THREE reviews of voting boundaries for parish and town councils in Bishop’s Stortford and Thorley, Buntingford and Cottered, and Eastwick & Gilston have been agreed by East Herts councillors.

The Community Governance Reviews (CGRs), which also consider other electoral arrangements, were signed off after public consultations. The reviews were in response to requests by Bishop’s Stortford Town Council, Buntingford Town Council and Eastwick & Gilston Parish Council.

CGRs consider changes to parish and town council governance to reflect community interests and identities, and promote effective and convenient local government.

The town and parish councils put forward a range of suggested changes. East Herts Council listened carefully to what residents said, taking into account new developments and bearing in mind that where possible, parish and town wards should represent roughly equal numbers of voters.

The council will keep under review future developments in the district, in case it considers there’s a need for further reviews.
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In Bishop’s Stortford and Thorley it was agreed that:
Part of St Michael’s Mead, currently in Thorley Parish, will transfer to Bishop’s Stortford Town Council
Rectory Close properties will transfer from Bishop’s Stortford to Thorley
Nos 6-9 Park View Cottages will transfer to Thorley
There will be minor changes to town council ward boundaries at 18 locations in Bishop’s Stortford
the number of town councillors in Stortford will reduce from 18 to 17
the number of parish councillors in Thorley will reduce from 7 to 6.

However having listened to what people said at the consultations, East Herts councillors did not agree to more extensive changes requested by the town council, which had also wanted to take in the Thorley Street and Pig Lane areas, as well as the proposed housing development south of Whittington Way known as Bishop’s Stortford South.

In Buntingford it was agreed that:
The new Redrow housing development “The Maples” on Ermine Street north of the town will transfer from Cottered Parish to Buntingford Town Council.

East Herts Council didn’t agree to all Buntingford Town Council’s request, which also included the area known as Parkside to the north of the Redrow development, and Buntingford Business Park, currently in Aspenden Parish.

They did agree to Eastwick and Gilston Parish Council’s request to increase the number of parish councillors from 3 to 4.

You can read the full details of the decisions at http://ow.ly/cz9930mk3kT