Agenda item

The Council gave consideration to a report which asked Members to consider proposed new warding arrangements in response to the electoral review of the Council as detailed within the report.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) had announced in 2019 an electoral review for the Council. In 2020, the LGBCE concluded, after consultation that it was minded to proceed with 60 elected Members for the borough. That decision concluded stage 1 of the review.

Subsequently, the LGBCE launched stage 2 of the review- a public consultation exercise on new warding arrangements for which the deadline for submission was the 29th March 2021. A cross-party group of elected Members had considered the matter and various mapping models developed by officers from within the Strategy and Performance Service.

Members were informed that the LGBCE criteria included balancing the projected 2026 electorate in each proposed ward as equally as possible, usually keeping within 5% of the average. The 2026 electorate had been projected in an earlier submission required by the LGBCE and had been disaggregated to household level to allow flexibility in where boundaries were drawn. In line with LGBCE recommendations, officers had worked from the edges of the borough towards the centre. Officers first established broader, well-defined areas such as Saddleworth and Failsworth, where borough

boundaries and other features such as Parish areas and the motorway, limited the scope for change. In this way a variety of models were initially produced, and eventually reduced to one consensus model.

The LGBCE would review warding proposals against statutory criteria and all proposals must demonstrate how they meet the requirements.

The consultation was open to all interested parties and members of the public. The LGBC had emphasised that all submissions carried equal weight and all Members or groups could submit an individual submission.

Once the LBCE had considered all the proposals received during this phase of consultation, it would publish draft recommendations for new electoral arrangements. This was scheduled to take place between June and August 2021. Once the Commission had considered the representations and evidence as part of that consultation, it intended to publish final recommendations in November 2021.

New electoral arrangements for the borough were scheduled to come into effect at the borough council elections in 2023.

Councillor Fielding MOVED and Councillor Sykes SECONDED the recommendations set out in the report.

On being put to the vote, Members voted unanimously in FAVOUR of the RECOMMENDATIONS.

RESOLVED that:

1.    The model of warding arrangements attached at Appendix 1 to the report be approved.

2.    The model of warding arrangements be submitted to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE).