A review of the new Westmorland and Furness Council and Cumberland Councils is due to start in July by the local government boundary commission who are an independent body accountable to Parliament that are tasked with conducting reviews of the electoral and boundary arrangements of councils across England.
The commission conduct reviews by consulting local people and organisations to help produce proposals and then recommendations for change.
They commission conduct a rolling programme of electoral reviews of councils to make sure their patterns of internal wards or electoral divisions are fair and sensible.
If new councils are set up the commission carry out an electoral review that looks at wards and numbers of councillors in the new councils and recommend new patterns of wards or electoral divisions so that each councillor represents about the same number of electors.
The review also aim to make sure that the pattern of wards reflects community ties and identities and promotes effective and convenient local government.
The commission carry out electoral reviews because, It has been a long time since the last review. The number of electors each councillor represents varies a lot across a council. A council has asked the commission to carry out a review or a new council has been created, following structural change, which requires new electoral arrangements.
This is the case in Cumbria following the changes the local government structure by the structural change order in 2022, with the new councils of Cumberland Council and Westmorland and Furness Council replacing the former seven councils across Cumbria.
The change order created new wards and set the number of councils on both councils. Cumberland with 46 councillors and Westmorland and Furness Council with 65.
The local government boundary commission can also conduct a Principal Area Boundary Review that can changes the boundary between two district, county councils. They are generally minor, for example when a new area of housing is built across a boundary but can also involve the merger of two authorities.
There are three ways a Principal Area Boundary Review can be conducted, A request from all councils affected by a proposed boundary change. A request from central government. A decision by the local government boundary commission Commissioners.
The review is expected to be concluded by the end of 2025 with any changes through the review implemented at the next planned local elections in 2027.
What do you think, should a review focus on the wards and number of councillors or include looking at the boundaries of the new councils?
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