Cllr Ian Marks
THE Local Government Boundaries Commission has been accused of misleading local political parties in the run-up to its controversial recommendations for the Warrington area.
As a result, Liberal Democrats in the borough have written to Warrington South MP David Mowat asking him to take what they believe may be the unprecedented step of objecting to the proposals.
Ian Marks, chairman of Warrington Liberal Democrats has also written to the Commission informing him about the local anger over the proposals.
He stresses that although he has written on behalf of the Liberal Democrats, his views are shared by many in other political parties and by people without any party affiliations.
He says: “We are extremely disappointed with the final recommendations of your Commission for Warrington and the process that led up to these proposals.”
Under the proposals, half of Lymm will be linked to Thelwall and part of Grappenhall, there will be changes to the boundary between Stockton Heath and Appleton and Appleton Thorn will be “moved” Grappenhall.
The villages of Hatton, Stretton and Walton will disappear from the electoral map.
The recommendations were not altered from draft proposals put forward before the Commission carried out a consultation exercise in Warrington.
They still have to be approved by Parliament – although this is expected to be little more than a formality.
Cllr Marks – a former leader of the borough council – said at briefings with the Commission in 2014, local people were “misled” about a maximum variance of plus or minus 10 per cent in the electorate of various wards.
Had it been made clear that anything greater than 10 per cent was a “near impossibility” the borough council would not have proposed the scheme it put forward with all-party support.
In addition, the Commission gave the impression that each of three criteria for determining ward boundaries was of equal standing.
“This is blatantly not the case and electoral equality swamps the other two. We feel we were misled on this as well.”
Cllr Marks asks if the people who carried out the review ever visited Warrington.
Local people were asking if the exercise was carried out by what they are calling “faceless bureaucrats” surrounded by maps and tables of numbers sitting in Millbank Tower in London.
“Sadly your report merely reinforces the view of a London-centric exercise carried out by people with little contact with the real world.”
The consultation was “a farce” and turned out to be a pointless exercise, says Cllr Marks. No notice was taken of any of the comments made by local people.
He asks for an explanation of why an alternative scheme, put forward by local people, which met all the Commission’s criteria, was ignored.
Cllr Marks says the Commission ignored its own criteria and assumed that people in London “knew best.”
He adds: “By breaking the links between borough wards and parishes we contend you have worsened ‘effective and convenient local government’ rather than improved it. We would appreciate your view on why you think you have improved the situation?”
The Commission’s proposals for Stockton Heath Parish Council and Appleton Parish Council are “plain stupid, lacking in common sense and an insult to the electorate” and could lead to 40 or 50 names on ballot papers – a recipe for chaos.
