North Yorkshire Council
Executive
9 June 2025
Response to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England Boundary Review Consultation
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1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT
1.1 The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) are consulting on proposals for the boundaries of North Yorkshire Council’s divisions from 2027. The Boundary Review Member Working Group has reviewed the proposals and prepared a response on behalf the Council.
1.2 Executive is asked to review the response and approve its submission to the LGBCE as part of the consultation. |
2.0 BACKGROUND
2.1 In July, Executive and Full Council approved the submission to the Boundary Commission of a proposal for 89 Councillors in single-member divisions. The report can be found here.
2.2 The Boundary Commission reviewed the proposal, alongside others received, and determined that the review would be based on 89 Councillors in single-member divisions. It also accepted the electorate forecast developed by the council to predict the number of electors in each area by 2030. On that basis, a Public Consultation was launched in October 2024.
2.3 The Boundary Review Member Working Group developed a proposed pattern of divisions which met the criteria of the Boundary Commission. This was approved by Executive in November 2025. It was then submitted to the consultation in December 2024.
2.4 The Boundary Commission then used the information received from the consultation to develop their proposals. On 1 April 2025, the Boundary Commission published its proposal, which differs significantly from what North Yorkshire Council had previously suggested. The Member Working Group reconvened to review the proposal. It was established that the group disagreed with the proposals in several key aspects, therefore the group wished to recommend a response to Executive.
2.5 The Member Working Group has developed the report at Appendix 1 which is recommended to Executive for submission to the Boundary Commission. As with previous consultation, any individual or group is able to submit a response before the deadline of 9 June 2025. Details can be found here.
3.0 KEY POINTS
3.1 The Member Working Group reviewed the LGBCE proposals individually and within two meetings in April and May 2025. It is clear that the Boundary Commission have been able to use flexibility in balancing the requirements of the review to a greater extent than the Working Group felt able to. The Boundary Commission has recommended two-member divisions for both Malton and Norton and Sherburn-in-Elmet. Whilst the Working Group does not disagree with logic and effect of this, having requested and agreed with the Boundary Commission that this is a Single Member Warding Review, the Group felt obliged to follow that process.
3.2 Similarly, the NYC submission made compromises to ensure good electoral equality, whereas the LGBCE proposal relaxes the variance between divisions to a larger degree. The group is clear that had it known that there could be more flexibility of the parameters of the review, it may have recommended different proposals in some cases.
3. The specific concerns and recommendations in respect of Divisions are included within Appendix 1.
4.0 CONCLUSIONS
4.1 The Member Working Group is broadly of the opinion that its initial proposal struck a good balance of electoral equality alongside protecting community identify and allowing effective local government. However, it also recognises that there are aspects of the LGBCE proposal which do improve on this initial model.
4.2 The Group would urge the LGBCE to visit the areas to get a sense of the geography and communities in finalising their proposals.
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5.0 RECOMMENDATION
i) That Executive approves the submission of the Member Working Group report, at Appendix 1, to inform the LGBCE’s final proposals. |
Rachel Joyce
Assistant Chief Executive – Local Engagement
Report Author – Will Boardman, Head of Strategy and Performance
Appendix 1 – Member Working Group Response to LGBCE Consultation