The Local Government Boundary Commission for England will today launch a Ward boundary review across the Chorley Borough Council area to address inequalities in the number of electors per councillor.
The review was first triggered by the Astley and Buckshaw Ward which had a 32.35% variance in electors per councillor having gone through the 30% threshold in December 2017. And in December last, the variance increased to 37.13%. Overall, one ward had a variance of over 20%, with 6 greater than 10% variance.
SMALLER COUNCIL, FEWER WARDS
It is likely that the outcome of the review will see Chorley Council reduce in size to 42 councillors across 14 wards, from 47 councillors across 20 wards. New rules will mean that each new ward will need to have three councillors each. At present ten wards mainly in rural areas have either one or two councillors.
Based on a projected electorate of 90,148, that means an average Ward size of 6,439 electors (2,146 per councillor), with an allowable range of no smaller that 5.795 (1,932 per councillor) and no larger than 7,083 (2,361 per councillor).
The review can only consider wards within the existing Chorley Council area.
Residents and interested bodies including ourselves will be invited to submit their views and have their say on draft wards as they are published.
TIMETABLE
- 26/06/2018 Consultation on warding arrangements begins
- 3/9/2018 Consultation on warding arrangements ends
- 6/11/2018 Consultation on draft recommendations begins
- 14/1/2019 Consultation on draft recommendations ends
- 12/3/2019 Final recommendations published
REVIEW DETAILS