Local Residents submissions to the London Borough of Bexley electoral review

Transcription

1 Local Residents submissions to the London Borough of Bexley electoral review This PDF document contains 20 submissions from local residents Some versions of Adobe allow the viewer to move quickly between bookmarks.

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3 16/11/2015 Carole Ball Organisation How can you cut councillors when there is so much going on another way for torus to punish us

4 18/09/2015 Terry Brand Organisation I propose that those elements of the "Lesnes Abbey Ward" and "Belvedere Ward" that are South of Woolwich Road should be incorporated into Brampton ward and Northumberland ward respectively. This would better integrate those voters into the community that they are closest to and greatly enhance the community spirit of the neighborhood.

5 12/10/2015 Chatlea Duke Organisation One councillor per ward would be just fine. There is no need for duplication or on Bexley's case, triplication of the same job. It would also be nice if the ward boundaries were to be redrawn. At the moment, there is a sharp political split in the borough. The north of Bexley is a Labour area while the south of the borough is Conservative. If some of the wards were redrawn to cross the 'political divide', Bexley might actually get more engaging councillors. At the moment, the way the wards are drawn up leads to a fairly predictable result at each election. This means the councillors in their respective political areas know they are safe at each election. If the wards were redrawn to introduce more competition, then it could hopefully benefit the electorate by better engagement with our local representatives. Finally, Bexley's population is increasing. Where in the borough is the increase occurring and will the boundaries be redrawn accordingly to reflect the change?

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7 16/11/2015 Mike Ferro Organisation It has come to my attention, as a local resident, that the Conservative group on Bexley council are proposing to redraw local ward boundaries with a view to gaining electoral advantage thereby. I feel that this is an inappropriate way of seeking electoral advantage and that, where possible, ward boundaries should be retained so as to reflect local communities.

8 16/11/2015 jim Frampton Organisation It has come to my attention, as a local resident, that the Conservative group on Bexley council are proposing to redraw local ward boundaries with a view to gaining electoral advantage thereby. I feel that this is an inappropriate way of seeking electoral advantage and that, where possible, ward boundaries should be retained so as to reflect local communities.

9 16/11/2015 Mike Goulding Organisation I cannot support the idea of boundary changes being proposed for party political reasons. The local community should be the arbiter of change in this regard.suggestions for boundary change from outside of the local community should only be accepted by vote of the local community. The will of the electorate should decide any boundary change not change proposed for party advantage.

10 16/09/2015 Andrew Grace Organisation At the moment, 63 Councillors representing 21 wards seems excessive but I am not against it. What I object to is the vast amount of money that is paid to them as allowances. Furthermore, I allege that the Leader of the Council seems to think that she is able to run the Council whichever way she pleases because of the large Conservative majority. I would be happy to keep the existing arrangement but with drastically reduced allowances. Whatever is decided, it is important that the amount of money paid out to Councillors, Committee Chairmen, Committee Deputy Chairmen, Cabinet Members and Leaders of Political Parties is drastically reduced and, in any event, is far lower that it is now.

11 Ian Hadley Organisation My prime wish is that Lyndon Avenue and the surrounding streets south of the A2 which were transferred, against the residents wishes, to Falconwood and Welling Ward and away from the natural centre of the Blackfen community a matter of yards away. As accurately predicted in our formal objections to the previous changes, these streets have suffered when services such community policing are ward based instead of community based and this annexed territory is often overlooked. The distinct community of Blackfen, centred on its shopping centre, was split into three parts. The Boundary Commission stated at the time of the previous changes that natural communities should not be split just to achieve exact numbers for ward sizes yet when it came to Blackfen this stipulation was totally ignored. 14/09/2015

12 Mayers, Mishka From: Sent: 11 September :27 To: reviews Subject: Number of councillors in Bexley However you can cut the number of councillors employed in Bexley would be most acceptable. The wage bill for what they do is totally wrong when severe cuts are being made in other services. P Hall Sent from my ipad 1

13 17/09/2015 Joe Keerthiratna Organisation I would like to have fewer Councillors representing Bexley as they do not justify the money spent on them.

14 23/09/2015 Robin Kelly Organisation The A2 constitutes a natural ward boundary. Chester Road currently lies within the Falconwood & Welling Ward. There is no logic to this arrangement. Whatever changes are made, division along community lines should be given priority. Chester Road, for example, has no connection to Falconwood & Welling and should be associated with Blackfen.

15 14/09/2015 Ian Lindon Organisation LA21 I have lived in the Bexley borough since Originally I was part of the St. Mary's ward and the boundary was, Arbuthnott Road. At the last boundary change, this natural border was altered to become part of Blenden and Penhill ward. I believe the old boundary should be reinstated. I personally have not had a visit nor contact from any of the 3 councilors for over 4 years. The only time I see them or speak to them is at one of the council meetings which I attend on a regular basis as Chairman of the local LA21. Whilst part of the St. Mary Ward, I used to have frequent contact with the local councilors, one who lives just round the corner from me. Blenden and Penhill, in my opinion, does not need 3 councillors. 2 would suffice. As a general observation, wards with numerous flats and developments spread over a large area, e.g. Thamesmead, Crayford really require 3 councillors if not 4. Smaller wards, e.g. Christchurch could probably get by with one, with cover from an adjoining ward. I would have spent more time looking at each ward but as I only found out on the 12th of Sept. through reading the council's bulletin that replies to yourselves had to be submitted by the 16th of this month. I believe the council is proposing cutting the number of councilors from 63 to 45. I do believe this to be reasonable.

16 14/09/2015 Bruce Milne Organisation There is a need to reduce the number of Councillors in Bexley. The allowances paid to these Councillors for the amount of work they do is an extravagant waste which can not be justified. I would like to see only 2 Councillors selected for each ward thus reducing the allowances figure by 33-1/3%. If the Boundary Commission prefers to keep 3 Councillors per ward then let the Commission reduce the number of wards to 15 from the current 21, this would then give a total of 45 Councillors as opposed to the current 63, thereby making a small saving in the Bexley Council budget.

17 17/09/2015 William Parkhurst Organisation Requirement for three Councillors per borough is totally unnecessary and should be reduced to the legal minimum in order to reduce the cost of local government

18 16/11/2015 Laurence Rolfe Organisation Please leave the boundaries as they are thank you because the boundary changes are set give one party an unfair advantage

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20 14/09/2015 Stephen Weigel Organisation I would support fewer councillors, although better still would be retaining the same number and reducing payment & allowances by 50% or more. I imagine that cutting councillors by 1/3rd will just lead to increased payments and that overall costs to council tax payers would rapidly creep to existing overall costs or beyond.

21 02/11/2015 Kevin Wilkinson Organisation I have lived in the Blackfen and Lamorbey Ward for about 35 years. I've always thought our ward as both disjointed and misnamed. For one, the old area of Lamorbey is not even in this ward. Secondly, not only can the top 25% of the ward include 'Blackfen' in their address, it's not the focus for shopping, schooling, libraries, and travel for those in the southern half: our focus is to local shopping in the Halfway Street and towards Sidcup so we tend to be very uninterested in issues affecting Blackfen. I would think the Northern end of Blackfen & Lamorbey and Blendon & Penhill wards have much more in common and could be merged into a Blackfen & Blendon ward with their southern ends merging with Sidcup and St. Mary's wards.