Sele to lose town councillor in local shakeup

Sele and Castle wards are both set to lose a town councillor following a review of local authority boundaries, with new rules coming in to effect for the forthcoming town and district council elections later this year.

Recommendations by the Local Government Boundary Commission will see Kingmead ward enlarged and split in to two - Kingsmead East and Kingsmead West, represented by five town councillors. The current Kingsmead Ward has four councillors. At the same time, Bengeo Ward will also be enlarged and split in to Bengeo North and Bengeo South, with an increase from four to five councillors.

Castle Ward will cede territory to Bengeo and Kingsmead, giving up both a town councillor and district councillor in the process. Kingsmead Ward will gain a district councillor.

Sele Ward loses a town councillor, despite there being no changes to the boundary. Thiss due to the relative changes in the electrol numbers in the other three wards

By 2027 Herford is expected to have 25,072 electors, with Bengeo and Kingsmead being the largest wards. The breakdown for each ward is:

• Bengeo, 7214 electors, 5 town councillors, 3 district councillors
• Kingsmead, 7717 electors, 5 town councillors, 3 district councillors
• Castle, 4995 electors, 3 town councillors, 2 district councillors
• Sele, 5146 electors, 3 town councillors, 2 district councillors

Hertford will continue to have 16 town councillors and 10 district councillors.

The Local Government Boundary Commission review constituency and ward boundaries periodically. When carrying out a review the Commission has three main considerations:

• Improving electoral equality by equalising the number of electors that each councillor represents.
• Ensuring that the recommendations reflect community identity.
• Providing arrangements that support effective and convenient local government.

The last boundary review was in 1998.

The next district and town council elections are on Thursday 4th May 2023.

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