Copeland Council and Mayor respond to Boundary Commission consultation

[C]OPELAND Borough Council and its Elected Mayor have submitted their responses to a consultation over the borough’s future warding arrangements.

They have responded to a consultation by the Local Government Boundary Commission (LGBC), which is minded to reduce the number of borough councillors Copeland has from 51 to 33 in May 2019.

In their responses, Copeland Council and Mike Starkie, the Elected Mayor, have produced a map of the borough to illustrate how they would like the new wards to be drawn up by the LGBC.

Copeland Council recommends 18 wards made up of eight single-member wards, five two-member wards and five three-member wards. Mr Starkie suggests 19 wards made up of 10 single-member wards, four two-member wards, and five three-member wards.

Their submissions for the north of the borough are identical. The only difference comes in the south of the borough, where Copeland Council’s submission for part of this area is for one two-member ward (provisionally entitled South Copeland) and Mr Starkie suggests two one-member wards (provisionally entitled Scafell and Black Combe wards).

Maps detailing how the Council and the Mayor would like the borough divided into wards are available at www.copeland.gov.uk.

The LGBC will now consider all the responses it received during this stage of the process. It will publish its preferred warding arrangements on April 3, ahead of a second round of public consultation which runs until June 11. The final recommendations will be published on August 7 and the changes implemented at the next election in May 2019.