Boundary review - extra chance to have a say

Local people will have another chance to have their say on new council ward boundaries across Birmingham.

The independent Local Government Boundary Commission for England has decided to hold an extra phase of public consultation, next month, on its plans to re-draw ward boundaries across the city.

The Commission will publish the new plans on Tuesday 10 May and will invite comments on the proposals over the following six weeks.

Over 2000 responses were sent to the Commission during the last period of consultation on ward boundaries which took place between December 2015 and February 2016. The Commission has now considered every response and has re-drawn some ward boundaries to reflect local views and balance them with the legal criteria governing the review.

The Commission will publish the new map of local government for the whole of Birmingham on 10 May, after the council elections. Local people will be able to give their views on the proposals until 20 June 2016.

The Commission will finalise the recommendations in September after considering feedback to the consultation. New ward boundaries will come into effect at the local elections in 2018.

Professor Colin Mellors, Chair of the Commission, said: “We are grateful to the people of Birmingham who provided us with an outstanding quantity and quality of feedback on our proposals a couple of months ago.

“We have considered every submission and have weighed them against the rules we must follow when we draw up new boundaries. In several parts of the city we propose to change the recommendations in response to local evidence about community ties.

“It is common practice for the Commission to hold an additional phase of consultation if it makes significant changes to a pattern of wards following consultation. I hope local people will participate in the next phase of consultation as enthusiastically as they have done previously”.

Full details of the new ward proposals will be published on Tuesday 10 May at:

The Commission’s website: www.lgbce.org.uk

The Commission’s interactive consultation portal: www.consultation.lgbce.org.uk

Hard copies of the maps and report will be made available for the council to distribute locally.

The Commission will be making no further comment on the review before 10 May 2016.

For further information contact:

Press Office: 0330 500 1250 / 1525

admin@birminghamnewsroom.com

ENDS

 Notes to editors:

  1. 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.
  1. The Commission is carrying out an electoral review of Birmingham City Council following Lord Kerslake’s report on the governance and organisational capabilities of Birmingham City Council. The report recommended that an electoral review should be conducted ‘to help the council produce an effective model of representative governance.’
  1. The Commission’s draft recommendations were published on 15 December 2015 and proposed that the council should have 101 city councillors in the future: a reduction of 19 from the current arrangement. The recommendations also set out the boundaries of 53 single-member wards and 24 two-member wards to accommodate 101 councillors.
  1. The additional phase of consultation will open on 10 May and close on 20 June 2016.

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