The Local Government Boundary Commission for England has formally commenced an electoral review of Cheshire West and Chester. The purpose of this email is to inform you of the review and seek your views on future ward boundaries for the council. The Commission is carrying out a review to deliver electoral equality for voters across Cheshire West and Chester. At present, some councillors represent many more, or many fewer, electors than their colleagues elsewhere in Cheshire West and Chester. The review aims to correct those imbalances.
What is an electoral review? The electoral review will recommend new electoral arrangements for Cheshire West and Chester Council. It will propose:
When? Today is the start of a ten-week public consultation during which the Commission is inviting proposals for new warding arrangements. The consultation will close on 5 June 2017. After considering all representations made during this consultation, the Commission intends to publish draft recommendations in September 2017. There will then be a further period of consultation on the draft recommendations. Final recommendations are expected to be published in January 2018. The new electoral arrangements will come into effect at the local elections in 2019. How to get involved? This is a public consultation and we welcome views from individuals and organisations across Cheshire West and Chester on where they think new ward patterns should be drawn. The Commission is minded to recommend that 69 councillors should be elected to Cheshire West and Chester Council in the future. It is now inviting proposals to help it draw up a pattern of wards to accommodate 69 councillors. In drawing up a pattern of electoral wards, the Commission must balance three criteria, which are set out in law, namely:
The Commission will treat all submissions equally and will judge each case on its merits and against the statutory criteria. If you wish to put forward a view, we would also urge you to ensure that evidence supports your submission. For example, if you wish to argue that two parishes should be included in the same electoral ward, make sure you tell the Commission why they should be together, providing evidence about community facilities, ties, organisations, and amenities, rather than simply asserting that they belong together. There is plenty more advice on our website about how you can get involved in the consultation and put your views forward. Log on to www.lgbce.org.uk to find out more. The website includes the technical guidance that explains the process and our policies as well as guidance on how to take part in each part of the process. We have set up a page on our site which is dedicated to the review of Cheshire West and Chester where you can find all the relevant information. You can also access interactive maps of the current ward boundaries across Cheshire West and Chester on our specialist consultation portal. The portal also allows you to draw your own boundaries, mark areas of interest on the map and upload documents directly to the site. Log on to www.consultation.lgbce.org.uk to access the portal or find it via our main website. Get in touch We encourage as many people and organisations as possible to get involved with the consultation and we encourage local organisations and parish councils to engage their local networks and communities in the review. View interactive maps of Cheshire West and Chester, draw your own boundaries, and have your say at our specialist consultation portal at: www.consultation.lgbce.org.uk. Find out more about the review at: www.lgbce.org.uk. Email your views to: reviews@lgbce.org.uk. Follow us on Twitter at: @lgbce. Write to: Review Officer (Cheshire West and Chester) Local Government Boundary Commission for England 14th Floor Millbank Tower Millbank London SW1P 4QP This phase of consultation closes on 5 June 2017. We will write to you again when we open our consultation on the draft recommendations. Please note that the interests of transparency, copies of the all representations we receive during this review will be placed on our website. We remove any personal identifying information such as signatures and private residential addresses prior to placing any submissions in the public domain. Yours sincerely Dan Carlsson-Hyslop Review Officer reviews@lgbce.org.uk 0330 500 1525 Comments are closed.
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