Proposals formally unveiled for three extra Wrexham Councillors for the next election

Wrexham Council could have three extra councillors by the end of the next council elections if proposals are taken forward.

The Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales have completed the first stage of their review of Wrexham and have published a set of draft proposals.

The proposals could well be in place for the 2022 local council elections in Wrexham, and would see councillor numbers increase from the current 52 to 55 – along with changes to several wards across the county borough.

A report published yesterday by the Commission, says it believes that ‘in the interests of effective and convenient local government a council of 55 members would be appropriate to represent the County Borough of Wrexham’.

There would be 48 electoral wards, an increase from the 47 existing wards, with proposals of seven multi-member wards in the county consisting of seven two-member electoral wards. 22 of the current electoral wards would be retained.

The reason for the changes is explained as projections will see 6,508 more people eligible to vote than the 2018 electorate. On top of that projection there are additional possible voters as there are plans to extend the franchise to include 16 and 17 year olds and foreign nationals, not currently eligible to vote, at the 2022 local government elections.

Many wards will see changes and tweaks, for example both Johnstown and Pant be combined into a two-member electoral ward, with full details from page 17 onwards on the proposal PDF or a ward-by-ward map viewable via this link.

Brymbo and Rhosnesni would also be represented by two councillors. Along with the merging of the Acton and Maesydre wards, which would also be represented by two councillors

Other wards would also be expanded, which the Commissioner says will “achieve a significant improvement in the level of electoral parity across the County Borough of Wrexham” – with a proposed 1,834 electors per member.

The proposed ward changes, which can be viewed in full here, including splitting the existing Gwersyllt East and South ward into two separate constituencies. The existing Gwersyllt West ward would be merged with Gwersyllt South – which would be represented by two councillors.

Changes are also proposed for the Llay and Rossett wards, with the Commissioner suggesting that the “community of Llay is combined with the Burton ward”, which would be represented by two councillors.

However it is noted that Rossett Community Council had objected to such proposals, who stated that “any changes would be detrimental to community ties”.

The Commission adds: “The existing electoral ward of Rosset has a highly inappropriate level of variance and alternative arrangements are necessary in this area. It is the view of the Commission that these arrangements best address the existing levels of electoral variance.

“The Commission considers that the proposed electoral wards avoid the only viable alternative to create a three-member electoral ward. ”

Fifteen wards will also be officially given a Welsh language name after consultation with the Welsh Language Commissioner. The existing ward names are listed below on the left (detail here) and the new proposed names to the right (detail here).

In considering the proposals the Commission received ten representations from Wrexham County Borough Council, five community councils, two county councillors, the Clwyd South Conservative Association and one member of the public. The Commission say they considered the representations ‘carefully’ before it formulated its proposals.

The Local Democracy and Boundary Commission are inviting comment from next week until April 6th. After that point the Commission will consider submissions and then prepare final proposals to put forward to Welsh Government who may then ignore, adopt or adjust the ideas.

As well as the consultation portal, representations during this period can be sent to [email protected]
or

Local Democracy and Boundary Commission for Wales
Hastings House
Cardiff
CF24 0BL

(Previously the Boundary Commission for Wales spent thousands in an attempt to publicise their consultations (for the record Wrexham.com has covered it previously unpaid, and their communications provider did not ask) to get feedback from the population, and at one point we were the only place to get a document as their website had crashed before launch morning.)