Select Committee on Office of the Deputy Prime Minister: Housing, Planning, Local Government and the Regions Written Evidence


Memorandum by Mary Bradley, Head of Registration & Electoral Services, London Borough of Newham (WB 07)

COMMENTS REGARDING THE INTERESTS OF LOCAL COMMUNITIES AND CONVENIENT LOCAL GOVERNMENT

  It is undoubtedly desirable and probably essential to the voter that the boundary of wards encompasses an area with common access to polling stations and an understanding that small communities all "do the same thing at the same place" when electing both local and parliamentary representatives.

  1.  The Newham, Custom House Ward has it's boundary with Beckton Ward drawn through the new Beckton housing developments. The parliamentary boundary however follows an old line, probably a former water way or drainage channel made long before the housing was constructed. The effect is that for a General Election there are a handful of properties isolated the wrong side of a park and a relatively busy road from the remainder of Poplar and Canning Town Constituency.

  2.  Similarly we have a problem where the block of premises southernmost in a cul-de-sac turning, Caraway Close E16, are within a different ward to all other premises in the same closed turning. The net result is that electors/neighbours all exit via the northern end of the road but those who have travelled farthest ie from the southern end must turn about and walk south via another route to get to their polling station some distance away. This particular discrepancy has been argued by the local Councillor even though he would lose some of his electorate.





 
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