The Local Government Boundary Review have just published their final recommendations for Hampshire County Council. I took part in the consultation process at the end of last year.
I wasn’t expecting my comments to be acted upon, but I at least expected them to be acknowledged in the consultation report. They were not.
Only four submissions were apparently received about the ward I made a submission about, so it is pretty easy to track whether my views were noted, let alone acted upon. I felt the proposals were wrong, and did not meet statutory criteria – little room for confusion there. I have copied my full response at the end of this post so you can see what I mean. They refer to the Hart District area of Hampshire.
However, in the report, it says, “We received four submissions relating to this division. Two of the submissions commented on the parish warding arrangements for Yateley. We have considered the evidence and provided for revised parish electoral arrangements for Yateley at page 47 of this report. The remaining submissions commented on the division name. It was argued that Blackwater be included in the name as it would better reflect the communities which make up the division. We are persuaded by the evidence received; however, we consider a division name consisting of Fleet North, Yateley East & Blackwater to be too long. As Blackwater and Yateley make up a significant part of the division, we have re-named the division Yateley East & Blackwater which we consider better reflects communities represented in this division. Subject to this change of division name, we confirm our recommended division as part of our final recommendations.”
No mention that I objected to putting together half of Yateley with part of Fleet which are NOT natural communities, with zero public transport links. For this, and reasons to do with lack of recognisable community groups and interests across the proposed division, I did NOT feel it met the statutory criteria.
Yateley’s Dog & Partridge, near the boundary of two divisions under these proposals, rather than at the heart of one, as under mine.
Indeed, additionally, on the proposal for ‘Hartley Wintney and Yateley West‘ division, the report states, “We received support for our draft recommendations relating to Hartley Wintney & Yateley West division,” despite my submission having said that I did not think they met the statutory criteria either for similar reasons.
By deciding to ‘change the name’ of the Yateley East division which had I made a submission about, to take out reference to Fleet, but not to take out the actually area it refers to kind of demonstrates the point I am making, without doing anything about it.
This has totally removed what little faith I had left in public consultation processes. There has to be a better way if it even turns off political geeks like me from taking part. Apologies for being such a bore, but I had to get it off my chest. I don’t really mind that my argument didn’t win the day – I object to the fact that it was ignored completely despite being eminently valid.
My original submission in full, so you can see what I am talking about:
“I wish to comment about the proposed divisions in Hart, specifically, ‘Fleet North & Yateley East‘, but also ‘Hartley Wintney & Yateley West‘ which I do not believe reflect the statutory criteria. On the summary report pages, the test of ‘Community Identity’ suggests that there should be good transport links across the division, and highlights public transport. There is NO public transport between Fleet and Yateley, or between Hartley Wintney and Yateley – something I acutely feel as a disabled person. It asks whether there are recognisable interests, and community groups across the divisions – but as the names suggest, both these divisions ‘bolt’ together natural communities which have been split apart – namely Yateley, and Fleet. Surely it makes sense to build an electoral division around Yateley as ONE community (which includes Blackwater and Hawley, and possibly Eversley); and an electoral division around Fleet as ONE community – each with very different interests, boundaries, and community groups. Hartley Wintney more naturally looks west, towards Odiham, and Hook.”
“To group together ‘Yateley East‘ with ‘Fleet North‘ makes absolutely no sense at all. I was born in the area, lived here until I was 18, and have just returned a year ago at the age of 44 years. My mother has lived in Yateley all her life, as has her mother. When I consulted with my immediate neighbours about the proposition, they were totally bemused. Fleet and Yateley are the two largest towns in Hart District, approx. five miles apart. Why would you split each of them, and then create a new division which mixes part of one, with part of another, particularly when they share no public transport link? Even if you do not accept this argument, then at the very least, the proposed name of the division is inappropriate. It includes Blackwater and Hawley – places in their own right which share some focus with Yateley, but absolutely none at all with Fleet. ”
“My proposal, which I have not tested, would be for a division for the whole of Yateley (which would include Blackwater and Hawley, and possibly Eversley); one for Fleet Town (which could include parts of Fleet North from the previous proposal, including Elvetham Heath – and if any levelling up is needed, this could be done with the division of Church Crookham & Ewshot, which is a more natural fit, and low on numbers). Similarly, Hartley Wintney would be a more natural fit for the division of Odiham and Hook, which could be renamed accordingly. This would increase its numbers which are currently a little low. I believe such a proposal would make a more natural community fit for Fleet and for Yateley (as well as surrounding population centres) reflecting community interests and identities, and could be a more equitable spread of population, thus providing good electoral quality. Crucially, in the case of Yateley and Fleet, it would be based on strong, easily identifiable boundaries, and help deliver strong, effective and convenient local government. At the moment, local people often struggle to know who their local county councillor is because they do not know which side of an arbitrary boundary they fall on within Yateley or Fleet – this is patently absurd, particularly when it is written into the statutory criteria for your own consultation.”
Thank you for bearing with me!
Common 
