Announcement on boundary changes for some North Wales county councils due next week
Some North Wales county councils could see a change in the number of councillors from next week after the first review of council boundaries for 25 years.
Any changes are set to be announced by the Welsh Minister for finance and local government from June 21.
This means council wards and boundaries in North Wales could be amended due to demographics or shifts in population, seeing some councils losing councillors and others gain.
The last local government reorganisation in 1996 came about as a result of reports by the Boundary Commission.
Rebecca Evans MS said she would announce all the changes by the end of September this year apart from Swansea, her home constituency, which will be reviewed by First Minister Mark Drakeford.
Ms Evans suggested the results for councils facing most upheaval would be announced first.
The review and consultation started in 2016 and the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales was charged with looking at boundaries in each of the 22 local authorities in Wales.
It works on a policy of a minimum 30 councillors and a maximum of 75 within principal council areas but also takes into account the size and rurality of local authority areas.
Ms Evans said: “To give local authorities as much time to prepare for the 2022 elections, I will make the decisions public as they are made.
“This means that, from the week beginning 21 June, I will announce the first set of decisions on the reviews.
“There will be a regular rhythm of announcements about decisions from then on, between now and the end of the September 2021.”
Councils will be informed first, along with the Welsh Local Government Association, One Voice Wales and the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission.
Senedd members will be told the following day via a written statement delivered in the Senedd.
The aim to is to institute all changes before the 2022 Welsh local government elections.
Extra representations have been made for Cardiff, Flintshire, and Caerphilly local authority areas and the Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales had been asked to submit additional information said Ms Evans.
She also made it clear when the decisions have been made they will be binding and will not “be revisited”.
She added: “This process will not impact all authorities in the same way – some areas have experienced significant expansions in population while others have experienced population reductions.
“I will try to prioritise decisions in those authorities where the greatest change has occurred.”
She said she will also set up a forward work programme where boundary issues are revisited at least once every 10 years in every local authority area.
Jez Hemming – Local Democracy Reporter (more here).
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