The number of district councillors for Thanet could be axed to 36

Thanet council

The number of district councillors for Thanet could be axed by 20.

There are currently 56 councillors  made up of 25 UKIP; 21 Conservative; 6 Labour; 2 Independent Group and 2 Independent councillors.

But at a meeting of the Boundary and Electoral Arrangements Working Party  on September 28 a decision on whether to undertake a review to chop that number to 36 will take place.

The review by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England would examine the number, boundaries and names of wards and the number of councillors to be elected to each in Thanet.

Reduction

A  report to councillors outlines what an electoral review is and  why the council is considering undertaking one. The report suggests a reduction in the number of councillors from 56 to approximately 36.

The council considered proposals for a single authority across Kent in March 2017, these proposals were not agreed by all of the four councils and so they did not progress.

Canterbury City Council (CCC) and Shepway District Council (SDC) have already undertaken electoral reviews to reduce the number of councillors and Dover District Council (DDC) has very recently agreed to undertake a review. This leaves Thanet as the only council in East Kent not to have taken the steps.

If changes are agreed that would likely be implemented at the May 2019 elections.

TDC has conducted some early comparisons with other local councils. TDC currently has a population to Cllr ratio of 2495:1 which is significantly higher than the ratios in both Canterbury and Shepway.

Canterbury has 39 councillors and Shepway has 30. Dover currently has 45 and is proposing to cut that to 33.

Process

If councillors agree on the review the issue will then be considered by Full Council at its meeting on  October 12.

If the review is passed at this meeting the process of examination and recommendations for new ward boundaries and councillor numbers will begin. Public consultation will follow.

The  Boundary and Electoral Arrangements Working Party  meeting takes place at 4.30 pm on Thursday, 28 September  at the council offices in Margate.

7 Comments

    • Sadly, there appear to be very few councillors who SHOW that they care for anyone but themselves! I can count on one hand the number of emails I’ve had replies to in the 42 years I’ve lived in Thanet! So rude! Certainly not caring!

  1. When the publicly elected council members actually have proper power to exercise the will of the people (we were fooled into thinking they do two general elections ago) I might be interested. All the while there are un elected officers / officials in the background who really run things the idea of elected council is a total waste of time and public money.

    The whole dam lot needs throwing in the bin and starting again! I think we have far far to many and the ones we do, I can count on one finger those that are good to there word but that is another debate!

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