Agenda item

For Members to consider and agree the formal Council consultation submission in relation to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) Electoral Review of Fenland District Council. This report forms the Council's response to the final part of the electoral review process regarding the proposed future warding arrangements, including future ward boundaries, number of elected representatives per ward and future ward names.

Members considered FDC’s response to LGBCE on Draft Ward proposals report presented by Councillor Boden.

Councillor Boden thanked Councillor Davis for suggesting it would be helpful to increase the number of councillors to 43 for a better scheme of warding within the town of March. Although the proposal did not work out, it worked out very well on the basis of 42 councillors, using the historical links at County Council divisional level between Christchurch and March and Benwick and March.

Members made comments, asked questions and received responses as follows:

·         Councillor Booth said it is apparent that if you are not part of the ruling group your comments will be disregarded, and he will not be supporting this. He would like to put on record that the parishes he represents, Parson Drove and Wisbech St Mary, are very disappointed with this process and that the Council has not taken their comments on board.

·         Councillor Sutton said he will not support this. He finds any increase in members totally unnecessary and does not back the boundary changes as they are. His view is that putting towns and villages together will never be a good idea as they are very different packages and village residents do not want to be associated with the towns and vice versa.

·         Councillor Tierney said he will be supporting this. He made the point that there will never be a scheme that everyone is happy with. Councillor Tierney stated that he has worked hard in his ward, but these changes will mean it will not exist and will form part of another ward with the effect this will have or what the future will bring being unknown. He is not sure that Councillor Sutton is right about villages and towns; people choose where to live and just try to get along together and he knows people in villages who will often say they live in Wisbech, it just depends on the nature of the conversation. He feels that people are not concerned over ward boundaries; they just want a councillor to help them when they need it.

·         Councillor Patrick requested a recorded vote on this matter.

·         Councillor Cornwell expressed the view that an impasse has been reached and not everyone is going to be satisfied. He stated that members of the Fenland Independent Alliance are totally against this proposal and will be generating its own response. He also requested a recorded vote.

·         Councillor Boden agreed there is no system of ward boundaries that will ever satisfy everyone. He stated that the LGBC uses statutory criteria that exists to ensure that Council wards as best as possible reflect the communities that exist within the area, and it is a balancing exercise to reflect all the criteria. He believes the proposal put forward here matches the criteria of the LGBCE as far as it is possible to do so, which is not perfect, but nothing ever is.

It was proposed by Councillor Patrick that a recorded vote be taken, which was supported by Councillors Bligh, Booth, Cornwell, Sutton, Wicks, Wilkes and Yeulett

Proposed by Councillor Boden, seconded by Councillor Connor and AGREED the revised proposals as outlined in the report which will result in 18 District Council Wards representing 42 District Councillors. As a result, the average number of electors per councillor will be 2046, and

·         Endorse the LGBCE proposed future district warding arrangements in relation to

o   Chatteris North and Manea

o   Chatteris South

o   Elm and Wisbech St Mary

o   Parson Drove and Roman Bank

o   Whittlesey East and Villages

o   Whittlesey Lattersey

o   Whittlesey Northwest

o   Whittlesey South

o   Wisbech Leverington

o   Wisbech North

o   Wisbech Riverside

o   Wisbech South

o   Wisbech Walsoken and Waterlees

·         Agree to the revised proposals be submitted to the LGBCE as outlined in the report in relation to

o   Doddington and Wimblington

o   March East and Christchurch

o   March North

o   March South

o   March West and Benwick

·         Delegate to officers to formally submit the Council consultation submission to the LGBCE for consideration by the deadline of 06 June 2022.

In favour of the recommendations:  Councillors Benney, Boden, J Clark, S Clark, Connor, Count, Mrs J French, Miss K French, Hay, Hoy, Humphrey, Lynn, Mason, Mayor, Meekins, Miscandlon, Mockett, Murphy, Purser, Rackley, Seaton, Skoulding and Tierney

Against the recommendations: Councillors Bligh, Booth, Cornwell, Divine, Maul, Patrick, Sutton, Wicks, Wilkes and Yeulett

Abstention: Councillor Marks