information. 4.4 Following the roadshows and the analysis by the Task and Finish Group, a proposal has been formed to be submitted by the Dorset Area Joint Committee. The proposed mapping arrangements including polling districts, 2023 electorate and variation from electoral equality are shown at Annex 4. 4.5 In addition to the requirement to propose ward boundaries, there is the need to make a recommendation on the names of the new wards. A schedule of names is shown within the proposal map at Annex 4 and throughout the supporting information. The names of each ward have been derived from feedback through the roadshow process and electronic consultation. Summary and Recommendation 5.1 The submission provides detailed and robust engagement with councillors serving the Dorset area and provides a single coherent proposal for the future warding arrangements for the Dorset Council, which have been developed following guidance from MHCLG and LGBCE. 5.2 The submission is sent to the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government and Local Government Boundary Commission for England to use as the Dorset area warding arrangements. Polling District Forecasts Annex 2 PD Ref Description of Polling District (PD) Area Existing Division