Lichfield District Council's offices. Pic: Lichfield District Council

Lichfield District Council is set to request changes to proposed new ward boundaries.

The authority has been examining proposals by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) which would see the number of councillors cut from 56 to 47.

This would mean redrawing a number of the existing boundaries.

However, Lichfield District Council are hoping to challenge the shape of a number of the new proposed wards.

A draft report to be discussed at a meeting of the council on Tuesday (July 8) outlines issues with the following wards:

  • Bourne Vale
  • Hammerwich with Wall
  • Little Aston and Stonnall
  • Mease Valley
  • Shenstone
  • Whittington and Streethay

The report says that the proposal to move Shenstone Wood End and Little Hay to the Bourne Vale ward will “create confusion and disruption”, while also questioning the decision to merge Hammerwich and Wall.

“The council observes that the proposed combination crosses Parliamentary boundaries – Wall being in Tamworth and Hammerwich in Lichfield – and conflicts with the Commission’s previous advice,” the draft report says.

“The council view is that the two communities share neither commonalities nor community infrastructure.

“The proposals to merge these two distinct communities together is neither in the interests of the communities themselves nor the District ward councillors in achieving fair and proportionate representation of the two communities.”

The Commission has also been asked to “reconsider” plans for Little Aston and Stonnall after it had apparently “segmented the Blake Street community”.

Lichfield District Council also says that approval for new homes in Wiggington mean the Mease Valley ward will no longer have electoral parity. There is also concern that Neighbourhood Plans could impacted by the proposed changes to Shenstone.

Meanwhile, the proposals for Whittington and Streethay have also been questioned by the local authority “based on local knowledge”.

The draft response will be considered at a meeting of Lichfield District Council on Tuesday.

Founder of Lichfield Live and editor of the site.

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Rob
9 years ago

These proposals to reduce the number of councillors seem to be taking an eternity to complete.
The sooner we can reduce the expense (and nepotism) the better for the rest of us.