Democracy in Crawley

How decisions are made and who represents you

Agenda and minutes

Venue: Ashurst Main Hall - The Charis Centre. View directions

Contact: Democratic Services  Email: democratic.services@crawley.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Disclosures of Interest

In accordance with the Council's Code of Conduct, Councillors of the Council are reminded that it is a requirement to declare interests where appropriate.

 

Minutes:

No disclosures of interests were made.

 

2.

Electoral Review 2018: Council's response to the Local Government Boundary Commission's (LGBCE) draft recommendations for electoral arrangements for the Borough pdf icon PDF 56 KB

Following its consideration of report LDS/142 (Electoral Review 2018) on 17 July 2018, the Governance Committee has recommended that Full Council:

 

1).        support and approve the draft recommendations of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England for a mixed pattern of 2 and 3 Councillor wards; and

 

2).        approve the proposed alterations to the Local Government Boundary Commission’s draft recommendations for Ifield Ward, Langley Green and Manor Royal Ward and Northgate and West Green Ward as set out in Appendix A (Also known as Appendix A to Report LDS/142)

Additional documents:

Minutes:

The Full Council considered report LDS/142 of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, which had been previously considered at the meeting of the Governance Committee on 17 July 2018.

 

Councillor Lamb as the Chair of the Electoral Boundary Review Working Group presented the report to the Full Council and highlighted that the Electoral Review - Ward Patterns report contained two recommendations for their consideration and with agreement of the Mayor, each recommendation would be debated independently from one another.

 

RECOMMENDATION 1

 

Councillor Lamb moved and presented the first recommendation which related to the consideration of the draft recommendations of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England for a mixed pattern of 2 and 3 Councillor Wards.  In essence 10 Wards served by 3 Councillors and 3 Wards served by 2 Councillors. It was emphasised that the proposed was focused on retaining the neighbourhood principle, whilst achieving electoral equality across the Borough as best as possible.  The recommendation was seconded by Councillor Crow.

 

RESOLVED

 

That the Full Council support and approves the draft recommendations of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England for a mixed pattern of 2 and 3 Councillor wards

 

 

RECOMMENDATION 2

 

The Full Council considered report LDS/142 of the Head of Legal and Democratic Services, which had been previously considered at the meeting of the Governance Committee on 17 July 2018.

 

Councillor Lamb moved and presented the second recommendation which proposed alterations to the Local Government Boundary Commission’s draft recommendations for Ifield Ward, Langley Green and Manor Royal Ward and Northgate and West Green Ward as set out in Appendix A to Report LDS/142. (Also Appendix A to these Minutes). The proposal before the Full Council detailed a specific pattern of Wards boundaries to be submitted yet it was emphasised that the proposal followed the detailed criteria set out by the Boundary Commission, yet looked to maintain community identity whilst minimising impact on local residents.  The recommendation was seconded by Councillor Jones, who spoke on the proposal.

 

Councillor Crow moved the Conservative amendment, (as detailed Appendix B to these Minutes) highlighting that his alternative scheme would in his view, align electoral Ward boundaries closest to the neighbourhood principle, align closer with the County Ward boundaries and increase equality in terms of the electorate. The Conservative amendment was seconded by Councillor Burrett who in doing spoke on the amendment.

 

During a passionate discussion on the two sets of amendments to the Boundary Commission’s proposals, views were expressed on the merits and weaknesses of both moved proposals and the benefits for residents of both approach. Councillors

B Smith, Lanzer, Sudan, Stone, Irvine, and Guidera all spoke on the item.

 

 

At the conclusion of the debate the Mayor called for a vote on the Conservative amendment. The Mayor declared the proposed amendment had fallen by – votes in favour 17, and votes against 18 with 0 abstention.

 

 

A recorded vote was requested on the substantive motion, the alterations to the Local Government Boundary Commission’s draft recommendations for Ifield Ward, Langley  ...  view the full minutes text for item 2.