To. THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOUNDARY COMMISSION Buckinghamshire County Council Conservative Group proposals for the review of the internal boundaries to create 49 Divisions for 49 County Councillors. This will proposed by the Deputy Leader at the County Council on the 21st April 2011 1 Content 1) Introduction p3 2) Map of proposed Electoral Divisions p4 3) Names of proposed Electoral Divisions with electorate figures p5 4) Reasons and explanations behind the Electoral Divisions p6-9 5) Geographies that make up each Electoral Division by district p10-23 • a) Aylesbury Vale district configuration p10 • b) Chiltern district configuration p14 • c) Wycombe district configuration p17 • d) South Bucks district configuration p20 • e) Electoral Division variances by district and county p22 2 1) Introduction This Report is the CONSERVATIVE BOUNDARY REVIEW SUBMISSION Buckinghamshire County Council is currently represented by 57 Councillors elected to 47 Divisions (there being 10 Divisions that are represented by 2 councillors in each) and each Councillor represents approximately 6,800 residents. This review was triggered by The Local Government Boundary Commission who pointed out that 30% of the Divisions within the County were outside the variance allowed of 10% of the average electorate per member. Although we made representations to the contrary the Local Government Boundary Commission informed the County Council that they have started and will finish. At the same time of all this happening we had started the Bucks Debate across the County where a common message from the residence of Buckinghamshire was that we should make savings where possible, they had heard that Transformation was making tremendous savings and there were suggestions that we as members should also lead by example. So when we discussed this at the November County Council Meeting, I proposed a recommendation that we should reduce the number of members by eight at the next election in 2013 from 57 to 49. This was passed by the full Council and when we informed the Boundary Commission they said they were minded to agree. Therefore by working within the Conservative Group within the County I have come up with the revised Divisions for the County taking into account 49 members, 49 Divisions therefore disposing of the Divisions that had two members in each of them. Therefore if the residence of Bucks were currently divided between 49 members it would give a County average of 7,787. This paper has already been submitted to the Local Government Boundary Commission to fit within their Consultation period and if agreed today will be resubmitted as the County Council response Looking to the year 2017, which is the year the Commission wants us to work to, it will give us an average electorate of 8,113 per member at County level but bearing in mind that no Divisions can span over any District Boundaries, this means that we have to work with different averages in each of the Districts, so taking that into account the average electorate in each District in 2017 are as follows: • Aylesbury Vale = 8,277. 17 members, 19 current – 2 less • Chiltern = 8,147. 9 members, 11 current – 2 less • South Bucks = 7,700. 7 members, 8 current - 1 less • Wycombe = 8,102. 16 members, 19 current - 3 less. This will be presented by me to County Council on 21st April as Cabinet Member for member issues and also as Chairman of the County Conservative Group. 3 2) Map of proposed Electoral Divisions (Poster map sent via mail) 4 3) Names of Electoral Divisions with electorate figures The numbers at the start of the table below refer to the number on the above map (section 2), followed by the electoral division names, electorate numbers for 2010 and 2017, and the percent that each division varies from the average electorate for Buckinghamshire as at 2010 and 2017. Note that the % variance from the average electorate for each district also appears in section 5. Electoral divisions have been designed to reach electoral equality as at 2017 (where possible), explanations for the variations appear in the next section (4). Electorate by Division County Variance Number Electoral Division 2010 2017 2010 2017 1 Buckingham North ED 7,638 8,186 -2% 1% 2 Buckingham South ED 7,139 8,588 -8% 6% 3 Winslow ED 6,829 7,273 -12% -10% 4 Grendon Underwood ED 6,584 9,605 -15% 18% 5 Great Brick hill ED 7,992 8,026 3% -1% 6 Bernwood ED 7,768 7,760 0% -4% 7 Haddenham ED 8,325 8,417 7% 4% 8 Wing ED 7,828 8,731 1% 8% 9 Ivinghoe ED 7,802 8,193 0% 1% 10 Aston Clinton & Bierton ED 7,641 7,884 -2% -3% 11 Wendover, Halton & Stoke Mandeville ED 7,774 7,923 0% -2% 12 Aylesbury South East ED 8,346 8,683 7% 7% 13 Aylesbury East ED 8,108 8,029 4% -1% 14 Aylesbury North ED 8,541 8,599 10% 6% 15 Aylesbury North West ED 8,344 8,923 7% 10% 16 Aylesbur y West ED 8,181 7,929 5% -2% 17 Aylesbury South West ED 7,725 7,954 -1% -2% 18 Chiltern Ridges ED 7,345 7,443 -6% -8% 19 Chess Valley ED 7,946 8,169 2% 1% 20 Chesham ED 7,973 8,037 2% -1% 21 Amersham & Chesham Bois ED 7,569 7,745 -3% -5% 22 Great Missenden ED 8,332 8,245 7% 2% 23 Penn Wood and Old Amersham ED 8,510 8,597 9% 6% 24 Amersham East ED 7,349 7,753 -6% -4% 25 Chalfont St Giles ED 8,096 8,549 4% 5% 26 Chalfont St Peter ED 8,534 8,783 10% 8% 27 The Risboroughs ED 7,556 8,143 -3% 0% 28 Ridgeway East ED 7,922 7,915 2% -2% 29 Ridgeway West ED 8,237 8,367 6% 3% 30 West Wycombe ED 8,143 8,299 5% 2% 31 Downley ED 7,845 8,251 1% 2% 32 Hazelmere ED 7,573 7,581 -3% -7% 33 Chiltern Villages ED 7,576 7,568 -3% -7% 34 Booker, Cressex & Castlefield ED 8,218 8,170 6% 1% 35 Abbey ED 7,457 8,407 -4% 4% 36 Terriers & Amersham Hill ED 6,897 7,468 -11% -8% 37 Rye View ED 7,987 8,210 3% 1% 38 Micklefield & Hatters Lane ED 7,241 7,327 -7% -10% 39 Tylers Green & Loudwater ED 8,154 8,284 5% 2% 40 Marlow ED 8,576 8,725 10% 8% 41 Flackwell Heath, Little Marlow & Marlow South East E 8,363 8,585 7% 6% 42 The Wooburns, Bourne End and Hedsor ED 8,333 8,329 7% 3% 43 Beaconsfield ED 7,227 7,652 -7% -6% 44 Gerrards Cross 6,748 7,368 -13% -9% 45 Denham ED 6,915 7,646 -11% -6% 46 Cliveden ED 7,265 7,658 -7% -6% 47 Farnham Common & Burnham Beeches ED 7,647 7,940 -2% -2% 48 Stoke Poges & Wexham ED 7,664 7,848 -2% -3% 49 Iver ED 7,807 7,787 0% -4% Average Electorate 2010 2017 County average electorate (49 Councillors) 7,787 8,113 5 4) Reasons and explanations behind the Electoral Divisions Aylesbury Vale District Divisions The underlying principle of the revised boundaries was to keep similar communities together whilst achieving electoral equality for each division, which is as close to the average electorate as possible for the County and for this District at 2017. This can be seen in joining together Elm Farm & Mandeville with some of Bedgrove; and Oakfield with the rest of Bedgrove & Elmhurst. Watermead is separate from Aylesbury town, the residents very much think of themselves as a separate community, which is why it was separated from Elmhurst. Gatehouse and Quarrendon were joined together as they are of a similar demographic, as are Walton Court & Hawkslade, Southcourt and Coldharbour which is why we believe they will work well together as 3 new divisions, as the councillors will represent similar areas, which will have similar issues. In the rural areas of Aylesbury Vale we have mainly kept to Parish boundaries, while respecting Ward Boundaries where possible. We have also included the Berryfields area in the Grendon Underwood Division to take account of the increase in housing. Although this will be our largest Division, it will be up to market forces as to the scale of the extra housing in the area - bearing in mind the current uncertainty regarding the Local Housing Plan and the current state of the Economy i.e. the lack of housing demand due to the recession. Winslow Division is 10% lower than the average for the County. It could have been made bigger by adding in some of the Claydons to the Division, but there is a strong history connecting all of the Claydons together and they have always have been seen as one overall identity, so we did not split them up. Wycombe District Divisions Firstly we will concentrate on the Wycombe Divisions in the Aylesbury Parliamentary Constituency. The principle reasons relating to the selection of three (from the current four seats) in the northern rural Divisions forming part of Wycombe District is to maintain geographical community and continuity between parishes, whilst achieving electoral equality for each division, which is as close as possible to the average electorate for the County and for this District as at 2017. This has been achieved by bringing Hughenden, Naphill and Walters Ash with Bradenham, Hampden and Ellesbourough together; extending Princes Risborough and Monks Risborough with Kimble and Longwick and moulding Lacey Green, Loosley Row and Speen with neighbouring Bledlow cum Saunderton, Radnage and Stockenchurch to form the three Divisions of: Ridgeway East; The Risboroughs ; and Ridgeway West, therefore removing “the ring” around Princes Risborough that was created at the last review.