Harlow ward names changed and “all-out” elections in May 2024 following review
News / Tue 4th Apr 2023 at 10:18am
THE Local Government Boundary Commission is the independent body that draws these boundaries. It has reviewed Harlow to make sure councillors will represent about the same number of electors, and that ward arrangements will help the council work effectively.
The Commission has published final recommendations for changes in Harlow. It says residents should be represented by 33 councillors. This is the same as now.
There will be 11 wards. These wards will each be represented by three councillors. All ward boundaries will change.
A number of the ward names have changed: There will now be:
Church Langley North and Newhall
Church Langley South and Potter Street
Latton Bush and Stewards
This will also mean that all 33 councillors will be up for re-election in May 2024.
Publishing the recommendations Professor Colin Mellors, Chair of the Commission, said:
“We are very grateful to people in Harlow. We looked at all the views they gave us. They helped us improve our earlier proposals.
“We believe the new arrangements will deliver electoral fairness while maintaining local ties.”
92 people and organisations made comments to help decide the new wards. Changes in response to what local people said include:
- A small change to Little Parndon ward to include all of Harlow Town Centre. We also propose to rename this ward Little Parndon & Town Centre.
- Rename Latton Bush & Commonside ward to Latton Bush & Stewards.
The Commission has made further changes to its earlier proposals. Details can be found on its website at www.lgbce.org.uk/all-reviews/harlow.
The changes become law once Parliament has approved them. Staff at the council will ensure that the arrangements are in place for the 2024 elections.
Adam Taylor
2023-04-04 10:46:23
Lets hope we can get all the currently elected politicians of all parties out and people who care about the town and not party politics elected.
Edward Vine
2023-04-04 11:16:55
And as soon as these changes are law they will be out of date as Newhall expands, more homes get built north of Gilden Way etc. A waste of public money when all that's required is to reallocate the voting power to Cllrs in proportion to population in an area. Obviously at Council meetings it would require the Chair to add fractions, far too complex if they can't add up like a 10 year old child. Old Harlow, Churchgate, Newhall, Church Langley and Potter Street all have distinct and each separate community interests and characteristics. Dividing and gluing together these from a distant office in Whitehall is traditional but out of date and illogical: it most likely makes the essentially voluntary work of Cllrs more complex and difficult.
Daniel Bayford
2023-04-04 11:36:34
I hope who ever gets in sacks all the surveyors that work for Essex highways they are not fit for purpose
Peter
2023-04-04 12:30:45
Be careful who you vote for this time - Labour and Conservatives have not served us well and Essex County Councillors rarely favour your communications!
David Forman
2023-04-04 12:31:54
I noticed Harlow Labour Party have stopped whining about this now that the polls show them well ahead. I expect the local Tories are having sleepless nights.
James Leppard
2023-04-04 14:12:16
Edward Vine, to be fair, the LGBCE does contemplate forecast population changes over a 5-year period to ensure that by such time no Ward exceeds the +/- 10% variance limit. The forecast variance maps are shown within the Report.
Edward Vine
2023-04-04 19:08:38
James plus or minus 10% is a 20% of population and representation error which given the ability to collect data about population these days extremely quickly is an unacceptable margin. 20 % is a fifth. Voting power being directly proportional to population in an area where distinct communities exist rather than the crude practice of salami slicing and gluing different bits of different communities together is the worst of all ways of proceeding. Changing the system takes us to previous centuries where communities were separated by significant distances and so such stitching wasn't so easy, a good thing rather than the cut and this cut and paste system. The fault in in current system is further compounded by the planning practice of building vastly different communities cheek by jowel, despite the Nolan Principles a elected member from Political Party X in an area where as much as 49% of the people are of Party Y is simply unable to adequately represent the whole of the electorate because as we have seen time and time again the member will follow the Party X line. In that sense there is a flaw in the process: Party Politics prevent true representation.
Edward Vine
2023-04-04 19:15:37
Excuse typo : Missing full stop ! should read .... "together." CUT AND PASTE is the worst of all ways of proceeding. Changing the system takes us to previous centuries where communities were separated by significant distances and so such stitching wasn't so easy, a good thing rather than the cut and this cut and paste system. The fault in in current system is further compounded by the planning practice of building vastly different communities cheek by jowel, despite the Nolan Principles a elected member from Political Party X in an area where as much as 49% of the people are of Party Y is simply unable to adequately represent the whole of the electorate because as we have seen time and time again the member will follow the Party X line. In that sense there is a flaw in the process: Party Politics prevent true representation.
8 Comments for Harlow ward names changed and “all-out” elections in May 2024 following review: