The independent Local Government Boundary Commission for England is asking local people for their help to draw up a new pattern of council wards for Harrogate Borough Council.
The consultation is the first part of an electoral review which will re-draw ward boundaries across the borough.
The Commission has also announced that it is minded to recommend that the council should have 40 borough councillors in the future: fourteen fewer than the current arrangements.
The Commission now needs information from people and groups across Harrogate to help it to produce a new pattern of wards to accommodate 40 borough councillors.
- The Local Government Boundary Commission for England is responsible for reviewing local authority electoral arrangements, defining boundaries for local elections and the number of councillors to be elected, as well as conducting reviews of local government external boundaries and structures.
In drawing up new boundaries, the Commission aims to deliver electoral equality for voters in council elections so that each councillor represents roughly the same number of voters. The review also aims to ensure that the new council wards reflect, as far as possible, the interests and identities of communities across Harrogate.
Professor Colin Mellors, Chair of the Commission, said:
We are asking local people and organisations to help us draw up new wards for Harrogate. As we develop the recommendations, we will take into account local community identities as well as ensuring electoral equality for voters.
If you have a view about which communities or neighbourhoods should be part of the same council ward, then we want to hear from you. And if you think a road, river or railway makes for a strong boundary between communities in your part of Harrogate, then this consultation is for you. Alternatively, if you’re simply interested in the way the borough is run, just log on to our website to explore our interactive maps and have your say.
Your views will make a difference.
We will carefully consider all evidence that is provided during this phase of the review whoever it is from and whether it applies to the whole of Harrogate or just a small part of the borough.
Residents will then have a further chance to have their say after we publish our draft recommendations in June.
Local people have until 4 April 2016 to submit their views. Further information on the review and interactive maps of the existing wards can be found at www.consultation.lgbce.org.uk and www.lgbce.org.uk
