| JGH::Docs.Politics.WardReview.NewWards.Submission.Proposal.htm | Search |
| 2001 | 2006 | ||
| Electorate: | Stocksbridge | 10717 | 10727 |
| South Wortley (West) | 11774 | 12231 | |
| Hillsborough | 13956 | 13956 | |
| Walkley (West) | 2477 | 2477 | |
| Owlerton (West) | 2694 | 2661 | |
| 41618 | 42052 | ||
| Proposed to form 3 wards averaging | 13873 | 14017 | |
| Variance of: | +2.5% | +2.7% |
1.1 The sector of the city is mainly rural, with more than 80% of the area being open countryside. Rolling hills climb up towards to the west, culminating in the open moors spreading out to the Derbyshire boundary.
1.2 The main urban areas are Stocksbridge and Deepcar in the north and Hillsborough in the south. Stannington, Loxley, Worrall and Oughtibridge skirt the edge of Hillsborough and small villages such as Bradfield, Dungworth, Wharncliffe Side, Ewden and Midhopestones dot the countryside.
1.4 The area covered by the Stocksbridge Town Council with the removal of Bolsterstone, and the addition of Warncliffe Side village and Oughtibridge.
1.5 This results in a ward with a strange geographical shape forced by the intrusion of part of Barnsley District Council. Stocksbridge and Deepcar are defined and clear communities, making up Stocksbridge Town Council. With an electorate of 10727, the Town Council area is too small to make a single City Council ward. Being at the far north-western end of the City Council area, areas to the south must be included in to make a whole ward.
1.6 Removing Bolsterstone PD and the western rural extremes of Wharncliffe Side PD allows the adjoining Ward 4 to have a predominantly rural aspect and balances the electoral numbers between the two wards.
1.7 The isolated geography of Stocksbridge and Deepcar shows this area to be untypical of a Metropolitan Council, and would justify a two-member seat if legislation allowed it.
1.8 The new boundary cuts through two Town Council wards, South and East, both of which currently elect two town councillors. The part of the South town council ward north of the new boundary should be renamed Central, and continue electing two Town Councillors. The part of the South town council ward that is south of the new boundary should be called South, and elect a single town councillor.
1.9 The East town council ward is due to be redrawn as two town council wards for the 2003 elections, each electing two town councillors, and do not yet appear to have names. The southern of these two wards should take in the small eastern extremity of the South town council ward that falls within this City Council ward. This would result in Stocksbridge Town Council gaining one town councillor.
1.11 The area of Bradfield Parish Council excluding the community of Wharncliffe side and the large village of Oughtibridge, in addition to Liberty Hill, Deer Park, Myers Grove and Woodland View down to Malin Bridge.
1.12 This ward groups together the rural villages and hamlets of Bradfield Parish Council and the open countryside of Bolsterstone, along with the residential areas on the eastern side of Stannington outside the Parish Council area. It creates a predominantly rural ward, recognising that sparcely populated rural areas form a community identity.
1.13 Bolsterstone being in this ward rather than Ward 1 balances the electoral numbers that would otherwise be -7% for ward 4 and +8% for ward 1 and creates a large rural ward.
1.14 The new boundary cuts through a Parish Council ward, Westnall, which currently elects five Parish Councillors. The part of Westnall parish ward that falls within Ward 4 should remain named Westnall and elect 2 parish councillors, being 35% of the old parish ward. The part that falls within Ward 1 should be named "Birks Wood" and elect 3 parish councillors, being 65% of the old parish ward. This would result in Bradfield Parish Council electing the same number of parish councillors.
1.16 The area west of the Stocksbridge railway line and north of the River Loxley to the Bradfield Parish Council boundary east of Loxley and south-east of Worrall.
1.17 Currently, Hillsborough shopping centre along Middlewood Road is split into two wards - Hillsborough and Owlerton. The village of Owlerton itself has long since vanished and remains mainly as a place-name.
1.18 Just to the east of Hillsborough there is a large area of little population running along the valley bottom and railway line with only two main roads crossing it in a 5km length. At the northern end, Winn Gardens exists as an island whose only communications with the rest of the current Owlerton ward being through though the rest of Hillsborough. The railway line runs alongside a steep cliff which together make a formidable geographical boundary. It makes a lot more sense to use this than running through the centre of the shopping area.
1.19 At the south, the River Loxley is a better boundary than the current boundary along the centre of Holme Lane. The hundred or so households between Holme Lane and the river see themselves are part of Hillsborough more than Walkley, and the only river crossing points are at each end extreme of Holme Lane.
1.20 The Rudyard Road area looks towards the rest of Hillsborough more than towards Lower Walkley on the west of Middlewood Road. However, to balance numbers between this ward and Ward 11, this model follows the River Loxley to its confluence with the River Don so putting the Rudyard Road area in with Lower Walkley. The river is a more distinctive boundary on the ground than the current ward/polling district boundary that follows the centre of one road, and then actually cuts through gardens behind houses on Capel Street.
1.21 This model for Ward 5 puts Hillsborough Park, Hillsborough Football Ground, Hillsborough Arcade, Hillsborough Sports Ground and Hillsborough shopping centre all back within the same ward.
| 2001 | 2006 | ||
| Electorate: | Hallam (main) | 14386 | 14501 |
| Broomhill (main) | 15177 | 15177 | |
| Walkley (East) | 10895 | 10895 | |
| Netherthorpe (West) | 10338 | 10232 | |
| Owlerton (Rudyard) | 206 | 206 | |
| Sharrow (West) | 1391 | 1391 | |
| 52393 | 52403 | ||
| Proposed to form 4 wards averaging | 13102 | 13101 | |
| Variance of: | -3.2% | -4.0% |
2.1 This sector of the city is mainly urban, with housing density dropping from the city centre in the east towards the Hallam Moors at the western end at the Derbyshire boundary. Once away from the city centre the River Porter starts to form a noticeable boundary, becoming distinctive as the housing density drops.
2.2 The main areas are Walkley, Netherthorpe, Upperthorpe, Broomhill, Crookes, Crosspool, Ranmoor and Fulwood.
2.4 The area between the Rivelin and Porter valleys west of Endcliffe Crescent and Sandygate, taking in Lodge Moor, Fulwood and Ranmoor.
2.5 The greatest difficulty in drawing a boundary for this ward is the student residences at Endcliffe Crescent. Here, more than 1700 electors live in a few compact blocks. Moving a line on the map a few metres results in more than a 10% change in the electorate. If the compensating electorate could be found, a preferable model would run the boundary west of Endcliffe Crescent along Endcliffe Vale Road. This would also help to balance the numbers in Ward 14 which are quite low.
2.7 The Crookes, Crosspool and Sandygate areas roughly bounded by the Rivelin Valley, Hallam Golf Course, Tapton Hill and Commonside.
2.8 The Crookes area has been split into more than three wards for many decades. This has resulted in confusion by residents as to who their elected representatives where. There is general agreement that all of Crookes should be in the same ward. Putting Crookes together with Crosspool and Sandygate builds sufficient electoral numbers to form a whole ward. Crookes tends to look westwards towards to Broomhill and Crosspool more than to the east.
2.10 This ward has Walkley at its core at the northern end, along with Upperthorpe and Netherthorpe at its southern end. On the map, the Ponderosa (the open space between Oxford Street and Mushroom Lane) appears to make a good boundary, but Upperthorpe and Netherthorpe see themselves as paired communities. There are many bodies such as community groups that have the phrase "Netherthorpe and Upperthorpe" in their title, and public meetings it was repeatedly stated that the two communities should be in the same ward.
2.11 At the south-eastern end, Netherthorpe Road appears to be a good boundary, but in fact this dual carriageway actually cuts the community of Netherthorpe into two. While most of Netherthorpe is on the western side of this road, a small part of it is on the eastern side between Netherthorpe Road and Solly Street.
2.12 The Commonside area would fit better in this ward, being the main approach to Walkley, and having strong links with both Walkley and Netherthorpe. Unfortunately, the low electorate in Ward 14 next door forces Commonside into Ward 14 to balance the numbers. If sufficient electorate could be found from elsewhere to bulk up Ward 14, then Commonside should be put in Ward 11, increasing its electorate to approximately 14200 (+4.0% variance).
2.14 This is comprised of Broomhill at its core, along with Commonside at the north and the Botanical Gardens area at the south. This results in a strange ward, more or less forced out of the leftovers from the six wards that surround it.
2.15 At the western boundary more than 1700 electors live in a very small area in the student residences at Endcliffe Crescent. If these were included in this ward, then Commonside could go into Ward 11 along with Walkley and Netherthorpe, with which it has better community ties. However, taking in these 1700 electors reduces the adjoining ward by too much.
2.16 Whichever ward it goes in, both sides of the Commonside shopping area should be put in the same ward. This is Commonside itself and Barber Road, both of which currently have polling district boundaries running down them.
| 2001 | 2006 | ||
| Electorate: | Dore (West) | 12188 | 12250 |
| Beauchief (river) | 72 | 72 | |
| Castle (CC) | 45 | 45 | |
| Burngreave (CC) | 29 | 29 | |
| Ecclesall | 15208 | 15227 | |
| Nether Edge | 12073 | 12207 | |
| Sharrow (East) | 10050 | 10097 | |
| Netherthorpe (East) | 1658 | 4164 | |
| Hallam (Burbage, etc) | 72 | 72 | |
| Broomhill (CC) | 3 | 3 | |
| Park (Queens Road) | 10 | 10 | |
| 51408 | 54176 | ||
| Proposed to form 4 wards averaging | 12852 | 13544 | |
| Variance of: | -5.1% | -0.8% |
3.1 This sector of the city is urban in the city centre, with housing density dropping down towards Burbage and Houndkirk Moors at the Derbyshire boundary. The city centre is steadily increasing in population as city centre accommodation is built and moved into.
3.2 The boundaries along the Sheaf valley currently run along lines of previous courses of the river. Along a lot of its length this is a much less obvious boundary than the railway line. The river tends to meander through recreation parks or through trading estates, but the railway line either runs just beneath a cliff or at the top of a viaduct. Consequently, the railway line should be used as the boundary along the Sheaf Valley. The eastern boundary of the railway station should be used as the boundary in the city centre to avoid cutting the railway station in two.
3.3 The main areas are Totley, Dore, Whirlow, Millhouses, Hunters Bar, Greystones, Nether Edge and Sharrow.
3.5 This is comprised of Highfield, Lowfield and Sharrow at the south, along with Broomhall and the city centre. At the beginning of the review a preference was expressed by elected members to put all of the city centre in one ward. However, this was not raised by any of the public meetings I attended, and allowing the city centre to be in two wards would make warding the surrounding areas much easier.
3.6 The city council’s electorate forecast shows the city centre dropping slightly. In light of the many residential developments actually in progress on the ground I have forecast the city centre electorate as increasing by 2500 by the year 2006. I have listed these in more detail in the introduction.
3.8 This is comprised of Dore and Totley, along with the smaller communites of Whirlow and Abbeydale. At its eastern end the ward should extend to the Totley Golf Club to include the properties around Birchitt Road.
3.9 At the northern edge the boundary should follow Ringinglow Road, and pass to the south of the chapel at Ringinglow, following the head of Limb Brook, to ensure that all of Ringinglow village is in the same ward.
3.11 This is comprised Millhouses, Ecclesall, Greystones, Bents Green and Ringinglow. The northern boundary should follow the Porter Brook to its source to ensure that all of Ringinglow village is in this ward. The main communications link from Ringinglow is along Ringinglow Road to Ecclesall, so it makes sense for the 53 electors of Ringinglow to be included in this ward.
3.12 The eastern boundary of the current ward runs along the centre of Ecclesall Road. The properties on the eastern side of this road lie just beneath a cliff underneath Psalter Lane. Consequently, the boundary could follow the line of the cliff between Hunters Bar and the junction with Psalter Lane.
3.14 This is comprised of most of the current Nether Edge ward. At the southern edge, Abbeydale Grange School and the Tesco shopping development make a clearer boundary than the current boundary. This ward includes the St. Ronan’s polling district. This area has characteristics in common with Nether Edge as well as Sharrow, so is a suitable area to use to balance numbers.
| 2001 | 2006 | ||
| Electorate: | Dore (East) | 2738 | 2738 |
| Beauchief (main) | 14390 | 14390 | |
| Norton | 11077 | 10981 | |
| Heeley | 12820 | 12851 | |
| Park (main) | 9082 | 9579 | |
| Manor (South) | 5764 | 5917 | |
| Castle (South-East) | 7939 | 7984 | |
| Intake (South-West) | 4574 | 4411 | |
| 68384 | 68866 | ||
| Proposed to form 5 wards averaging | 13681 | 13774 | |
| Variance of: | +1.0% | +0.9% |
4.1 The sector of the city is mainly urban, but with large open areas within it. Some of the communities are bounded by these open areas, and some of them are centred on them.
4.2 The main areas include Sheffield Manor, Sheffield Park, Park Hill, Heeley, Meersbrook, Woodseats, Low Edges, Norton, Gleadless and Arbourthorne.
4.4 This is comprised of Park Hill, Wybourn, Manor Park and Manor. It is a compact ward clearly defined along most of its boundaries. The boundary along City Road should run behind the properties on the western side, so that both sides of City Road are in the same ward. The current ward boundary runs along the centre of City Road for part of its length, and then runs through an area of housing behind City Road. Residents in the St. Aidens area have commented to elected members that it is confusing and inconsitant having a ward boundary running through the middle of their area.
4.6 This is comprised of Norfolk Park, Arbourthorne and Heeley. The strong boundaries of Ward 16 in the north of this sector and of Ward 24 in the south forces this centre ward’s electorate on the high side.
4.8 This is comprised of Gleadless Valley, Gleadless, Hemsworth and Norton.
4.9 For some time Norton has been split into two wards, and this model would reunify it.
The proposed western boundary runs along the western side of Lees Hall Golf Course and Leeshall Woods. This is a large open area with few links across it. The boundary could run along any suitable geographical feature, but running along the western boundary forms Ward 21 into a less straggly shape.
4.11 This is comprised of Low Edges, Greenhill, Batemoor and Jordanthorpe. For many years Low Edges and Greenhill have been split into three wards, with the boundary wriggling through areas of housing with no obvious ground features. This reunifies Low Edges and Greenhill.
4.13 The core of this ward is Woodseats, with the addition of Meadow Head, Norton Woodseats and Meersbrook. Woodseats is another area that has been split for some years, and this proposal reunifies it.
4.14 Along the western boundary the railway line is a much stronger ground feature than the current boundary formed by the river. The river meanders through Millhouses Park, and is crossed by many footbridges, whereas the railway line for most of its length is at the bottom of a steep cliff or within a cutting.
| 2001 | 2006 | ||
| Electorate: | Darnall | 13346 | 13346 |
| Burngreave (part) | 36 | 67 | |
| Castle (North) | 666 | 666 | |
| Manor (North) | 2474 | 2474 | |
| Intake (North) | 9538 | 9511 | |
| Park (Manor Top) | 5 | 5 | |
| Birley | 14064 | 13607 | |
| Mosborough | 26665 | 27115 | |
| Handsworth | 14211 | 14211 | |
| 81005 | 81002 | ||
| Proposed to form 6 wards averaging | 13497 | 13500 | |
| Variance of: | -0.3% | -1.1% |
5.1 The sector includes the industrial lands of the lower Don valley, mature residential areas to the east and new developments around Mosborough in the south.
5.2 The main areas include Tinsley, Darnall, Handsworth, Woodhouse, Richmond, Intake, Frechville, Hackenthorpe, Beighton, Sothall, Mosborough and the new townships of Waterthorpe, Westfield, Halfway, Moorthorpe and Owlthorpe.
5.4 This is comprised of the area bounded by the lower Don valley railway line and the Sheffield Parkway. It includes Tinsley in the far north-east and Darnall in the south.
5.5. Although a considerably urban area, this ward shares characteristics with Stocksbridge in the north-west of the city. Essentially, Tinsley and Darnall are two large villages. Instead of being separated by open countryside, they are separated by industrial land. Additionally, the railway line and the Sheffield Parkway form very hard boundaries around this area. Using these boundaries results in a ward just within the acceptable tolerance at -9.9%. The only area additional population could be added onto this ward is from the northern edge of Handsworth on the other side of Sheffield Parkway.
5.6 While the current Darnall ward does include the northern half of Handsworth, it is an area that does not share characteristics with Darnall and Tinsley. It would be preferable to create a acceptably small ward here and try to unifiy northern Handsworth with the rest of Handsworth.
5.8 This is comprised of the area between Birley Moor Road and Mosborough Parkway, with the addition of Richmond Park and excluding Four Lane Ends.
5.9 Birley Moor Road is a very strong boundary on the ground, and for the most part this model tries to use it. To make the numbers balance, Four Lane Ends is not included in this ward, instead the strong boundary of Normanton Hill and Woodhouse Road are used. Normanton Hill runs up the side of a steep hill and is a strong and clearly defined ground feature.
5.10 Although Richmond Park can be seen as the western end of Handsworth, it does also look towards Richmond on the other side of Mosborough Parkway. The area between Richmond Park and Handsworth Road is occupied by industrial buildings, business parks and a large supermarket, forming a barrier between the two areas.
5.12 This is comprised of most of the area between Sheffield Parkway and Mosborough Parkway. Within this area, Handworth has been split into two wards for many years, and this model unifies most of it. The only part that has not been including within this ward is Richmond Park which has links with Richmond to the west. This results in a ward formed from the two distinct communites of Woodhouse and Handsworth.
5.14 This is the triangular area bounded by the Outer Ring Road along Ridgeway Road and Birley Moor Road, with the inclusion of Four Lane Ends. Birley Moor Road is a very strong boundary on the ground, and this model uses it for all of its length. Where Birley Moor Road becomes Mansfield Road, the boundary passes north of Four Lane Ends along Normanton Hill and Woodhouse Road.
5.15 The Four Lane Ends area is seen as a continuation of the area at Hollins End and Intake and Normanton Hill is a strong ground feature. It runs up the side of a steep hill, and there is a distinct transition at this point. Along Mansfield Road, however, the properties can be seen to continue from one side of the road over to the other.
5.17 These two wards are one of the most problematic parts of the city when drawing new ward boundaries. Going from one of the smallest wards in 1980 the current Mosborough ward is now, at 26665 electors, the largest ward by far, and almost the size of a small parliamentary constituency. This model has tries to make a good attempt at allocating open space where furture housing development is taking place between Ward 27 and Ward 28 in order to get an electoral balance.
5.18 In the north, there are three distinct communities, Hackenthorpe, Beighton and Sothall. Beighton and Sothall form in many ways a pair of communites and can be grouped together. Hackenthorpe lies on the western approach to Beighton. In the south, the natural community is the Mosborough village and the ribbon development running along Mosborough Moor.
5.19 This leaves the 1980s townships of Waterthorpe, Westfield and Halfway. Beighton, Sothall and Hackenthorpe in the north build up to a whole ward in electors in Ward 27, so this model puts Waterthorpe, Westfield and Halfway in with Mosborough to make up Ward 28.
5.20 The proposed boundary between Ward 27 and Ward 28 west of Moss Way follows the straight line of the proposed continuation of Owlthorpe Greenway running to Quarry Hill. This line has been on development maps for more than thirty years, and may not ever be built, but it appears to be as good a line to follow as any.
| 2001 | 2006 | ||
| Electorate: | Chapel-Green | 18176 | 18373 |
| South Wortley (East) | 6939 | 6959 | |
| Owlerton (East) | 7769 | 7492 | |
| Southey Green | 9487 | 9064 | |
| Nethershire | 11253 | 11257 | |
| Firth Park | 11057 | 11021 | |
| Brightside | 11207 | 11286 | |
| Burngreave (main) | 8427 | 8339 | |
| 84315 | 83791 | ||
| Proposed to form 6 wards averaging | 14052 | 13965 | |
| Variance of: | +3.8% | +2.3% |
6.1 This sector of the city can be seen as three discrete areas - the rural Ecclesfield Parish at the far north, the mass 1930s council housing spread across the centre, making up the bulk of the population and the old inner-city area of Burngreave to the south.
6.2 The hard boundary along the valley forces together an electorate that would create 6.1 average-sized wards, so these six wards are all very slightly on the large size. It is very difficult to find a suitable area of population to include in another area to bring the averages for this sector down.
6.4 The area covered by Ecclesfield Parish Council along with the area south to Yew Lane and the southern end of Ecclesfield Village not within Ecclesfield Parish.
6.5 Before 1968 the Ecclesfield Parish boundary with Sheffield City Council ran along Hartley Brook, Sheffield Lane Dyke and Tongue Gutter. In 1968 the city extended their boundaries to take in the council-built properties along Wordsworth Avenue, taking in almost half of Ecclesfield village and the southern end of Genoside village at the same time. Ward 3 on this model reunifies Ecclesfield village and Ward 2 reunifies Grenoside.
6.6 Adding these two former Ecclesfield Parish Council areas to the current Parish Council area results in an electorate of 28063, sufficient for two wards averaging 14031, a +2.8% variance.
6.7 This model splits this area into a western ward and an eastern ward. This is preferable to a north-south split. Any line that removed parts from the northern communities to add onto a proposed southern ward would end up running through communities. In an extreme case, it could result in Chapeltown town centre being seperated from the rest of Chapeltown.
6.8 There are five distinct communities within Ecclesfield Parish: Genoside, Ecclesfield, Chapeltown, High Green and the smaller Burncross. The main communications routes run north to south. The A61 links Grenoside, Burncross and High Green at the west and the A6135 links Ecclesfield and Chapeltown at the east. While there are urban links between High Green and Chapeltown in the north, there are few, if any, links between Grenoside and Ecclesfield. A ward that combined these two, along with the necessary "shavings" from Burncross and Chapeltown would have bad communications links, be difficult to serve and have a poor sense of community identity.
6.9 The new boundary cuts through two Parish Council wards, Burncross and Horbury, which currently elect three and one Parish Councillors respectively.
6.10 The part of Burncross Ward in Ward 2 should combined with the part of Horbury Ward in Ward 2 and elect two parish councillors, and keep the name Burncross. The part of Horbury Ward in Ward 3 should continue to elect one parish councillor, and keep the name Horbury. The part of Burncross Ward in Ward 3 should elect one parish councillor and be a new ward named Blackburn. This would result in Ecclesfield Parish Council electing the same number of parish councillors.
6.12 These four wards are based on the city council's Spring 2002 draft, adjusted slightly to make the numbers fit along the boundary with Ward 2 and Ward 3. Indeed, the city council’s Spring 2002 draft for Wards 7, 6, 8 and 12 can be grafted on to Wards 2 and 3 in this model by swapping the Monteny and Yew Lane areas on the city council model for this model.
6.13 The main features are the Firth Park is reunified, Fir Vale is reunified and Shiregreen is unified. Part of Shirecliffe remains seprated from the rest of Shirecliffe in order to ensure that the electorate in Ward 7 and Ward 12 are balanced. If Busk Meadows PD was included in Ward 7 with the rest of Shirecliffe, the electorate in Ward 7 would jump to 14663, a variance of +7.4% and Ward 12 would drop to 13135, a variance of -3.8%.