Agenda item

At the start of the debate in respect of this item, Members agreed to suspend standing orders to permit the Electoral Services Manager and the Senior Electoral Services Officer respectively to speak at the meeting on this item of business.

The Chairman of the Electoral Matters Committee subsequently presented the Local Government Boundary Commission for England’s Boundary Review for Bromsgrove – Ward Patterning Proposals.  The report had been considered at a meeting of the Electoral Matters Committee held on 22nd November 2024.

Council was advised that the Commission reviewed electoral and boundary arrangements of Councils to make sure as much as possible that they were fair.  The first stage of the review was to consider the number of Councillors the District Council should have and the Commission had decided that this should be 31 which agreed with a previous submission from Council. The Commission had praised the Council submission and would be using it as an example of best practice in future reviews.

The review had reached its second stage where the Commission opened a consultation on Ward Patterning for the District. The consultation ran from 24th September to the 2nd December 2024. However, the Commission had kindly allowed the authority the extra time for Council to endorse a submission from Bromsgrove District Council. As part of the agreement, a draft submission had had to be sent to the Commission before the deadline which was received and acknowledged by them on 2nd December 2024.

To create this draft submission, a working group had been formed from the membership of the Electoral Matters Committee in consultation with all ward Members. With the help of officers, the working group had reviewed each ward in turn with ward Members being invited to comment or, if they wished, to attend the relevant working group meetings when their ward was discussed.

The working group had met on four occasions and had in depth discussions on ward changes.  The outcomes of these meetings had informed the content of a submission that could be endorsed by Council and sent to the Commission.

The Commission would take into account any submissions made, so it was important the Council provided an official submission. This, with other submissions received, would help the Commission to formulate their draft recommendations in March 2025. The Commission would then run a consultation on their draft recommendations from 6th May to 14th July 2025.  Once this concluded, the Commission would publish their final recommendations in November 2025. The legal order would be made in Spring 2026 for implementation in time for the May 2027 elections.

In concluding her comments on the submission, the Chairman of the Electoral Matters Committee thanked the working group for all of their hard work together with the support of officers, which had helped when drawing together the Council’s submission.

Following presentation of the report, there was a discussion of the process that had been followed by the working group when developing the Council’s draft submission.  Members noted that there had been many robust conversations on the subject and compromises had had to be reached.  In particular, there had been some disagreements over whether two-Member or single Member wards should be proposed for certain locations.  However, the final submission presented for Council’s consideration reflected the outcomes of the discussions held at the Electoral Matters Committee meeting.

The recommendations were proposed by Councillor E. Gray and seconded by Councillor K. May.

RESOLVED that

1)          standing orders be suspended during consideration of this item to permit the Electoral Services Manager and the Senior electoral Services Officer respectively to speak on the subject of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England’s Boundary Review for Bromsgrove – Ward Patterning Proposals;

2)          Council endorse the Council Warding Pattern submission including any amendments made; and

3)          Council delegate authority to the Chief Executive, following consultation with Group Leaders, to produce and submit the formal submission document to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England.

(Prior to consideration of this item, the Chairman agreed to withdraw from the meeting on the basis that she had participated in the debate in respect of this item at the Electoral Matters Committee and had expressed her views on the subject at that meeting.  The Vice Chairman instead chaired the meeting for this item and the Chairman was not present for either the debate nor vote thereon.)