Memorandum by Lancashire County Council
(WB 10)
Lancashire County Council has recently been
the subject of a Periodic Electoral Review and welcomes the opportunity
to comment on the appropriateness and balance of the Electoral
Commission's statutory criteria.
The Council found the criteria to work well,
and to be appropriate for the objective of the PER which is to
ensure that, within each principal local authority area, the number
of electors represented by each councillor is nearly as possible
the same. The Guidance provided clear terms of reference stressing
the requirement for proposition, argument and evidence. Positive
working relationships were established with the Boundary Committee
for England who were prepared to offer flexibility where exceptional
circumstances could be demonstrated, and the outcome still remained
within acceptable tolerances.
The recommendation within the Guidance for authorities
to engage at an early stage with the review process was acted
upon as was the statement that the BCE wish, wherever possible,
to build on schemes that have been prepared locally on the basis
of careful and effective consultation.
The Committee may be interested in how Lancashire
County Council conducted the review process in order to best achieve
electoral equality, secure effective and convenient local government,
and reflect the identities and interests of local communities
for the people of Lancashire.
A cross party Member working group was established,
which was chaired by the Deputy Leader and met when required throughout
the three years of the Review (our PER was put on hold whilst
the Local Government Review took place).
In order to maximise full consultation all twelve
district councils within the County area were visited by County
Council staff at the start of the process and individual meetings
took place with staff who had been involved in the Lancashire
Districts PER in 2000. Further meetings then took place prior
to the submission of our proposals. Liaison with district councils
continued throughout.
The clerks of all parish councils received letters
from the County Council explaining the process and were provided
with copies of the County Council's proposal relevant to their
geographical area with an invitation to comment. In addition,
the Lancashire Association of Parish and Town Councils was consulted
as were future electors via the Lancashire Youth Council. All
48 responses to our consultation exercise were considered by the
cross party member working group and a pack containing the full
consultation responses, with the County Council's views on each,
was passed to the BCE along with our submission.
When the BCE published for consultation their
draft recommendations they referred specifically to views they
had received not only from the County Council but from others
who had made submissions directly to them. Unfortunately the 48
responses sent to the County Council as part of it's submission
were not discussed or identified in the BCE consultation report.
This included a number of district and parish councils, not all
of which supported the county council's proposal, and gave the
unintended impression that their responses carried less weight
as they had been part of the Lancashire County Council's consultation.
It may be that future Guidance could clarify
this element of the process.
Overall Lancashire County Council was pleased
with the approach taken by the BCE particularly with their flexibility
where, in one or two cases greater councillor:elector tolerances
were accepted by the BCE in order to create electoral divisions
reflecting a clear and strong sense of community identity.
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