Community Governance Review Phase 2 Consultation

Overview

We are conducting a community governance review (CGR). This is a process for reviewing parish and town council boundaries, deciding how many councillors a parish council should have, and other local governance related arrangements. It is not a review of West Northamptonshire Ward boundaries or Parliamentary Constituency boundaries.

Background

West Northamptonshire Council is responsible for parish electoral and governance arrangements within West Northamptonshire. Parish governance arrangements include town and parish council boundaries, the number of councillors each town or parish council has, arrangements for parish wards and meetings of groups and parish councils.

A Community Governance Review is an opportunity to address certain issues which could have arisen due to population changes and shifts in ‘natural settlements’ caused by new development or historical issues that have not been addressed previously.

A review offers an opportunity to reflect identifiable communities and to remove any parish boundary anomalies that may exist. Community governance arrangements should reflect local identities and support effective local government.

Further information: What is a Community Governance Review Further information: What is a Community Governance Review

A Community Governance Review allows us to review and make appropriate changes to the existing governance arrangements of parish and town Councils, in order to ensure that:

Parish governance is robust, representative and able to meet new challenges; and
There is clarity and transparency to the areas that parish/town councils represent and that the electoral arrangements of parishes are appropriate, equitable and readily understood by their electorates.

The review can include:

Abolishing, creating, merging or altering parishes,
Changing the name of a parish or set the style of a new parish Council,
Altering the boundary or warding arrangements of one or more existing parish,
Bringing a number of parishes together as a grouped parish council, and
The electoral arrangements for parishes such as the number of parish councillors

The review cannot:

Alter the West Northamptonshire Council boundary.
Make changes to the electoral arrangements of an existing parish where those arrangements have been made as part of an electoral review (conducted by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England). In such instances, the Council must seek consent from the LGBCE.
Make changes to principal area wards.

Not every area of West Northamptonshire is affected, but we do want to hear from those living in the areas affected, and other interested parties, on the most suitable ways of representing the people in the parishes identified in the review. This means making sure that those affected, and other interested groups, have a say in how their local communities are represented.

The proposals for change that are being consulted on during this phase of the review have arisen as a consequence of changes made by the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (the Commission) during the recent review of the Council’s boundaries, as well as suggestions put forward by citizens, parish councils, district councillors or other interested parties.

Table of parishes that have proposals and other affected parishes Table of parishes that have proposals and other affected parishes

The following table shows other parishes that could be affected by the proposals to the parish.

Parish	Affected parishes
Adstone	Maidford
Althorp	Brington, Althorp
Boughton – Dixon Road Ward	Kingsthorpe
Boughton – North and West of Boughton Parish	Moulton, Pitsford
Brockhall	Flore
Clay Coton	Lilbourne, Yelvertoft
Cottesbrook	Guilsborough, Creaton
Daventry	Nill
Dodford and Weedon Bec	Nill
Helmdon	Nill
Kings Sutton and Newbottle	Middleton Cheney
Little Houghton and Great Houghton	Nill
Moulton – Moulton Leys	Northampton, Overstone
Moulton – Moulton and Overstone	Nill
Northampton – Abington Vale and Weston Favell	Northampton
Overstone	Nill
Pitsford	Boughton
Ravensthorpe	Nill
Roade and Stoke Bruerne	Nill
Silverstone	Whittlebury
Thorpe Manderville	Nill
Tiffield	Towcester
Upton	Nill
West Hunsbury	Nill
Wootton and Hackleton	Nill
Wootton and Hardingstone	Nill

Stages of review and consultation

Following guidance issued by the Government and the Commission, we carried out a consultation during the summer of 2023 to identify requests from parishes who wanted to make certain changes to their governance arrangements.

Following this consultation, the Council launched a formal Community Governance Review and undertook the first phase of consultation from November 2023 to the end of January 2024. This phase of consultation focused on parishes where the potential to change governance arrangements had been highlighted and other areas where changes could be necessary to ensure consistency with the Council’s own boundaries.

We are now carrying out the second phase of consultation. This phase will focus on the draft recommendations formed following analysis of the outcome of the first phase of consultation.

When consulting on these proposals, the Council must take account if whether the proposed change would better reflect local identities and interests and provide effective and convenient local government before making a final decision.

Timetable Timetable

The council has to complete the Community Governance Review within 12 months from when it publishes the Terms of Reference. The Terms were agreed and published following Full Council 28 September 2023.

Detail	Dates
Commencement of CGR – Terms of Reference Published	29 September 2023
Initial consultation stage (phase 1)	28 November 2023 to 31 January 2024
Draft recommendations prepared	27 January 2024 to 26 April 2024
Current stage: Draft recommendations published with Second stage (phase 2) consultation on draft recommendations	26 April 2024 Consultation: 25 April to 28 July 2024
Final recommendations prepared	26 July 2024 to 23 September 2024
Final Recommendations considered and approved by full Council	29 September 2024
Community Governance Order(s) made	Between October and November 2024
New community governance arrangements come into force	1 May 2025

How to provide your views

We are inviting views from residents, parishes and stakeholders.

You can provide your views and make your submission by:

Completing the online questionnaire below,
Emailing: cgrconsultation@westnorthants.gov.uk
Writing to us at:

Community Governance Review
Electoral Services
West Northamptonshire Council
The Guildhall
St Giles Street
Northampton
NN1 1DE

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