Today the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) proposed changes for wards that make up Buckinghamshire Council. LGBCE wants to hear what the residents and nearby organisations think about these new boundaries. This consultation will be running until Monday the 10th of October 2022.
The LGBCE is an independent body, set up by Parliament, and is not part or involved with any political party. The LGBCE is currently reviewing Buckinghamshire to make sure your Councillors represent the same number of electors, ensuring they can represent residents and council work effectively. There will be 98 Councillors representing a total of 51 wards. These consist of 27 two-member councillor wards, 14 singular wards and 10 three-member councillor wards. The boundaries of the majority of the wards will be changed, subject to this consultation.
All wards within the Aylesbury consistency are proposed to have 2 councillors, however, most of the wards will be changed with one being completely re figured (that being the Berryfields, Buckingham Park & Watermead ward). Below is a summary of some of the proposed changes:
- From LGBCEs’ visit to the area they determined that Berryfields, Buckingham Park & Watermead parishes are very self-contained communities which separate themselves from Aylesbury town itself therefore LGBCE have placed them into a 2 member ward. The Commission are satisfied that the ward will provide the best balance for their statutory criteria.
- Residents from the following roads votes will be moved to the Aylesbury South West ward from the current Aylesbury West ward: Alwin Close, Blackwater Drive and Ember Path.
- The LGBCE believe the A41 represents a strong boundary for the Aylesbury North West ward and consequently moves the entire polling district of Haydon Hill from Aylesbury North West to Aylesbury West.
- The LGBCE has been made clear that the current ward of Aston Clinton & Bierton is too big due to recent housing developments such as the Kingsbrook estate. Aston Clinton and Weston Turville will also continue to grow in the coming years. Due to Aston Clintons historic ties to its neighbouring parishes of Buckland, Drayton, Beauchamp and Weston Turville the LGBCE believes there is no way to divide the parishes any further resulting in an Aston Clinton & Weston Turville ward and a Bierton & Kingsbrook ward.
- The following roads will be taken from the current Wendover, Halton & Stoke Mandeville ward (these will be the only changes for this ward) and moved to the Aylesbury South East Ward (again these will be the only changes to this ward): Athens Ave, Rome Ave, Sydney St, Barcelona Blvd, Atlanta Way, Beethoven Drive, Elgar Mews, Brubeck Road, Britten Close, Lennon Way, Gershwin Road, Ravel Lane, Brahms Lane and Mozart end.
- Due to the number of new houses in the Weston Turville parish the LGBCE have decided to split the parish with the new housing estate of Aston Reach and the developments at the bottom of New Road opposite Aston Reach will be moved from the Aston Clinton & Weston Turville seat to the Aylesbury East seat.
- Both the seats of Aylesbury North and Ridgeway East are proposed to have no changes.
- The LGBCE are proposing to move Beacons Bottom & Studley Green into the Ridgeway West ward, resulting in the whole of the Stokenchurch parish falling within one ward.
If you would like to read more about the proposed changes for the whole of Buckinghamshire and to find out more about how to make your thoughts heard you can visit https://www.lgbce.org.uk/all-reviews/south-east/buckinghamshire/buckinghamshire-council for more information.
