Local Government Boundary Commission Confirm New Shepway Ward Boundaries

The final report by the Local Government Boundary Commission on the revised Shepway ward boundaries has been published. The final ward boundaries are exactly as that proposed in their draft report, with the Boundary Commission rejecting every proposal by Shepway District Council to alter the draft boundaries.

The new boundaries take effect for the elections in May 2015, with Shepway then electing just 30 Councillors for a total of 13 wards. The 13 wards will elect either 1, 2 or 3 councillors each depending on their size.

The only change made from the original draft report is to change the name of some of the new wards. Those wards whose names have been changed are:

• Folkestone Park with now become Folkestone Broadmead;
• Sandgate will be named Sandgate & West Folkestone;
• Folkestone East will be named East Folkestone;
• Cheriton & Morehall will be named Cheriton.

Local Lib Dem Campaigner and Sandgate ward Councillor Tim Prater broadly welcomed the final boundaries. Tim said:

"After the publication of the draft recommendations, Conservative run Shepway Council made a farcical submission of changes to those recommendations - every single one of which has now been rejected.

"The next Shepway District Council elections will take place on May 2015, and its already guaranteed that given the reduction in Councillors to 30 that many Conservatives will lose their seats. There have already been big rumblings of discontent and concern in Conservative ranks in Shepway: I'd expect that to start to become a roar of the coming months."