Controversy over major shake up of North Lincolnshire's electoral wards

Plans would see the Axholme Central ward disappear - with the Isle of Axholme reduced to just two wards

Author: Jamie Waller, Local Democracy Reporting ServicePublished 29th Jul 2021
Last updated 30th Jul 2021

The biggest proposed changes to North Lincolnshire’s electoral wards in 25 years have ignited controversy over how they were arrived at.

The plans would see the Axholme Central ward disappear, with the same number of 43 councillors redistributed across the remaining 16 wards.

Parties were invited to work together on the submission to the Electoral Commission, but the Labour group say they had no input on the last-minute proposal.

The Conservatives say that the opposition was free to submit their own suggestions, and have also rubbished claims that the redrawn boundaries would divide communities.

The new electoral boundary plan, which was approved along party lines, would see 11 wards represented by three councillors and the remaining five by two.

The Isle of Axholme has been merged into two areas rather than three, and the Old Brumby and Kingsway ward has been proposed in Scunthorpe.

Several villages will also change representatives. Scawby will be put into the Broughton ward, while Ashby and Roxby have been removed from it into Winterton.

A number of areas will have their names updated to reflect new communities which have sprung up, such as Lakeside.

Labour leader Councillor Len Foster said his party was shown the proposals for the first time last week and hadn’t had any meaningful input.

“The way the council has gone about doing this was insulting to residents and the electorate,” he told a special council meeting.

“We should have been shown this six months ago, not six days ago.

“We weren’t presented with any supporting evidence, and were hardly given any time to deliberate. The consultation was an empty gesture.

“This isn’t the product of a working party, it was the work of a single party.”

Labour Councillor Steve Swift described the working group as a “tick box exercise”, and claim the proposals would see “communities not unified but torn apart.”

Conservatives dismissed the concerns, saying the opposition could have presented their own version, and that the boundaries represented modern communities.

Council leader Waltham said: “After 25 years, it would be unreasonable not to update the democratic connections between people and councillors to take into account the population change.

“We have looked very carefully about how people can best be represented. Some ward boundaries have been reformed to make them more balanced.”

Councillor John Davison said: “I am surprised that the opposition haven’t presented their alternative version as they knew the date like everyone else.

“Parish lines may been relevant in Victorian times, but nowadays people don’t know or care where they are.

“These are fair and balanced ward boundaries.”

The Commission will make its formal recommendations on North Lincolnshire’s boundaries later this year, and they are expected to be in use by the next elections in May 2023.

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