Ward boundaries finalised for new Somerset West and Taunton Council

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England has published the new map following an electoral review.

The arrangements will be in place at the authorities first elections in May next year.

The Commission’s final recommendations propose Somerset West and Taunton’s 59 councillors should represent five three-councillor wards, fourteen two-councillor wards and sixteen one-councillor wards.

Professor Colin Mellors, chairman of the Commission, said: “We are grateful to people across Somerset West and Taunton who took part in the review. The Commission has looked at all the evidence that was put forward during the consultation.

“We believe these recommendations deliver electoral fairness for voters as well as reflecting community ties throughout Somerset West and Taunton.”

In response to local feedback during the public consultation, the Commission has changed some of the proposals it put forward in July.

In Taunton, the Commission has moved away from its proposal to divide the Halcon area between wards. The area will now be wholly included in a Halcon and Lane ward.

The Commission has also changed its proposals elsewhere in Taunton to better reflect local community ties including maintaining the current Blackbrook and Holway ward.

The Commission says it has also responded to local comments and decided the town centre should be placed in Victoria ward.

Elsewhere in Somerset West and Taunton, the Commission has changed the names of several of the wards it originally proposed after listening to local feedback. The changes, and the full recommendations, are available on the Commission’s website at www.lgbce.org.uk.

The proposed new arrangements must now be implemented by Parliament. A draft Order – the legal document which brings into force the recommendations – will be laid in Parliament in the coming weeks. The draft Order provides for the electoral arrangements to come into force at the authority’s first elections in 2019.