Proposed changes to local elections would lead to boundary changes: have your say!

Elmbridge Borough Council is consulting on whether there should be all-out elections every four years (all the Councillors being elected together every four years) or continue electing by thirds as it does so now (every three out of four years a third of Councillors standing for election). This is as a result of the Council deciding to reduce the overall number of Councillors in the Borough.

For more information and to have your say visit the following page on the Elmbridge Borough Council website: http://www.elmbridge.gov.uk/council/elections/Votingfrequency.htm

Reduction in number of Councillors may result in loss of village identity

Long Ditton Residents’ Association is liaising with Hinchley Wood Residents’ Association and Thames Ditton and Weston Green Residents’ Association and we will be making a joint response. The associations feel that at a time of austerity and cuts, the Council should not have embarked on the exercise; and if it wished to, residents should have been consulted before the Council took the decision to reduce the number of Councillors. As any reduction in Councillors will result in boundary changes, all three residents’ associations are keen to ensure that village identities are not lost. The three associations have agreed that they would like the Council to retain the current system of election by thirds and that a clear message is sent to the Electoral Commission that residents would want to retain ‘community identities’.

Deadline for comments (via the above webpage) is Sunday 2 November if you feel strongly about this issue.