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# Boundary review is not time to play politics, councillor warns
- URL: https://lichfieldlive.co.uk/boundary-review-is-not-time-to-play-politics-councillor-warns/
- Published: 2014-02-27T08:00:29.000Z
- Updated: 2014-02-26T18:56:44.000Z
- Author: Lichfield Live
- Tags: Politics, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-22 20:48, News

A councillor has warned it “isn’t a time to play politics” as Lichfield District Council deals with a review of ward boundaries.

The local authority is having to [redraw its voting map](//lichfieldlive.co.uk/2014/02/17/proposals-drawn-up-for-new-lichfield-and-burntwood-ward-boundaries/) after the Local Government Boundary Commission of England (LGBCE) [recommended reducing the number of councillors](//lichfieldlive.co.uk/2013/11/26/report-recommends-reducing-number-of-councillors-in-lichfield-and-burntwood/) from 56 to 47.

This would mean that wards needed to have councillors representing roughly the same amount of voters.

The controlling Conservative group on Lichfield District Council submitted alternative plans to the opposition Labour group at a recent meeting.

But Cllr Steve Norman, leader of the Labour group, said the Tory plans were designed to harm his party, with an amendment to the Burntwood boundaries including [“the deletion of Labour’s strongest ward”](https://twitter.com/CllrSGNorman/status/436262581482057728?ref=lichfieldlive.co.uk).

[![Doug Pullen](https://storage.ghost.io/c/e3/90/e390c3da-0866-4d2a-8ffe-ca4999d7ce1c/content/images/lichfieldlive-co-uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/dougpullen.jpg)](//lichfieldlive.co.uk/2014/02/27/boundary-review-is-not-time-to-play-politics-councillor-warns/dougpullen-2/)

Doug Pullen

However, Fazeley Conservative representative, Cllr Doug Pullen, said the opposition proposal had risked alienating part of his own ward – and accused them of putting their own interests before those of the community.

“At the full council meeting I voted for one of two options that we were presented with,” said Cllr Pullen. “The option I rejected was the one devised by Labour.

“Their proposal inexplicably annexed the Sutton Road/Gainsborough drive estate from Fazeley ward and put it at the very edge of what is now the Bourne Vale ward. Rather than being represented by a Fazeley councillor, this proposal would isolate the estate and would risk it becoming a hinterland of a large rural ward.

“The Boundary Review isn’t a time to play politics, so I was unable to support a proposal which so blatantly put Labour’s interests ahead of those of the community.”