Ed Townsend, the Liberal Democrat deputy leader of Newport council and Regional Assembly Member, Veronica German have both called for for a boundary commission report into electoral arrangements in the City to be scrapped after some submissions sent to it went astray.
The Local Government Boundary Commission for Wales this week published a report on electoral arrangements in Newport in which changes to ward boundaries were recommended, as well as a reduction in the number of councillors from 60 to 56.
But submissions from local Conservatives and Liberal Democrats went astray and were not considered by the team of Commissioners.
Ed Townsend said: “This is incompetence and we believe the report should be scrapped. We strongly oppose the changes because they take no account of community identity and are simply concerned with numbers.”
Veronica German added: “I find it deeply disturbing that this review has been allowed to be published without having considered the official submission of one of the groups on Newport council.
“It is critical that such boundary reviews are seen to be impartial and that the views of all individuals and groups are considered.
“I have therefore written to the minister urging him to re-open the review into the boundary commission for Newport City Council so that all views can be considered.”
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Well they would, wouldn’t they, since the likely result of losing 5 seats is that the ConDem coalition presently running Newport will do even worse in 2012 than is presently expected.
Yeah… OR it could have something to do with the fact that submissions, which the Commision are MEANT to take into account when taking the decision… WENT MISSING? How in the above article, do you manage to ignore the whole INCOMPETENT LOSS OF SUBMISSION theme and see it as gerrymandering by the “ConDem” coalition. (Incidentally, I’d rather live in a ConDem Newport than a Newport condemned to the dustbin and scrapheap under Labour – we had 29 years of Labour in Newport. Never, never, never again, not after the abject mess they made of it).
The real test will be what the Local Government Minister decides. Whether they act as they should do and request the Commission to look into the matter again, or whether they will act in a partisan way. After all, Labour’s submission wasn’t lost by the Commission. It was just the Conservative and Lib Dem submissions. That makes it gerrymandering at every level by Labour – hardly a fair and democratic process, is it, Shambo?