Agenda item

That the Council agrees to submit the proposals set out in Appendix 1 with variation.  

The Chief Executive introduced the report to respond to the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission of Wales (LDBC) Review of the Electoral Arrangements of the County of Flintshire – Draft Proposals.  The consultation period during which the Council and other interested parties could respond to the proposals would end on 27 November 2019. 

The Chief Executive thanked Members for their work and collaboration to achieve local consensus in most cases and meet the deadline for Stage 2 of the review process.  He referred to the initial consultation between November 2018 and January 2019 when Members had made proposals to the LDBC for changes to improve local representation.  Appended to the report was the Council’s draft response to Stage 2 of the LDBC’s draft proposals for Flintshire.  The Chief Executive explained that the approach to the initial response had been to allocate proposals a red/amber/green (RAG) status which has been carried through to the second response (Green being supported LDBC proposals or alternative proposals which had consensus amongst local Members; Amber showed local proposals which do not have full consensus support; and Red indicated that no local agreement had been possible).  

The Democratic Services Manager presented the report.  He advised that the LDBC draft proposals for Flintshire, published in August 2019, changed the arrangement of electoral wards to achieve a “significant improvement” in the level of electoral parity across Flintshire.  This would mean a Council of 65 Members with a proposed County average ratio of 1,836 electors per Member, and a reduction to 39 electoral wards instead of the current 57.  He reiterated that the draft proposals to be submitted to the LDBC, based on extensive consultation undertaken with Members, were detailed in the appendix to the report. 

The Democratic Services Manager said that Members had a unique understanding of the areas which they represented and knowledge of local needs and community ties which provided community cohesion and effective representation.  He said that some of the Council’s proposals might not meet LDBC electoral parity requirements but they did present viable options which would have local support.  He reported on the main considerations around the proposals which had formed the Council’s response to the consultation.  He explained that there was still an opportunity prior to the deadline on 27 November 2019 for Members to make further personal representations or encourage group representations.  Following conclusion of the Stage 2 process the Commission would prepare a Final Proposals Report (Stage 3) which would be submitted to the Welsh Government.  He cautioned that changes at Stage 3 would be difficult. 

The Chief Executive explained that the Council’s response brought out the areas, as detailed in the report, where it felt that the Commission had deviated too much from its own rules.  He reiterated the need to provide the best response possible to the proposals at Stage 2 as change may not be accepted later.

In moving the report Councillor Ian Roberts thanked the Democratic Services Manager and the Election Team for their work and assistance to help Members formulate a response to the proposals.  He also thanked Group Leaders for their work and spoke of the Council’s united opposition to the proposal to have three member wards.  The Chief Executive explained that the Council’s response would emphasise its opposition to the creation of three member wards.

Councillor Richard Jones referred to the example in the report that the proposal for combining the current three Holywell wards into a three member ward would mean that each individual Member had the prospect of representing not the LDBC ratio of 1 member:1,836 people but 1 member:4,634 people and said this would increase to 1 member:6,900 people for a Buckley ward member.   He suggested that a second example be included in the response to highlight the variation in numbers.

Councillor Mike Peers said the LDBC draft proposals received in August had caused concern in some communities in Flintshire around the introduction of three member wards and instances where wards were to be joined together.  He supported the views expressed by Councillor Ian Roberts and Group Leaders that three member wards were not required in Flintshire.  He thanked the Chief Executive and Chief Officer (Governance) for their work on the Council’s response to the LDBC and said the offer to put forward additional representations prior to the deadline was welcomed.

Councillor Peers referred to the Council’s draft response appended to the report.  He said that the second column on the proposed ward, number of Members etc., had come directly from the Commission in the August proposals.  He said that the green comments in certain instances advised of the number of electors to move from one ward to another but he felt that the number of wards in a town needed to be clarified, for example where 4 wards had reduced to 2 in the commentary it should be stated that there was a need to retain 4 wards.  He also said there was a need to clarify the proposed members per ward in the latest proposals.

Councillor Clive Carver referred to the Ewloe, Hawarden, Aston, and Mancot wards and said a suggestion which had the agreement of all the current councillors for the wards, was that as Hawarden was being absorbed the other areas would have an east/west or north/south element, for example Hawarden East, or Hawarden West and said he did not see reference to this in the appendix.  The Democratic Services Manager agreed to include the comment in the Council’s response to the LDBC.  The Chief Executive confirmed that an email would be sent to all concerned – to that effect - and that the proposals would be referred to in the response as consensus. 

Councillor Neville Phillips commented on the National Assembly for Wales elections to be held next year and said he understood that voting may be introduced for 16/17 year olds which would effect the calculations for member:elector ratios in the current wards in Flintshire.  The Chief Executive acknowledged the point made by Councillor Phillips and advised that the Local Government Bill  had only just been published and if enacted would be in place next year.  He explained that it was discounted by the LDBC under its current legal brief, and his advice was that it could not be relied upon in the Council’s response at this point in time.      

Councillor Chris Bithell commended the Democratic Services Manager and his team for their assistance to support Members in comprehensive and sensitive matters. He said he fully supported the views which had been expressed on the opposition to introduce three member wards in some areas.  He spoke of the strong relationship between Members and their local communities which was vitally important.

In summarising the Chief Executive explained that the Council, in a written letter with evidence, would challenge the LDBC to balance community ties and artificial ratio.

The recommendation in the report was moved by Councillor Ian Roberts and seconded by Councillor Bernie Attridge.

RESOLVED:

That the Council agrees to submit the proposals set out in Appendix 1 with variation.