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Changing the number of councillors in a borough

Glenn Fleetwood made this Freedom of Information request to Electoral Commission

The request was successful.

From: Glenn Fleetwood

28 September 2009

Dear Sir or Madam,

Please could you tell me whether a local authority has the power to
change it's number of ward councillors from 3 per ward to just one,
or are there laws which prohibit this action? If so, please provide
me with details of those laws.

Yours faithfully,

Glenn Fleetwood

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From: Jessica Metheringham
Electoral Commission

6 October 2009

Dear Mr Fleetwood

Thank you for your email regarding a Borough Council and the number of councillors in the borough wards. I have been passed your query.

You mention a Borough Council possibly considering changing three-member wards to single-member wards. Under the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 a Borough Council can request an electoral review to create single-member wards. This is found in Part 2, Chapter 2, Section 55 of this Act: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2007/ukp....

The Boundary Committee for England would then carry out an electoral review of the whole authority area with the view to provide single-member wards. However, any councils wishing to make a request should be aware that the Boundary Committee has a full work programme for the next financial year.

However, only local authorities which elect in whole council elections can request a single-member ward electoral review. If the local authority in question elects in thirds (that is, one third of the councillors are elected each year for three years, with no elections held on the fourth year) then the Borough Council must first pass a resolution to elect in whole council elections. The procedures for doing so are set out in Part 2, Chapter 1 of the Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2007/ukp....

If a Borough Council wishes to change the number of councillors then they could also contact us to request an electoral review. Any electoral review would be a review of the entire local authority area.

Our website contains details of previous electoral reviews. In particular, we recently completed a single-member ward review of West Sussex County Council. You can find the Boundary Committee's final recommendations at: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__...

You may also find our guidance useful: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/__...

The full Local Government and Public Involvement in Health Act 2007 is here: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2007/ukp...

I hope this is helpful.

Regards

Jessica

Jessica Metheringham
Review Officer
Boundary Reviews
The Electoral Commission
Trevelyan House
Great Peter Street
London SW1P 2HW
Tel: 020 7271 0722
Fax: 020 7271 0505
www.electoralcommission.org.uk
www.aboutmyvote.co.uk
Democracy matters
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