Final recommendations on the future electoral arrangements for Trafford Report to The Electoral Commission October 2003 © Crown Copyright 2003 Applications for reproduction should be made to: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office Copyright Unit. The mapping in this report is reproduced from OS mapping by The Electoral Commission with the permission of the Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, © Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction infringes Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Licence Number: GD 03114G. This report is printed on recycled paper. Report no: 357 2 Contents Page What is The Boundary Committee For England? 5 Summary 7 1 Introduction 11 2 Current electoral arrangements 13 3 Draft recommendations 17 4 Responses to consultation 19 5 Analysis and final recommendations 21 6 What happens next? 45 Appendices A Final recommendations for Trafford: Detailed mapping 47 B Guide to interpreting the first draft of the electoral Order 49 C First draft of electoral change Order for Trafford 51 3 4 What is The Boundary Committee for England? The Boundary Committee for England is a committee of The Electoral Commission, an independent body set up by Parliament under the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000. The functions of the Local Government Commission for England were transferred to The Electoral Commission and its Boundary Committee on 1 April 2002 by the Local Government Commission for England (Transfer of Functions) Order 2001 (SI 2001 no. 3692). The Order also transferred to The Electoral Commission the functions of the Secretary of State in relation to taking decisions on recommendations for changes to local authority electoral arrangements and implementing them. Members of the Committee are: Pamela Gordon (Chair) Professor Michael Clarke CBE Robin Gray Joan Jones CBE Ann M. Kelly Professor Colin Mellors Archie Gall (Director) We are required by law to review the electoral arrangements of every principal local authority in England. Our aim is to ensure that the number of electors represented by each councillor in an area is as nearly as possible the same, taking into account local circumstances. We can recommend changes to ward boundaries, the number of councillors and ward names. We can also recommend changes to the electoral arrangements of parish and town councils. This report sets out our final recommendations on the electoral arrangements for the borough of Trafford. 5 6 Summary We began a review of Trafford’s electoral arrangements on 14 May 2002. We published our draft recommendations for electoral arrangements on 25 February 2003, after which we undertook an eight-week period of consultation. We now submit final recommendations to The Electoral Commission. • This report summarises the representations that we received during consultation on our draft recommendations, and contains our final recommendations to The Electoral Commission. We found that the existing arrangements provide unequal representation of electors in Trafford: • in eight of the 21 wards the number of electors represented by each councillor varies by more than 10% from the average for the borough and three wards vary by more than 20%; • by 2006 this situation is expected to remain constant. Our main final recommendations for future electoral arrangements (see Tables 1 and 2 and paragraphs 179-180) are that: • Trafford Borough Council should have 63 councillors, as at present; • there should be 21 wards, as at present; • the boundaries of 20 of the existing wards should be modified, resulting in no change to the total number of wards, and one ward should retain its existing boundaries. The purpose of these proposals is to ensure that, in future, each borough councillor represents approximately the same number of electors, bearing in mind local circumstances. • In all of the proposed wards the number of electors per councillor would vary by no more than 9% from the borough average. • This improved level of electoral equality is forecast to continue, with the number of electors per councillor in all wards expected to vary by no more than 7% from the average for the borough in 2006. All further correspondence on these final recommendations and the matters discussed in this report should be addressed to The Electoral Commission, which will not make an Order implementing them before 25 November 2003. The information in the representations will be available for public access once the Order has been made. The Secretary The Electoral Commission Trevelyan House Great Peter Street London SW1P 2HW Fax: 020 7271 0667 Email: [email protected] (This address should only be used for this purpose) 7 Table 1: Final recommendations: Summary Ward name Number of Constituent areas Large map councillors reference 1 Altrincham 3 Part of Altrincham ward; part of Timperley ward 3 Ashton upon 2 3 Part of Mersey St Mary’s ward; part of St Martins ward 2 & 3 Mersey The parishes of Dunham and Warburton; part of the unparished 3 Bowdon 3 1 & 3 part of Bowdon ward; part of Altrincham ward Part of Altrincham ward; part of Broadheath ward; part of Mersey 4 Broadheath 3 3 St Mary’s ward 5 Brooklands 3 Unchanged; the existing Brooklands ward 3 The parishes of Carrington and Partington; part of St Martins 6 Bucklow-St Martins 3 1, 2 & 3 ward 7 Clifford 3 Part of Clifford ward; part of Talbot ward 2 Part of Davyhulme East ward; part of Davyhulme West ward; 8 Davyhulme East 3 2 part of Urmston ward 9 Davyhulme West 3 Part of Davyhulme East ward; part of Davyhulme West ward 1 & 2 Part of Flixton ward; part of Davyhulme West ward; part of 10 Flixton 3 1 & 2 Urmston ward Part of Davyhulme East ward; part of Park ward; part of Talbot 11 Gorse Hill 3 2 ward 12 Hale Barns 3 Part of Hale ward; part of Timperley ward; part of Village ward 3 Part of Altrincham ward; part of Bowdon ward; part of Hale ward; 13 Hale Central 3 3 part of Timperley ward 14 Longford 3 Part of Clifford ward; part of Longford ward; part of Talbot ward 2 15 Priory 3 Part of Priory ward 2 & 3 Part of Broadheath ward; part of Mersey St Mary’s ward; part of 16 St Mary’s 3 2 & 3 St Martins ward 17 Sale Moor 3 Part of Priory ward; Sale Moor ward 2 & 3 18 Stretford 3 Part of Longford ward; part of Park ward; part of Stretford ward 2 Part of Broadheath ward; part of Timperley ward; part of Village 19 Timperley 3 3 ward Part of Flixton ward; part of Park ward; part of Stretford ward; 20 Urmston 3 2 part of Urmston ward 21 Village 3 Part of Village ward 3 Notes: 1) The wards on the above table are illustrated on Map 2 and the large maps. 8 Table 2: Final recommendations for Trafford Ward name Number Electorate Number of Variance Electorate Number of Variance of councillors (2001) electors from (2006) electors from per average per average councillor % councillor % 1 Altrincham 3 7,169 2,390 -9 7,392 2,464 -7 2 Ashton upon Mersey 3 8,031 2,677 2 8,015 2,672 0 3 Bowdon 3 7,310 2,437 -7 7,467 2,489 -6 4 Broadheath 3 8,419 2,806 7 8,385 2,795 5 5 Brooklands 3 7,878 2,626 0 8,114 2,705 2 6 Bucklow-St Martins 3 7,525 2,508 -5 7,591 2,530 -5 7 Clifford 3 8,204 2,735 4 8,271 2,757 4 8 Davyhulme East 3 8,116 2,705 3 8,072 2,691 1 9 Davyhulme West 3 7,721 2,574 -2 7,735 2,578 -3 10 Flixton 3 8,345 2,782 6 8,326 2,775 4 11 Gorse Hill 3 8,099 2,700 3 8,329 2,776 4 12 Hale Barns 3 7,509 2,503 -5 7,607 2,536 -5 13 Hale Central 3 7,377 2,459 -7 7,537 2,512 -6 14 Longford 3 8,301 2,767 5 8,444 2,815 6 15 Priory 3 7,589 2,530 -4 8,023 2,674 0 16 St Mary’s 3 8,089 2,696 2 8,125 2,708 2 17 Sale Moor 3 7,842 2,614 -1 7,911 2,637 -1 18 Stretford 3 7,918 2,639 0 7,918 2,639 -1 19 Timperley 3 8,365 2,788 6 8,323 2,774 4 20 Urmston 3 8,285 2,762 5 8,310 2,770 4 21 Village 3 7,733 2,578 -2 7,762 2,587 -3 Totals 63 165,825 – – 167,657 – – Averages – – 2,632 – – 2,661 – Source: Electorate figures are based on the Borough Council and Conservative Party submissions. Note: The ‘variance from average’ column shows by how far, in percentage terms, the number of electors per councillor varies from the average for the borough. The minus symbol (-) denotes a lower than average number of electors. Figures have been rounded to the nearest whole number. 9 10 1 Introduction 1 This report contains our final recommendations for the electoral arrangements for the borough of Trafford. We are reviewing the ten metropolitan boroughs in Greater Manchester as part of our programme of periodic electoral reviews (PERs) of all 386 principal local authority areas in England. The programme started in 1996 and is currently expected to finish in 2004. 2 This is our first review of the electoral arrangements of Trafford. Trafford’s last review was carried out by the Local Government Boundary Commission, which reported to the Secretary of State in October 1978 (Report no.