Parish and Town Council submissions to the West Devon Borough Council electoral review This PDF document contains 14 submissions. Some versions of Adobe allow the viewer to move quickly between bookmarks. Click on the submission you would like to view. If you are not taken to that page, please scroll through the document. Lucy As previously notified, the proposed Boundary Changes was an item on our agenda at the Brentor Parish Meeting on 21st July. The following are the views of the Parish Council:- • You have acknowledged that we do have a link with Mary Tavy but to continue to be included in a ward with Mary Tavy ‘ would result in our Dartmoor ward having a poor level of electoral equality ‘. Your documents set out the three criteria to be considered in drawing up new electoral arrangements but there is no indication that electoral equality should take priority over community interest. We contend that if anything community interest should be given priority. To reiterate the community link is through the primary school and its associated activities, the shop and post office and two pubs are the nearest to Brentor, and through the provision of telephone and internet services through the shared exchange. This last point is significant in that Brentor, Mary Tavy and Peter Tavy parishes shared an (unsuccessful) application to the Rural Community Broadband fund in an attempt to improve the provision of much needed improved broadband services in our joint areas. • With the proposed Boundary Change, the parishes to the North, which Brentor would be included with, all look to Okehampton for leisure, shopping, education, health care etc. This is not so for the parishioners of Brentor whose interests and day to day lives would be completely separate from the rest of the ward. We do not consider that the interests of our community would be best served by councillors whose market town focus is not Tavistock. • Currently 77% of the Parish live within the National Park and all living within the other two parishes in the current ward are also in DNPA, giving a total for the ward of 94%. In the proposed ward only 3% of the population would live within DNPA. As DNPA is the planning authority for most of the parish it is clear that we will not be well served by councillors who would have such little interest in that organisation. We have begun discussions with Lydford parish council on this subject and will be meeting in the near future to put forward a joint proposal. We would ask that you consider this in due course. Fuller, Heather From: Peter Daniels Sent: 23 May 2014 15:07 To: Ward, Lucy Subject: Bridestowe Parish Council's Response to Electoral Review of West Devon Follow Up Flag: Follow up Flag Status: Flagged LGBC, Lucy Ward Review Officer. Dear Lucy Ward, The concerns of Bridestowe Parish Council over the Draft Recommendations in the Electoral review of West Devon are as follows: There are very large geographical areas for councillors to cover. The proposed wards are geographically far too large and are inconvenient for councillors to represent their communities in a democratic and effective manner. Our ward councillor attends most Bridestowe Parish Council meetings and is indeed the chair of Sourton Parish Pouncil. He is local, very well known to his electorate, approachable and trusted. These proposals for large wards will create a very real risk of the ward member being isolated from their parish councils. The 10 parish councils in the proposed Bridestowe ward do not reflect where local people in Bridestowe and Sourton shop, use medical facilities etc. There are clear identifiable boundaries which have been ignored in the 10 PC Bridestowe ward. For example Blackdown Moor on the northern edges of Dartmoor separates Brentor from parishes like Bridestowe and Sourton. Bridestowe Parish Council proposes the following: Ideally the existing Bridestowe ward would remain as it currently stands, as it has been working so very well for many years. If this is not possible then the 10 parish council ward proposal should be split into two wards of five (say), ensuring that Bridestowe and Sourton 1 PCs remain in the same ward. Bridestowe and Sourton PCs work closely together on joint projects. (Currently a joint Parish Plan project and also a joint Lengthsman project). Abandon the two member wards in rural West Devon. The proposal is impractical. The Boundary Commission considers carefully and appreciates the practicality for councillors in very rural areas to effectively represent their communities over extensive geographical areas. Given the low population density in rural West Devon, it is difficult for there to be equal numbers of the electorate in wards without the geographical area becoming very large. In this case the need for equal numbers in wards should be waived, so as to allow the subsequently smaller geographical area, to be managed effectively by councillors, in meeting local need. Would you please be so kind as to acknowledge receipt of this email. Many thanks, P. J. Daniels. Bridestowe PC Clerk. 2 Thank you for your submission regarding the review of electoral arrangements in West Devon. Your views will be taken into account by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England in formulating its final proposals for warding arrangements. Please note that this stage of the review is a public consultation, and the Commission places great importance on ensuring openness and transparency in the way it deals with all representations. Full copies of all representations received will be made available for public inspection at our offices (by appointment), and at those of West Devon Borough Council. They will also be available for viewing on the Commission’s website, at www.lgbce.org.uk. We remove all personal identifiers of individuals, such as personal postal or email addresses, signatures or personal phone numbers from your submission before it is made public. However, we do not remove names. If you do not want all or any part of your response or name made public, please state this clearly in reply to this letter and we will endeavour to respect your wish. Any such request should explain why confidentiality is necessary, but all information in responses may be subject to publication or disclosure as required by law (in particular under the Freedom of Information Act 2000). The Commission’s final recommendations for West Devon will be published in October 2014. Updates will be published on our website, http://www.lgbce.org.uk/current-reviews/south- west/devon/west-devon-fer Kind regards, Lucy Ward Review Officer Local Government Boundary Commission for England Layden House 76-86 Turnmill Street London EC1M 5LG Tel: 020 7664 8520 Email: [email protected] From: Peter Daniels Sent: 23 May 2014 15:07 To: Ward, Lucy Subject: Bridestowe Parish Council's Response to Electoral Review of West Devon LGBC, Lucy Ward Review Officer. Dear Lucy Ward, The concerns of Bridestowe Parish Council over the Draft Recommendations in the Electoral review of West Devon are as follows: There are very large geographical areas for councillors to cover. The proposed wards are geographically far too large and are inconvenient for councillors to represent their communities in a democratic and effective manner. 2 Our ward councillor attends most Bridestowe Parish Council meetings and is indeed the chair of Sourton Parish Pouncil. He is local, very well known to his electorate, approachable and trusted. These proposals for large wards will create a very real risk of the ward member being isolated from their parish councils. The 10 parish councils in the proposed Bridestowe ward do not reflect where local people in Bridestowe and Sourton shop, use medical facilities etc. There are clear identifiable boundaries which have been ignored in the 10 PC Bridestowe ward. For example Blackdown Moor on the northern edges of Dartmoor separates Brentor from parishes like Bridestowe and Sourton. Bridestowe Parish Council proposes the following: Ideally the existing Bridestowe ward would remain as it currently stands, as it has been working so very well for many years. If this is not possible then the 10 parish council ward proposal should be split into two wards of five (say), ensuring that Bridestowe and Sourton PCs remain in the same ward. Bridestowe and Sourton PCs work closely together on joint projects. (Currently a joint Parish Plan project and also a joint Lengthsman project). Abandon the two member wards in rural West Devon. The proposal is impractical. The Boundary Commission considers carefully and appreciates the practicality for councillors in very rural areas to effectively represent their communities over extensive geographical areas. Given the low population density in rural West Devon, it is difficult for there to be equal numbers of the electorate in wards without the geographical area becoming very large. In this case the need for equal numbers in wards should be waived, so as to allow the subsequently smaller geographical area, to be managed effectively by councillors, in meeting local need. Would you please be so kind as to acknowledge receipt of this email. Many thanks, P. J. Daniels. Bridestowe PC Clerk. 3 Broadwoodkelly Parish Council Broadwoodkelly Parish Council wants to make it quite clear that they wish to remain within Exbourne Ward for the following reasons: You state that you believe each local authority/Parish should be considered individually and not compared to others of a similar size. We have 206 voters who will be under represented if they were amalgamated with North Tawton. Our small but clear voice would be almost totally lost in North Tawton. Within Exbourne Ward we have an identity and working relationship with Iddesleigh, Monkokehampton, Exbourne and Jacobstowe.