Electoral proposals for district now finalised

On Monday the independent Local Government Boundary Commission for England published its final proposals for the electoral arrangements.

The publication followed an 11-week public consultation on its draft proposals made last year and draws new boundaries for each council ward across the district.

The recommendations propose that the district should be represented by 46 councillors - the same as current arrangements - and that those councillors should represent four three-member wards, 16 two-member wards and two single-member wards.

In December Cllr Tony Heath (Ind, Whitnash) was among those who expressed concerns that people in Whitnash would lose their identity of being a resident of the town should the ward be split up.

Cllr Heath said he was pleased Whitnash would remain a three-councillor ward and that residents would not be ‘disturbed’ but said he was concerned that part of east Whitnash would be lost and expressed concern for people in Warwick Gates who he says are ‘split’ over three wards.

He said: “They will have no sense of being within a community and there will be nobody there to look out for their needs.

“I think they will lose out in the long run.”

The proposed arrangements must now be implemented by the Government.

A draft order will go before Parliament in the next few months and the new arrangements would come into force at the district council’s elections in 2015.