Notes on Sheffield wards resulting from 2004 review --------------------------------------------------- Recommend for next review: * Get all of Handsworth into one ward. Darnall is now too big and Woodhouse is now too small, by about the same amount, so this would allow all of Handsworth to be unified. * Repair some errors: The Walkley/Crookes boundary at Northfield Court was draw just before two houses were demolished and the site built on, resulting in the boundary now running /though/ a building. Repair this by moving the boundary south a few feet to put all of Northfield Court in the same ward. In the 2004 review a comment was made about Fulton Road and Heavygate Road not having both sides in the same ward. This got mixed up in implementation. To be clear, BOTH sides of FULTON ROAD should be in the same ward, whereas Heavygate Road forms a suitable boundary line and EACH side of HEAVYGATE ROAD (between Howard Road and Northfield Road) should be in SEPERATE wards if a ward boundary runs in this vicinity. In addition to both sides of Fulton Road being in the same ward, Daniel Hill Close at the foot of Fulton Road should also be in the same ward as both sides of Fulton Road. * Northfield Court built across newly-drawn boundary! * Rural areas: If the rule on Metropolitan Authorities having 3-member wards was removed, then the rural areas could have 2-member wards which would match the community geography a lot better: http://mdfs.net/User/JGH/Docs/Politics/WardReview/DraftPER/Rural.gif * Problematic Halls of Residence: Reviving the old Crookes & Crookesmoor ward and rotating Crookes/ Broomhill/Fulwood would avoid the mess of splitting the high- population-density student halls in two as the 2004 boundary does. http://mdfs.net/User/JGH/Docs/Politics/WardReview/DraftPER/Crookes.gif Council size/Number of Wards ---------------------------- If the House of Commons remains at 650 seats, then Sheffield remains entitled to 5.5 parliamentary seats. As with 2004, wards should be drawn so as to minimise problems creating Parliamentary Seats. This means a multiple of 5.5 wards: 28 wards, 84 councillors, 13800 electors; 22 wards, 66 councillors, 17500 electors; 17 wards, 51 councillors, 22800 electors! If the 2015 review goes ahead and the House of Commons drops to 600 seats, then Sheffield becomes entitled to exactly 5.0 parliamentary seats. This means a multiple of 5 wards: 30 wards, 90 councillors, 12900 electors; 25 wards, 75 councillors, 15500 electors; 20 wards, 60 councillors, 19300 electors! Co-terminous constituencies model --------------------------------- All constituencies are within 3% of target, so a model /could/ redraw new wards entirely bounded by the existing constituencies. If the 2015 constituency review is cancelled, then we revert to the next normally scheduled review in 2025-2030. This would have the benefit of not having small ward overlaps as during the transition between the ward review of 2004 and the constituency review of 2010. A prefered model would be to ignore the constituency boundaries, but that would leave overlaps until the next normally scheduled constituency review in 2025-2030. As the city council has the power to request a ward review itself it may be the better model to trigger a ward review after each future contintuency review. Attercliffe (South-East): Woodhouse is undersized and Darnall is oversized. They border each other, and the over/undersized portion is where Handsworth is split in two. * Move Woodhouse/Darnall boundary north to Sheffield Parkway. Brightside: Burngreave is oversized, and Firth Park is undersized. They border each other, and the over/undersize amount is initially appears to be comparable with Buck Meadow (FB) and Shirecliffe (FJ) and those areas are more connected with the areas north of Herries Road. * Move Burngreave/Firth Park boundary so FB and FJ are in Firth Park, but with both sides of Miles Road north of the new boundary. Central: Manor had plummeted by 15%, Central has rocketed by more than 25%. Together, they make two normal-sized wards! Nether Edge has dropped and would have to creep towards the city centre, Walkley has grown due to mass developments within the ring road where Walkley slightly pushes into the city center; Walkley can creep back at this point. The complicated part is re-arranging the city centre. * Push Walkley boundary back to Netherthorpe Road * ???? Hallam: The only significant changes are that Dore&Totley is still slightly undersized and adjoining Ecclesall is slightly oversized. * Move Abbeydale (Abbey Crescent/Sherwood Glen/etc) into Ecclesall ward Heeley: Complicated. Arbourthorne has shunk by 10%, but the other four wards have held steady. Probably best to redraw from scratch. Consultation ------------ Any consultation should ask the public their opninion on moving to all-up four yearly elections. JGH 2011