Adrian
Co-operative Party
Posts: 1,726
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Post by Adrian on Jul 23, 2015 21:33:15 GMT
The ward review of Birmingham has started, with a recommendation to reduce the number of councillors from 120 to 100. This will save money and make the council more manageable, but it's a defeat for local democracy when you've got a ratio of over 8,000 voters per councillor. (Who was it who suggested splitting Birmingham into three councils - maybe that'd improve democracy in the city.) consultation.lgbce.org.uk//node/5688
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J.G.Harston
Lib Dem
Leave-voting Brexit-supporting Liberal Democrat
Posts: 13,503
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Post by J.G.Harston on Jul 23, 2015 21:47:16 GMT
There's also the consultation on the old Sutton Coldfield MBC getting a Town Council which as had a 70% YES vote, and the three largest paries on BCC previously agreed to abide by the vote. ( link)
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Adrian
Co-operative Party
Posts: 1,726
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Post by Adrian on Jul 23, 2015 23:50:56 GMT
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Jul 24, 2015 8:27:05 GMT
It might be worth emailing someone at LGBCE to get polling district maps. I did so with the Hertfordshire CC review and they were very helpful. A map of polling districts in the whole city would be useful as though it could be a bit unwieldy one will want to create wards which cross the boundaries of current wards so an overview would be helpful rather than 40 individual maps
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Adrian
Co-operative Party
Posts: 1,726
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Post by Adrian on Jul 24, 2015 18:15:19 GMT
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Sibboleth
Labour
'Sit on my finger, sing in my ear, O littleblood.'
Posts: 15,235
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Post by Sibboleth on Jul 24, 2015 18:23:46 GMT
But not much money. lmao no.
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Post by johnhemming on Jul 24, 2015 18:53:38 GMT
The Kershaw review identified a lot of problems and produced few concrete solutions apart from a few which are likely to exacerbate the problems.
Job Done.
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maxque
Non-Aligned
Posts: 8,922
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Post by maxque on Jul 25, 2015 6:18:58 GMT
It might be worth emailing someone at LGBCE to get polling district maps. I did so with the Hertfordshire CC review and they were very helpful. A map of polling districts in the whole city would be useful as though it could be a bit unwieldy one will want to create wards which cross the boundaries of current wards so an overview would be helpful rather than 40 individual maps They are usually put online during the consultation phase on LGBCE website (but removed as soon draft recommendations are published).
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cibwr
Plaid Cymru
Posts: 3,557
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Post by cibwr on Jul 25, 2015 9:03:07 GMT
The ward review of Birmingham has started, with a recommendation to reduce the number of councillors from 120 to 100. This will save money and make the council more manageable, but it's a defeat for local democracy when you've got a ratio of over 8,000 voters per councillor. (Who was it who suggested splitting Birmingham into three councils - maybe that'd improve democracy in the city.) consultation.lgbce.org.uk//node/5688Andy Foster (former city councilor) once told me of such a plan and how it would work... I don't think it would really be feasible to split the city in three in any real sense other than giving independence to Sutton. Reducing the councillors would just further make the work of elected members more onerous.
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Jul 29, 2015 19:18:13 GMT
Unless somebody can develop a Boundary assistant site with all the PD boundaries and electorates programmed in I'm going to have to give up on this for now
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Harry Hayfield
Green
Cavalier Gentleman (as in 17th century Cavalier)
Posts: 2,737
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Post by Harry Hayfield on Jul 29, 2015 21:26:42 GMT
From the limited knowledge I have of Birmingham, I would suggest that the four wards that make Sutton Coldfield should be split into three wards (each electing one councillor) and that one should be called Sutton Park
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Adrian
Co-operative Party
Posts: 1,726
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Post by Adrian on Sept 30, 2015 4:35:52 GMT
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Sept 30, 2015 6:58:07 GMT
I thought they had to be all single member wards?
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Adrian
Co-operative Party
Posts: 1,726
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Post by Adrian on Sept 30, 2015 10:20:07 GMT
No.
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The Bishop
Labour
Down With Factionalism!
Posts: 36,318
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Post by The Bishop on Sept 30, 2015 10:27:07 GMT
Ah right, I must admit that was my impression too......
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Adrian
Co-operative Party
Posts: 1,726
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Post by Adrian on Sept 30, 2015 11:16:21 GMT
Ah right, I must admit that was my impression too...... They are discouraging 3-member wards, but I prefer them where it's hard to split an area into neat 8000-voter units. "Each ward in Birmingham is currently represented by three councillors. There is no longer a legal requirement for a uniform pattern of three-member wards across the city. This means that the Commission is free to draw up wards that elect one, two or three councillors depending on the evidence presented to it about each local area. Given the evidence we have already seen about local accountability in existing wards, proposals for one or more three-member wards should carefully consider why such an arrangement would reflect the criteria we must consider when we draw up new boundaries." www.lgbce.org.uk/news/electoral-review/have-your-say-on-new-council-ward-boundaries-for-birmingham
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Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
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Post by Deleted on Sept 30, 2015 11:16:06 GMT
I also got that impression!
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Sept 30, 2015 11:30:08 GMT
But (AIUI) they have decided to go for all-out elections, so any multi-member wards will be multi-member FPTP.
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Adrian
Co-operative Party
Posts: 1,726
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Post by Adrian on Sept 30, 2015 11:42:05 GMT
But (AIUI) they have decided to go for all-out elections, so any multi-member wards will be multi-member FPTP. That, one might say, is not my problem. If they are seriously considering 100 1-member wards they might as well do without the review altogether and just draw the lines anywhere, because (a) it's such a monumental task, and (b) there's no chance of keeping more than 50% of communities in coherent units.
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Post by lennon on Sept 30, 2015 12:07:38 GMT
The other point that I realised when looking at Southwark, was that there is an advantage in having multi-member wards for areas where building / population growth means that electorates are not perfectly stable. Having single member wards means that there will be a need for a boundary review / that there will be more unequal electorates far more quickly than with multi-member wards. Whilst I don't know Birmingham well - I can't believe that future electorate growth will be stable across all areas.
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