Agenda and minutes

Cllrs Harris and Tungate.

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 the Local Government Boundary Committee for England’s draft recommendations on the electoral review of Hampshire County Council.

The Committee considered the District Council’s response to the Local Government Boundary Committee for England’s (LGBCE’s) draft recommendations on their electoral review of Hampshire County Council.  The current consultation period ended on 11 January 2016.   Final recommendations from the LGBCE were expected to be published on 5 April 2016, with new electoral arrangements coming into effect at the 2017 elections.   He reminded the Committee that it had been given delegated powers by the Council to agree the Council’s response to the LGBCE. 

The Chairman reported the receipt of a communication from Burley Parish Council expressing their wish for the Parish to form part of the Brockenhurst Division, and not the Ringwood Division.   He also reported that New Milton Town Council had informed the District Council of its decision to ask the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) for the Bashley ward of the Town Council to form part of the Milford and Hordle Division (together with the Fernhill Division). 

In recommending new electoral arrangements for Hampshire County Council, the LGBCE proposed that the total number of county councillors for Hampshire remain at 78, but that the number representing New Forest District be reduced from 11 to 10.   Eastleigh Borough Council would be allocated 8 county councillors in place of the current 7.  The reduction in the number of councillors for New Forest District involved the substantial redrawing of the divisional boundaries in the district.

It was reported that Hampshire County Council had decided to request the LGBCE to increase the number of County Councillors from 78 to 79, to enable the continued allocation of 11 Councillors to New Forest District.   If, however, the number of members for New Forest District remained at 10, it was recommending the changes set out in Appendices 4 and 5 of the report to the Committee. 

County Cllrs Thornber, England, Rice and Rippon-Swaine were in attendance and addressed the Committee. Cllr Thornber expressed the view that the LGBCE had placed undue weight on achieving electoral equality across Hampshire.   The consequences were particularly evident in New Forest District where community identity and effective and convenient local government would be compromised.   The LGBCE’s proposals to reduce the number of divisions in New Forest District would lead to the relation of the largest and the third-largest divisions in the county in geographical terms, with multiple parish councils within them.  This would make the task of a New Forest County Councillor very challenging.

If the LGBCE did not reinstate the 11 Divisions in New Forest District, the County Council had made its own recommendations based on a 10 division model. The most significant of the changes included moving Burley to the Brockenhurst Division, Exbury & Lepe to the South Waterside Division and Hyde and Ellingham, Harbridge & Ibsley from the Lyndhurst & Fordingbridge Division to the Ringwood Division.  The proposals avoided splitting the Copythorne, Netley Parish and Bransgore Parishes.  The County Council’s recommendations did not differ greatly from the “NFDC Options” put forward for the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 37.