LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND - PERIODIC ELECTORAL REVIEW FOR KINGSTON UPON HULL- PROPOSALS FOR A RE-WARDING SCHEME INTRODUCTION The Majority Group on Hull City Council welcomes the opportunity to redraw the City’s ward boundaries. We believe this will achieve a greater electoral ratio than is currently the case, and also allows us to better reflect natural communities and reunite some areas that were artificially divided during previous exercises. Perhaps most importantly the document allows us to reflect the changes in the electorate that has occurred since the last re-warding in 1999. Although the last Hull City Council submission predicted the growth of Kingswood, in the north of the city, the Boundary Commission was unconvinced and did not agree an additional seat in this location. As this growth was realised, our new proposals reflect this population growth which will continue apace until 2022. This submission has taken advantage of the opportunity to reduced disparities between the minimum and maximum number of electors represented by each Councillor. Although some disparity will remain due to the requirements to reflect natural communities, we have reduced this, with the majority of our proposed wards within a tolerance of 5%; (the mean being 4.8%).We believe this is quite an achievement given the natural geographical constraints that occur with a City divided by a river, and with its southern flank being an estuary, with large industrial areas nearby. Although in 1999, we were able to submit a combined plan for the City, this time around the majority opposition party were proposing the retention of some two member seats, and the minority opposition party proposing a combination of one, two and three seat wards, so we had to differ in our proposals. We were however able to agree the original submission of a reduced proposed Council size to 57. This document should be read with reference to the maps draw up to show the changes proposed which have been sent with this document both electronically to [email protected] and by post to ‘The Reviewing Officer (Hull), local Government Boundary Commission for England, 14th Floor, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London, SW1P 4QP’. 1 PROPOSALS 1) We have taken on board the Boundary Commission’s proposals to reduce the Council size to 57 members from the current 59 Councillors. Although not without difficulty, we have therefore proposed 19 newly proposed three- member wards. This is a reduction from the current mosaic of 23 wards, which includes a pattern of two and three-member wards. Using the projected electorate for 2022; which was provided in the Council Size Report previously submitted; we aimed for an ideal target of 9,822 electorate for each three seat ward providing an ideal number of 3,274/Councillor. Achieving an ideal division is obviously extremely difficult to do given natural communities, waterways, main arterial roads, drains and so forth, especially when in some areas some, all or none of these may represent significant natural barriers in the community of an area so we aimed to ensure that projected figures for each ward did not deviate more than 10% either way from the ideal figure and indeed we tried to limit any such variance to 5% or less. Our proposal provides for no ward projection in excess of 8% and two with a difference of less than 1%. The mean % difference was 4.8% (See figures at Appendix 4). 2) Although for large parts of its length the River Hull remains a physical boundary, this is less so in the North, as the River narrows, and there is increased development adjoining both banks. With improved road infrastructure and river crossings, there is an increased connectivity in the north of the city with shared community interest around the district retail shopping and leisure facilities at Kingswood. Against this backdrop we will propose one ward which crosses the River; (the new Kingswood & Beverley Ward). 3) Elsewhere we have revisited whether flyovers, or railway crossings naturally divide or unite communities, and have decided that there can be a case for crossing these in a couple of places where the linkages and synergies outnumber the disadvantages of such an approach, and where the shared experience of such features promote a commonality of interest. 4) The details of the proposals is shown on the attached map, together with a table of Electorate Numbers based upon a 2022 projection, along with the number of members in each ward and the number of electors per Councillor in each ward. 5) The detailed justification for each of the proposed amendments to the current warding is as followed. 2 EASTERN HULL Holderness & Garden Village Ward The main proposal is the removal of Garden Village from Drypool, a self-contained community of houses built by the philanthropist and nearby factory owner James Reckitt for his workers and which retains a special resonance with those that live there. With spacious gardens and larger houses, this community fits naturally with the other areas of Holderness Ward including James Reckitt Avenue, and East Park, which it compliments. This move is facilitated by the removal of the Kathleen Road area, with its more traditional industrial and more modest terraced housing which pepper-pots the nearby factory areas. This housing type fits far more comfortably with the streets of Drypool and its shared commonality of interest around the retail area of Holderness Road. Projected Electorate (2022) = 9,109 or 3,036/Councillor which is approximately 7% below the target. Name: Given the historic nature of this area we would propose to retain both the name Holderness as well as recognising the bespoke Garden Village area in a Holderness & Garden Village Ward for the city. Drypool This proposal is affected by that listed above. The one area that is quite different within this locality remains the newly built Victoria Dock which is landlocked by major Roads, and separated from other residential population centres by the River Hull. This area does not fit easily with any community, but remains a compromise for us to achieve 19 three-councillor Wards, and is not a big enough entity in its own right to even command a single Councillor, or a smaller Ward. If it had been this is the one genuinely isolated community in the whole of Hull that would have justified a separate solution, but due to size, we have had to compromise, and maintain it within Drypool, where it remains. Projected Electorate (2022) = 9,331 or 3,110/Councillor which is approximately 5% below the target. Name: It may make sense to rename this area Drypool and Victoria Dock Ward to reflect the neighbouring communities. 3 Southcoates Our proposal for this new Southcoates Ward seeks to remove two of the two- member wards, and replace with one new three person Ward. To enable this to happen, we have removed two of the former Southcoates East boxes and reunited them within Marfleet the Ward covering the main dockland areas. A small section of this Ward nearer to Holderness Road also moves to Ings. Rather than this Southcoates community being divided, as was the case previously, we have in our proposal sought to use the main roads of Preston Road and Southcoates which are focal points, to unify rather than divide this community into one Ward. Southcoates Ward Members have submitted additional information that reflects their considered views on their ward which can be found at Appendix 1. Projected Electorate (2022) = 9,263 or 3,087/Councillor which is approximately 6% below the target. Name: As both former Wards had the name Southcoates it makes sense to maintain the name within the new ward Marfleet There have been some changes to Marfleet, although these are limited by the fact that that the Ward skirts the City’s Eastern Boundary, and has the estuary to the South. Although large in size, much of the area is industrial, centred around the Docks and the Ferry Terminal, and the new Green Energy Development area [EAZ]. The residential hinterlands nearby have traditionally served, and were largely built to serve, these industries. Our changes involve the proposed incorporation of two boxes from the former Southcoates East Ward into Marfleet. On the Northern fringe of the Ward, an element of the Bilton Grange Ward that only joined this ward in 1999 are removed. Projected Electorate (2022) = 9,304 or 3,101/Councillor which is approximately 5% below the target. Name: The name Marfleet retains a historic relevance and avoids using an estate name than then describes only a proportion of this locality. Longhill & Bilton Grange Ward This Ward, like Marfleet, adjoins the Eastern Boundary and as such has limited scope for change. A minor tweak incorporating the road-locked triangle of properties at East Mount Avenue and Mallard Road which were previously a major part of the old Bilton Grange Ward makes the new wards’ appearance far more topologically pleasing and coherent on the proposed map. 4 Projected Electorate (2022) = 10,018 or 3,339/Councillor which is approximately 2% above the target. Name: Retention of the name Longhill with the recognition of the addition of parts of the former Bilton Grange Ward seems appropriate for this new ward. Ings Substantial new house building has changed the size and character of this area. We are proposing the moving of two boxes of the former Bilton Grange Estate back into the newly proposed Ings Ward. These areas used to be in this ward before 1999. This has enabled us to move an area of Sutton village back within that community whereas the existing proposals divided the community.