Agenda and minutes

Cllrs Frampton, Penson, Tungate, Ward and Mrs Wyeth.

To note any declarations of interest made by members in connection with an agenda item.  The nature of the interest must also be specified.

Members are asked to discuss any possible interests with Democratic Services prior to the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made by members in connection with an agenda item.

To consider and to make a recommendation to the Council on the District Council’s response to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England’s consultation.

The Committee considered the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) Electoral Review of Hampshire County Council.

The Commission was carrying out the review to deliver electoral equality for voters by seeking to correct imbalances which occurred where some county councillors represent many more, or many fewer, electors than their colleagues across the county.

The review would recommend new electoral arrangements for Hampshire County Council and would propose the total number of councillors elected to the Council (likely to be 78), the number of electoral divisions, the number of councillors representing each division, division boundaries and the names of those divisions.

A 10 week public consultation had commenced, during which the Commission had invited proposals for new warding arrangements. This first consultation would close on Monday 3 August, after which the Commission would publish its draft recommendations. A further period of consultation would then commence to seek views on the draft recommendations with final proposals being published in April 2016. It was intended that the new electoral arrangements would come into effect in time for the County elections in 2017.

In response to the review, the County Council had established a Members’ Working Group with one member drawn from each District, plus a Chairman. The New Forest was represented by Cllr Miss England, member for Lymington. The Group was also chaired by Cllr Thornber, member for Brockenhurst Division. Cllrs England, Thornber and E Heron, member for Fordingbridge Division, were in attendance and addressed the Committee.

Cllr Thornber explained that the Members’ Working Group had examined in detail key electoral forecast data, focusing on over or under-representation of each division, when considering possible changes to individual electoral divisions. Cllr Thornber clarified that the LGBCE had made it clear that the registered electorate data at the start of the review (December 2014) should be used and applied to the electorate forecasting exercise. With regard to the total number of councillors elected to the Council, the County Council had recently voted to remain at 78 members and the LGBCE had indicated that it was minded to recommend this number.

When considering any changes to the number of County Councillors representing the New Forest, the Members’ Working Group had taken account of the large geographical area of the New Forest. The New Forest had two large divisions – Fordingbridge and Brockenhurst. If the County Council’s recommendations relating to Test Valley were adopted, these would become the 1^st and 3^rd largest divisions respectively in the County. The Working Group accepted that County Councillors representing large divisions had greater working pressures placed on them.  Given the complex and unique area of the New Forest with the existence of the National Park Authority and other statutory bodies that made democratic representation more complicated, the Working Group would recommend that the County Council representation for the New Forest remain at 11 members.

Cllr England highlighted the rationale used by the Working Group in developing recommendations. She explained that she had sought the views of  ...  view the full minutes text for item 15.