Warwickshire County Council Boundary Review (for 2017)

[Harry Hayfield]

Current state of Warwickshire County Council
Membership: 62 councillors from 56 electoral divisions
Political Composition (as of September 2014): Con 26, Lab 22, Lib Dem 9, Green 2, Ind 1, Stratford First 1, Rates 1 (NOC, Con short by 6)

Boundary Commission Remit: 57 councillors
The map of recommendations can be found at www.lgbce.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/23229/Warwickshire_D_Sh1_SO_V2.pdf


I made the following suggestions purely on North Warwickshire (as that was the part of the county I knew best)

Please find enclosed some of my suggestions for the new Warwickshire County Council wards. Sadly due to the fact that I am unable to download a map showing the Warwickshire parishes I have only been able to North Warwickshire district in detail (and realise that Curdworth district ward and Kingsbury district ward are not in a county ward) but hope that my other suggestions will be taken on board. In outline I agree with the Commission’s suggestion that Warwickshire should have five fewer councillors (as here in Wales it has been suggested that the number of county councillors and councils should be halved). Using the commission’s recommendations of an electorate of between 7,002 and 8,558 electors (7,780 + 10%) I believe that the following wards should be retained in their current composition

Alcester (7,100), Bede (7,824), Bedworth North (7,116), Bedworth West (8,512), Bidford upon Avon (7,791), Cubbington (8,066), Earl Craven (7,695), Henley in Arden (7,070), Kenilworth, Abbey (8,023), Lawford and New Bilton (8,275), Leamington, Milverton (7,112), Leamington, Willes (7,328), Nuneaton, St. Nicholas (7,792), Nuneaton, Wem Brook (7,359), Nuneaton, Whitestone (7,646), Polesworth (7,162), Shipston upon Stour (7,972), Southam (7,672), Stratford, Avenue and New Town (7,062), Warwick North (7,365), Warwick South (8,415), Warwick West (8,170) and Whitnash (7,187)

With the only extra information that if an electoral division is named after a section of a town (for instance Lawford and New Bilton) then the name of the town should preface the electoral division (Rugby, Lawford and New Bilton).

As for those wards that are too small in the commission’s opinion I would like to offer the following suggestions (reminding the commission that I have only the information for North Warwickshire to hand)

New wards
The existing Arley county electoral division (6,294) should be joined with the current Fillongley district electoral division (737) to create a new Arley and Filliongley county electoral division (7,031)
The existing Coleshill North district electoral division (2,709), the existing Coleshill South district electoral division (2,816) and the current Water Orton district electoral division (2,935) should be used to create a Coleshill and Water Orton county electoral division (8,460)
The existing Baddesley county electoral division (7,162) should have the Warton parish removed from it (1,242) and have the current Hurley and Wood End district electoral division added to it (2,652) to create a new Merevale Hall county electoral division (8,572)

Amended wards
Having taken Warton parish out of Baddesley county electoral division (1,242) add it to the existing Polesworth county electoral division (7,162) to create an amended Polesworth county electoral division (8,404)
Take Atherstone South parish ward (1,242) out of Hartshill county electoral division and add it to the existing Atherstone county electoral division (6,277) to create an amended Atherstone county electoral division (7,519)

I apologise once again for not being able to cover Curdworth district electoral division or Kingsbury district electoral division but I am confident that other residents of Warwickshire will make their opinions known. Although not a resident of Warwickshire, I have spent many happy years in the county attending events such as the Royal Show at Stoneleigh and the Town and County Festival plus my grandparents (who were born in the county) farmed the area in my propsed Merevale Hall electoral division during the war and I have a relation who is the current Conservative county councillor for Arley, therefore feel that I have a spiritual connection to the county, if not a physical one. I look forward to hearing what the commission decides to do with my suggestions and would like to know if I may comment on the recommendations when they are published later in the year

[greatkingrat]

The problem with your plan is that you haven't explained what you would do with the rest of Hartshill division, which would only be 4600 electors once you take out Atherstone South.

[Harry Hayfield]

I know, it wasn't helped by the fact that North Warwickshire isn't parished. Looking at what they have drawn up for North Warwickshire is pretty much what I was aiming for (although I think the new Kingsbury ward is rather too large in terms of area) and will try and see if I can create a Merevale Hall ward instead.

[Harry Hayfield]

Warwickshire's final recommendations have been published www.lgbce.org.uk/current-reviews/west-midlands/warwickshire/warwickshire-county-council and for me the most interesting bit of news is Coleshill being split along the district lines (Coleshill North merging with Water Orton, Coleshill South merging with Arley)