Agenda item

On 2 August 2022, the Local Government Boundary Commission had published its proposed pattern of wards for Buckinghamshire Council to apply from the Council elections in 2025.  This followed a public consultation earlier in the year during which the Commission had received submissions from various sources, including this Council.  In the event, the Commission did not follow this Council’s submission.

Council had agreed in April 2022 that the Standards and General Purposes Committee should advise Council on the appropriate response to the current consultation.  The Commission was proposing a pattern of 51 wards with, variously, 1, 2 or 3 Member representation, achieving 98 members overall.  The Commission’s proposals could be found on their website here.

While the Commission would of course consider any comments on its proposals, it was not seeking detailed alternative proposals as in earlier stages.  Rather, the Commission was minded to implement the pattern of wards it had proposed and was seeking comments on their practicality.  The Commission had invited views specifically on 10 of its proposals that was where the Commission felt it needed further local evidence to verify its proposals.

In approaching its work, the Committee had been assisted by a cross-party Electoral Review Working Group.  The Group had invited all members of the Council to comment to it on the Commission’s proposals. The Group, and then the Committee, addressed itself as follows:

A)                 Reviewing each of the 10 proposals on which the Commission had invited comment;

B)                 Reviewing any other refinement suggested by local Members.

The Committee’s recommendations were listed at Annex 1 to the Council report. Where a change to the Commission’s proposals was recommended, a plan illustrating the change, and how it differs from the Commission’s original proposals, was included at Annex 2.

The Chairman of the Standards and General Purposes Committee explained that the Committee had been mindful only to suggest changes where they substantially improved upon the Commission’s own proposal, and were made in line with the Commission’s working assumptions that Parishes be kept whole where possible, rural Wards were not too geographical spread out and diverse, Electoral variance was within acceptable limits, and urban and rural areas should not be mixed unless there were clear community identity reasons.

In one instance (Chiltern Ridges), the Committee had felt that the Commission’s ward was too large, diverse and artificial. It had therefore recommended that the constituent parishes be located instead, as appropriate, in Chesham North, Chesham South or Chalfont St Giles & Little Chalfont Wards.

In three cases, the Committee had recommended that the Commission’s individual wards be merged with another in the interests of community identity while retaining electoral variance:

A)                 Grendon Underwood with Steeple Claydon

B)                 Horwood with Winslow

C)                 Newton Longville with Quainton

In other cases, the Committee was proposing a modification to the Commission’s proposals in the interests of community identity.

A)                 Buckingham Ward:  the addition of Leckhampstead Parish (from Horwood Ward)

B)                 Iver and Gerrards Cross & Denham:  recognition that New Denham has no connection with the Commission’s proposed Iver Ward; and that Denham Parish should be kept whole within Gerrards Cross & Denham. Similarly, the parish boundary for Gerrards Cross should be restored and kept whole

C)                 Little Marlow Parish:  to remain whole (e.g. within Chiltern Villages) rather than split as proposed by the Commission

D)                 Penn, Tylers Green & Loudwater and Beaconsfield:  transfer of certain areas (of the former) which more clearly identify with Beaconsfield. An additional benefit is a reduction in the Commission’s currently excessive variance for Penn, Tylers Green & Loudwater

E)                  Terriers & Amersham Hill and Totteridge & Bowerdean:  transferring certain polling districts and redistributing councillor numbers to achieve one 3 member ward and one 1 member ward (instead of two 2 member wards).  The resulting wards to be Terriers & Totteridge (3) and Bowerdean (1).

The Council had been successful in persuading the Commission to extend its deadline from October (originally) to 5 December.  The Council’s submission must be sent to the Commission by that date.   The Committee was seeking formal endorsement by the Council, of these proposals, as a corporate response. It remained the case, as at other stages of the review, that any Member was free as an individual to send their own personal submissions to the Commission.

The Commission’s revised timetable envisaged that the final report would be published on 28 February 2023, for an Order to be laid in Parliament in Spring 2023, and for the new arrangements to apply to elections from May 2025.

During the debate, points highlighted included:

(i)                 concerns expressed by one Member on a section of Knotty Green within Penn Parish that had been split into Beaconsfield Ward.  The Penn Parish Council was of the view that the Parish should be left intact and not diluted.  It was asked that this be made clear in any submission to the Boundary Commission.  It was acknowledged that the Penn, Loudwater and Tylers Green Ward and area had been a particularly difficult arrangement to manage which had impacted on consultation efforts.  It had been difficult in this particular area to make a Warding decision whilst also addressing electoral variances and community cohesion issues.

(ii)               that the accuracy of the maps for Gerrards Cross, Denham and Ivers would be checked against the comments made before the submission was made to the Boundary Commission

(iii)              a number of Members thanked the Officers for all support during the review.  It was commented that the changes from 203 Councillors in the Shadow Authority to 98 Councillors in the next term from 2025 would equate to a saving of approximately £2.5m during 2025-2029.

(iv)              concerns were expressed on the difficulties associated with single Member Wards, in particular at Bowerdean.  Members were informed that the Council’s original submission to the Commission had not included for any single Member Wards but that the Commission had then come back proposing a significant number of single Member Wards.  The proposed submission back to the Commission had sought wherever possible to minimise the number of single Member Wards but it had not been possible to achieve this everywhere.

Councillor T Broom moved the 2 recommendations as noted in the report. These were seconded by Councillor B Chapple OBE, and it was –

RESOLVED –

(1)               That the Council’s response to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England on the future pattern of wards for Buckinghamshire Council be APPROVED, as set out in Annex 1 and as recommended by the Standards and General Purposes Committee.

(2)               That the Service Director for Legal and Democratic Services be authorized to submit the comments to the Local Boundary Commission for England by the consultation deadline of 5 December 2022.