New Forest councillors could face the axe in money-saving drive

A DOZEN New Forest district councillors could face the axe under cost-cutting proposals to shrink the authority.

The far-reaching plan would reduce local representatives by 20% from 60 to 48 with the aim of saving money and bringing membership and ward sizes into line with similar-scale councils.

The idea was revealed in a report to NFDC's corporate overview and scrutiny panel which was due to have met yesterday (Thursday) at Appletree Court in Lyndhurst to discuss whether to advise the Conservative ruling cabinet to take it forward.

Savings of £78,000 a year from members’ allowances and expenses were predicted by the report. Currently, the basic annual payment is £6,150 and the combined expense about £500,000 a year.

If the plan is approved, a request will be made to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) to review the arrangements with a view to cutting seats.

It is too late to make any changes before the next district council’s next elections in 2019, so the ballot in 2023 would be when the authority’s new make-up emerged.

Currently, the average councillor represents 2,367 electors. Under the proposals, that would rise to 3,029 – a 28% increase of 662 people.

The report warned: “Reducing the number of councillors to 48 will increase the number of electors each councillor represents.

“The growth in IT has made district councillors more accessible to their constituents. This is a good outcome but has increased, rather than decreased, councillors’ workloads.”

It also cautioned that once the LGBCE had been called in to reassess the council, the authority would lose control over the final outcome, with the risk of new wards crossing traditional community boundaries.

However, it also assured on cutting numbers: “The day-to-day operational business of the council is conducted without the need to engage the majority of councillors.

“The full council adopts policy frameworks and most of the operational work of the council is undertaken by officers under that policy framework.”

The last electoral review actually increased councillors from 58 to 60 in 2003. There are currently 34 wards, most of which have two councillors each, with eight returning just one.

The eight-strong group of councillors tasked to come up with the proposal had considered options of shrinking the council to a few as 44 members and as many as 54.

The all-Conservative group comprised cabinet members Cllrs James Binns and Michael Harris, and backbenchers Cllrs Steve Clarke, Alexis McEvoy, Alan Penson, Beverley Thorne, Neil Tungate and John Ward.