End of the electoral review process is nigh, says Boundary Committee

The Boundary Committee for England has written to local authority chief executives explaining the key changes that will take place ahead of the launch of the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) next year.

The Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, which received Royal Assent last month, provides for the transfer of all boundary-related functions of the Electoral Commission and the Boundary Committee for England to the LGBCE, a new body which will come into being on 1 April 2010. At that point, the Boundary Committee will cease to exist and there will be no formal relationship between the LGBCE and the Electoral Commission.

The transfer will include all work relating to:

• structural, electoral and principal area boundary reviews;
• requests from local authorities that have resolved to move to elections by thirds or by halves; and
• related alterations to district ward and county division boundaries as a consequence of community governance reviews.

Transitional provisions contained in the 2009 Act provide that until the LGBCE is established, all but the related alterations function of the Electoral Commission’s boundary-related functions will vest in the Boundary Committee.

The most significant change relates to the end of the electoral review process, the Boundary Committee said. Unlike the previous situation where the Electoral Commission is unable to act on Boundary Committee recommendations until a six-week period had elapsed, under the new arrangements there is no minimum period before which an order can be made.

“Accordingly, for current and future electoral reviews the Boundary Committee and, when established, the LGBCE will move to implement final recommendations by order once reviews have been completed and the recommendations published,” the letter said. “This means that there will now be no period following publication of the final recommendations in which further representations will, as a matter of course, be considered.”

The Boundary Committee said there would be changes to the order-making process itself as well.

It added that none of the legislative changes would affect the approach to the electoral reviews the committee is currently conducting. “All existing Boundary Committee members and staff will transfer to the LGBCE and our approach to balancing the statutory criteria remains the same,” it added.