Castle Point Boundary Review

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What is the Boundary Commission? Why is this happening now?

The Boundary Commission are an independent body established by Parliament, and it is not affiliated in any way to any government, grouping or political party.

Their job is to look at the current wards and number of councillors in an area and judge whether this is still right so that the electorate is well represented and the Council is able to do its job well.

They have an obligation, by law, to consider changes to; Deliver electoral quality, Reflect community interests and identities and Promote effective local government.

This was last done in Castle Point in 2000 and because of the huge changes in our area since then and the significant growth in population it is right that a review is now taking place. 

The Commission held two consultations on their proposals last year, the first from 10th May – 18th July 2022 on its initial ideas and then again from 4th October – 12th December 2022 to allow responses to its final recommendations.

Boundary Commission Review Timetable:

  • 26 April 2022 Number of councillors decided
  • 10 May 2022 Start of consultation seeking views on new wards
  • 18 July 2022 End of consultation; we began analysing submissions and forming draft recommendations
  • 4 October 2022 Publication of draft recommendations; start of second consultation
  • 12 December 2022 End of consultation; we begin analysing submissions and forming final recommendations
  • 7 March 2023 Publication of final recommendations
  • May - September 2023 Parliament is asked to approve the recommendations
  • 2024 New arrangements apply to local elections

FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS:

Castle Point Borough Council currently has 41 councillors spread across 14 wards.

The Boundary Commission's final recommendation is for the total number of councillors to be 39, a decrease of 2.

They have also recommended that the boundaries of all existing wards should change and that the total number of wards be reduced to 13. This would mean that all wards are evenly represented by 3 councillors each. 

The draft Castle Point (Electoral Changes) Order 2023 has now been laid in Parliament to implement these recommendations. 

A copy of the final recommendations can be found at: https://www.lgbce.org.uk/sites/default/files/2023-03/castle_point_final_recommendations_report.pdf

Castle Point Borough Council have also created an explainer here: https://www.castlepoint.gov.uk/news/new-political-map-for-castle-point-borough-council-2942/