Agenda item

To consider the recommendations of the Governance Committee on the response to the draft recommendations of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England on new electoral arrangements for Horsham District Council

(agenda online at: Governance_Committee )

The minutes of the Governance Committee meeting held on 1^st March 2017 were received.

Councillor David Coldwell, the Vice-Chairman of the Committee, moved the recommendations contained in Minute No. GO/5 – Electoral Review of Horsham: Draft Recommendations of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE).  Councillor Toni Bradnum seconded the motion.

Councillor Claire Vickers moved an amendment, and it was seconded by Councillor Billy Greening, that an addition be made to the response to request that the ward currently proposed to be named “Shipley and Southwater South” be named “Southwater South and Shipley” to reflect the fact that the larger proportion of the electorate for this ward was contained within Southwater parish.

On being put the amendment was declared CARRIED.

The substantive motion was then put and it was:

            RESOLVED

            That the Council’s response to the LGBCE consultation on its draft recommendations be approved as follows:

“The Council acknowledges and welcomes that the draft recommendations of the Local Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) on the electoral arrangements for Horsham are largely based on this Council’s submission. However, the Council has two main areas of concern where it requests the LGBCE to consider amending its proposals, as follows:

(a)        Horsham Town and Broadbridge Heath

The Council considers that the suggested inclusion of the Highwood area in the Broadbridge Heath ward, whilst improving electoral equality, does not reflect community identity or provide for effective and convenient local government. This area is separated from the rest of the Broadbridge Heath ward by the A24 dual carriageway (which forms a distinct boundary to the Horsham town area on its western side) and is quite clearly within the town of Horsham. The residents in this area have no obvious connection with Broadbridge Heath other than the possible use of the out of town shopping area and leisure centre, in common with many other residents of Horsham town as a whole.

Broadbridge Heath is a distinct parish area with its own community identity and a growing population due to a number of new developments including the development of 165 residential units on land north of Old Guildford Road which was not included in the original electorate projection and is currently being implemented.

The Council therefore requests that:

·        the Highwood area to the east of the A24 is included in the Denne ward proposed by the LGBCE (including the area between Horn Brook and the railway line), giving this ward an electoral variance of +7%, and

·        the Broadbridge Heath ward is retained on the existing parish boundary with a projected variance of -13% on the basis that this is a distinct area with its own community identity and the additional development not included in electorate projections is likely to reduce the variance below 10% by 2022.

(b)        North-west Horsham

The reasons the Council proposed the boundary between the two Southwater wards (Southwater North and Shipley & Southwater South) were twofold:

·        to ensure that the village centre (Lintot Square etc.) was contained within the ward covering the larger and more densely populated part of the village (Southwater North), and

·        to allow for an increase in the electorate in the Shipley & Southwater South ward above that projected due to the development of approximately 600 residential units on land west of Worthing Road, Southwater which was not included in the original electorate projection and is currently under construction.

The Council accepts the LGBCE’s amendment to include the Raylands Country Park campsite in Southwater North. However, the Council requests that the dividing line it proposed within Southwater itself, which included the area between Worthing Road, Pond Farm Gill and south of Cedar Drive and Nutham Lane in the Southwater North ward, be used to define the boundary between the two wards as it is considered that the additional development in the Shipley & Southwater South ward will increase the electorate sufficiently to improve electoral equality. It is also considered that, from a community identity perspective, the village centre (which includes the parish council offices, library and shopping centre) is better located in the ward that contains the larger proportion of the Southwater parish electorate.

The Council also requests that the ward currently proposed to be named “Shipley and Southwater South” be named “Southwater South and Shipley” to reflect the fact that the larger proportion of the electorate for this ward is contained within Southwater parish.”

REASON

To encourage the LGBCE as far as possible to adopt the warding arrangements that the Council believes will be right for the authority from May 2019 to provide electoral equality whilst reflecting the interests and identities of local communities and providing for effective and convenient local government.