BATTLE lines for next year’s local elections are closer to being drawn after councillors backed plans for ward boundaries.

Taunton Deane Borough Council and West Somerset Council are expected to merge to form Somerset West and Taunton Council, following a vote held on March 21.

The merger will mean new ward boundaries are needed to ensure every resident is equally and appropriately represented in the May 2019 elections.

At a special full council meeting held at Oake Manor Golf Club on Monday evening (April 23), Taunton Deane’s councillors voted in favour of proposals for 58 councillors, despite concerns this could leave a “democratic deficit” in Taunton.

Their views – and those of their West Somerset counterparts – will be presented to the Local Government Boundary Commission of England (LGBCE), which will report back with formal proposals in summer.

Under the proposals, the total number of councillors for the new district will be reduced from 84 to 58.

Taunton will get 15 councillors, Wellington will get six and Minehead will have five.

Each councillor will represent around 2,000 people, based on population estimates up to 2023.

Cllr Jane Warmington said the proposed ward boundaries represented “the best option in the circumstances”, given the short amount of time before the new council took effect ahead of the merger in May.

She also sought to assure councillors that changes could be put forward once the public consultation was under way, including the names of individual wards or the splitting of two-member wards into separate entities.

Cllr Simon Coles criticised the proposals, claiming on his own calculations it left Taunton under-represented.

The proposals were carried by 28 votes to 14, with one abstention.

West Somerset Council discussed the proposals at a separate meeting in Williton yesterday evening (April 25).

A full public consultation on the new ward boundaries will be held between July 3 and August 27.