Ten Richmondshire councillors to go in boundary review

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England has today published its final recommendations for changes to electoral arrangements for Richmondshire District Council - which must be implemented by Parliament.

The body first began consulting the public on the changes in June last year, with a draft plan published in October.

While there have been “some changes” to the draft plans, much of the initial plan is to be taken forward, including reducing the number of councillors in the district to 24 - 10 fewer than the current arrangement.

The recommendations also propose that the number of councillors that represent each ward should change, with one three-councillor ward, six two-councillor wards and nine one-councillor wards across the district.

New boundaries have been drawn up for each of the council wards across Richmondshire.

Chair of the Commission, Professor Colin Mellors, said, “We are extremely grateful to people across Richmondshire who took part in the review. The Commission has looked at all the evidence that was put forward during the consultation.

“We believe these recommendations deliver electoral fairness for voters as well as reflecting community ties throughout Richmondshire.”

Changes to the draft plan include scrapping proposals to include Patrick Brompton as part of the Scotton ward due to the “strong community links” between the parish and the Lower Wensleydale ward expressed by people in the consultations.

Elsewhere, the parish of Uckerby will be part of the Catterick and Brompton-on-Swale ward, the parish of Newton-le-Willows is included in the Lower Wensleydale ward and Hunton parish joins the Scotton ward - all reflections on local feedback, the Commission said.

The proposed new arrangements must now be implemented by Parliament. A draft Order – the legal document which brings into force the recommendations – will be laid in Parliament in the coming months. The draft Order provides for the new electoral arrangements to come into force at the council elections in 2019.