Community Governance Review 2019
What matters did the review focus on?
The final recommendations made at the end of the review sought to ensure that community governance across the Borough:
- Reflects the identities and interests of the community in that area
- Is effective and convenient
In considering the electoral arrangements of the parishes in its area, the Council also considered any change in the number or distribution of electors which is likely to occur in the period of five years beginning with the day the review started.
Unlike the Local Government Boundary Commission for England’s review of borough ward arrangements, there is no provision in legislation that each parish councillor should represent (as nearly as possible) the same number of electors. However, the government guidance reiterates the Commission’s belief that it is not in the interests of effective and convenient local government to have significant difference in levels of representation between different wards in the same parish. Additionally, any recommendations made by the review had to adhere to the legal minimum number of parish councillors for any parish council, which is five. There is no legal maximum number of parish councillors.