The independent Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) has published its final recommendations for new local government electoral arrangements in Cheshire East.
Last week's publication follows months of public consultation and draws boundaries for each ward across Cheshire East. The review started on 24th February 2009, the commission then published its draft recommendations in November 2009 and last week confirmed their recommendation that the Council should have 82 members, with 28 single-member wards, 18 two-member wards and six three-member wards.
The council is currently operating with a council size of 81 members, with three members allocated to each ward, based on the the historic pattern of Cheshire County Council divisions which were last subject to an electoral review in 2000.
Max Caller, Chair of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England, said: "Our recommendations determine how many councillors will serve on the council. They also decide which wards you vote in. We're grateful to all the people across East Cheshire who took the time and effort to send us their views because having fair wards, where each councillor represents around the same number of people, is important."
In Wilmslow the committee have proposed three single-member wards: Wilmslow Dean Row, Wilmslow East and Wilmslow Lacey Green, which are projected to have 4% fewer, 7% fewer and 5% more electors per councillor than the authority average by 2015, and one two-member ward for Wilmslow West. This will combine Fulshaw, Pownhall Park and Morley, as well as including the neighbouring parish of Chorley which they consider to have strong communication links with the south-west of Wilmslow. This ward will have 7% more electors than the authority average by 2015.
These final recommendations will obviously affect the Wilmslow Community Governance Review whose preference was for five wards to be created for the Wilmslow parish, based on the traditional wards of the former Macclesfield Borough Council.
However due to the ongoing Boundary Review they put forward two alternative sets of proposals with regard to the warding of Wilmslow earlier this month, so if, as anticipated, the final recommendations of the Boundary Committee were to create four wards for Wilmslow then the Wilmslow Community Governance Review also recommends four wards be created for the Wilmslow parish - so that the borough and parish wards are aligned.
Handforth will be a two-member ward, where the southern boundary of the proposed ward will follow the northern perimeter of Wilmslow cemetery, with the cemetery itself being in the Wilmslow Lacey Green ward.
The objective of LGBCE is to make recommendations that will achieve good electoral equality, while also trying to reflect the identities and interests of local communities in the area and provide for effective and convenient local government. Their prime aim is to create a level of electoral fairness so that each elector's vote is worth the same as another's in the election of councillors.
The proposed new arrangements must now be approved by Parliament. An Order, the legal document which brings into force the recommendations, will be laid in Parliament in October. Parliament can either accept or reject the recommendations. If accepted, the new electoral arrangements will come into force for the next council elections in May 2011.
The full report on the final recommendations for new electoral arrangements for Cheshire East Council can be viewed on the LGBCE website.
