New voter arrangements finalised for West Northamptonshire

West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has welcomed the outcome of the wide-ranging review, which is the first to take place for 10 years and sees changes to all electoral ward boundaries across the area.

The LGBCE’s conclusion must now be scrutinised and approved by Parliament before legally coming into force for the next WNC elections in 2025.

In their final report published today, the Commission has concluded that West Northants residents should be represented in the future by 76 councillors as the figure best facilitated a new warding pattern throughout the district. It means that from 2025 WNC councillors would be elected on a four-year term across 35 wards instead of the current 31 – comprising 13 three-councillor wards, 15 two-councillor wards, and seven single-councillor wards.

In response to residents’ feedback during the review, other recommended changes by the Commission include creating two single councillor wards in the north of Daventry and merging two of draft recommendation wards in the south-west of the area to form a two-councillor Middleton Cheney ward.

The final recommendations report and interactive mapping can be viewed on the LGBCE website.

Councillor Suresh Patel, Chairman of the Council’s Democracy Standards Committee and the Local Boundary Review Working Group said: “We welcome today’s publication of the Boundary Commission’s final recommendations in the first review of electoral arrangements across our area for a decade.

“Their conclusions strike a fair balance in making sure the number of councillors and electoral ward patterns reflect the democratic needs of our residents and support our council more effectively in representing communities, delivering council business and providing efficient governance. I would like to thank everyone who took the time to get involved in this process and gave their feedback to the Commission.

“Subject to parliamentary approval, these final recommendations will be put in place for the next WNC local elections in 2025 in and the run-up to polling day we will be ensuring that all residents are aware of how these new electoral arrangements will affect them.”

The last electoral review in Northamptonshire took place in 2013 and WNC’s current electoral arrangements are based on those of the previous county council, with 93 councillors serving across 31 wards.

LGBCE launched the review in summer 2022, holding its review in two stages with public consultation, firstly looking at the number of councillors, and then looking at how many wards, and the names of those wards.

To find out more about councillors, elections and democracy in West Northamptonshire, visit the Council’s website.