Telford & Wrekin Council could get two extra members

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) is reviewing the number of elected members in Telford and Wrekin, and has asked the authority for its views.

Council officers considered keeping the number at 54, but decided adding two would keep councillors’ constituency workload under control and “future-proof” against expected growth.

The Boundary Review Committee endorsed their recommendation, but opposition leader Nigel Dugmore abstained on the vote, saying he favoured adding just one seat and “seeing how that works out”, with the option of adding a second later.

A presentation by boundary review project officer Phil Griffiths said Telford & Wrekin’s councillors currently represent 2,467 voters each on average.

Population growth means this would rise to an estimated 2,629 by 2027, but would not be evenly spread throughout the borough.

Some council functions, like its cabinet and scrutiny, planning and licensing committees, would continue to work, the presentation said, but it would “impact a number of existing communities and potentially affect councillors’ representation and engagement”.

Rising to 55 or 56 members would give voter-per-member ratios of 2,581 or 2,535 respectively by 2027.

Mr Griffiths’s presentation said the latter would be “similar to current levels”, allowing councillors “to represent and engage with communities effectively”.

Boundaries

Conservative Councillor Dugmore said a presentation the committee had previously received from the LGBCE said Telford and Wrekin’s voter-per-member ratio was relatively low anyway.

He said: “If 56 is going to lead to a similar number of electors per councillor, we’re still going to be low, aren’t we?”

Policy and Governance Associate Director Anthea Lowe said the LGBCE was technically only looking at population numbers up to 2027 but “they expect us to be able to ‘future proof’ up to 10 or 15 years forward.”

The first stage of the LGBCE review will address the size of the council. The second will address boundaries, and aim to draw a map that preserves community identity within wards.

A two-councillor rise, Mr Griffiths’s presentation said, “would provide representation for substantial growth areas and provide more scope to retain representation and identity of existing communities”.

Richard Overton, the deputy leader of the Labour-run council, said he initially favoured keeping 54 members, but that the need to keep communities together changed his mind, and he now supports the increase.

Liberal Democrat Karen Blundell said: “At the moment I think we all feel 54 is adequate but, bearing in mind that we know Telford and Wrekin is a growing borough and I think there is an increase in our workload, there is a significant reason to consider having more councillors.”

Councillor Dugmore said: “I just think it might be better to do 55 and see how that works out then, if it doesn’t, go to 56. It’s easier to go up than do 56 then find we need to come down.

“A 55-member council would be literally around a five per cent increase in the number of electors per councillor, whereas 56 is only three per cent, so it’s neither here nor there really, and if we’re below the average for comparable councils then we’re going to stay exactly the same as where we are.”