Basildon Borough Boundary Review

Have your say on new ward boundaries

Residents have until July 18th to let the Boundary Commission know what they think

 

Some of you may or may now be aware that there is currently a consultation taking place as part of the electoral review of Basildon Borough Council being undertaken by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England. The consultation is specifically around the warding arrangements for the borough. A ward is basically the geographic area each councillor represents.

This will be the first time the boundaries have been reviewed in 20 years and the purpose of the review is to ensure that each councillor represents a similar number of electors. Inevitably, over time, the population of each ward fluctuates. This can lead to situations where some councillors represent significantly more electors than others.

Another element to the review is to address a particular anomaly that exists in boroughs like Basildon, where the council is elected by thirds. At the present time, Basildon Council has 42 councillors elected across 16 electoral wards - namely Billericay East, Billericay West, Burstead, Crouch*, Fryerns, Laindon Park, Langdon Hills*, Lee Chapel North, Nethermayne, Pitsea North-West, Pitsea South-East, St. Martin's*. Vange*, Wickford Castledon*, Wickford North and Wickford Park*. Borough elections are held in three out of every four years, electing a third of the seats each time (with at least 22 seats needed to command an overall majority).

Although most wards elect three councillors, there are currently six smaller wards that only elect two (indicated above with an '*'). This means that at local elections there are two-member wards that do not have elections at the same time as everyone else and this can be very confusing to local residents in these areas. You can imagine the alarm, when there are elections going on all around you but you do not have a vote. See map below for current warding arrangements:

 

 

As Basildon Council has determined to maintain the system of electing by thirds, the review is now seeking to abolish the two-member wards to ensure that all wards have elections at the same time. Basildon Council has also decided to maintain the total number of councillors at 42. So, clearly, that means that there will have to be 14 wards moving forward – a reduction of two. The review, however, cannot simply be a shallow numbers game. It is also necessary to ensure that the new boundaries are appropriate and reflect existing community ties. That is why the input of residents is vital to inform the Commission’s considerations when deciding the warding arrangements for our borough. It is important that wards, as far as is practicable, are reflective of local people’s identity; where they go to access local facilities, such as shops and leisure, and where they identify as a local community.

Anyone wishing to contribute to the review can do so by visiting the consultation website at www.consultation.lgbce.org.uk.

You can also email reviews@lgbce.org.uk or write to:

Review Officer (Basildon)
P.O. Box 133
Blyth
NE24 9FE.

To give you an indication of the relative importance of this review, since the establishment of Basildon District Council in 1974, this is only the fourth such review to be undertaken. In fact, Basildon was originally established with 46 councillors elected across 14 wards – Barstable, Billericay, Burstead, Buttsbury, Castledon*, Central, Fryerns East, Fryerns West, Laindon*, Langdon Hills, Lee Chapel North, Pitsea, Vange* and Wickford*. Most of these were three-member wards but, curiously, four of them (marked with an '*') elected four councillors each.

New boundaries were introduced in 1979, which kept the number of wards at 14 but reduced the number of councillors from 46 to 42, the number at which it has remained ever since. The new warding arrangements created Billericay East for the first time, along with Billericay West, Burstead, Fryerns Central, Fryerns East, Laindon, Langdon Hills, Lee Chapel North, Nethermayne, Pitsea East, Pitsea West, Vange, Wickford North and Wickford South. These were all three-member wards. The boundaries were reviewed again in 1984 but the number of councillors and the ward names all stayed the same.

The most significant change came in 2002, when the number of wards was increased to 16 and the two-member wards were introduced. This established the wards as we know them today. One of the consequences of boundary changes is that it necessitates what we call an ‘all-in’ election using the new boundaries, in which all 42 councillors are elected at the same time. Thereafter, councillors are elected by thirds, with the sitting councillor who won with the least votes facing re-election the following year and the runner up councillor the year after that and the top ranked councillor enjoying the full four-year term. In 2002, Billericay East elected my ward colleagues David Dadds and Stuart Sullivan and the late Tony Archer, with David fighting re-election in 2003, Stuart in 2004 and Tony in 2006 and so on and so forth thereafter. I succeeded Tony in 2013, following his sad death.

This means that, in 2024, Basildon will hold its first all-in election for over two decades. So, even though I was re-elected in May and would not normally face re-election for another four years, I shall have to fight for my seat alongside everybody else in two years’ time. (Spare a thought for all those standing in 2023, who will only be elected for a one-year term and will have to fight re-election 12 months later!)