BOUNDARIES IN THE COUNTIES OF DURHAM AND DARLINGTON

15 May 2002 10:44 AM

The enclosed document is issued in advance on the strict understanding that the information it contains is not re leased to any person or organisation before the time of publication PROPOSALS FOR PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCY BOUNDARIES IN THE COUNTIES OF DURHAM AND DARLINGTON

The Commission will publish provisional recommendations on 23 May 2002 for changes to the seven existing constituencies in the area covered by Durham and Darlington.

Provisional Recommendations

1. Following the Durham (Borough of Darlington) (Structural Change) Order 1995, the Borough of Darlington acquired unitary authority status and ceased to form part of County Durham. The remaining seven districts formed County Durham. Since the last general review, there have also been changes to district and borough ward boundaries as a result of the Periodical Electoral Review by the Local Government Commission for England. The new wards will come into operation in Darlington and Durham on 1 May 2003. This will mean that some wards will be divided between the existing constituencies. The Commission do not divide wards between constituencies and their proposals will realign the constituency boundaries with the new ward boundaries to place wards wholly within constituencies.

2. The combined area of Durham and Darlington currently has seven constituencies with a parliamentary electorate in 2000 of 465,136. This number of electors, when divided by the 2000 electoral quota of 69,934, gives a theoretical entitlement to 6.65 seats. The electoral quota is explained in "Rules" below.

3. Durham has a 2000 electorate of 389,431 and a theoretical entitlement to 5.57 seats. If Durham was reviewed separately, it would be allocated six seats. This would produce a county average of 64,905, which would be 5,029 below the electoral quota. Darlington has a 2000 electorate of 75,705 and a theoretical entitlement to 1.08 seats. Therefore, the electorate of the single seat that would be allocated to Darlington would be 5,771 above the electoral quota.

4. In formulating their provisional recommendations, the Commission had to give careful consideration to whether the two authorities should be reviewed separately or whether they should continue to be considered together. Whatever option was chosen, it was noted that the overall allocation of seats would be seven.

5. The unitary authority of Darlington has the legal status of a county and, therefore, falls within the scope of Rule 4 of Schedule 2 of the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986. The Commission are required by Rule 4 to have regard to county boundaries and should, therefore, not create a constituency across the boundary between two counties. However, they are also allowed by Rule 5 to depart from the requirements of Rule 4, in order to avoid an excessive disparity between the electorate of a constituency and the electoral quota or between the electorates of neighbouring constituencies. Additionally, Rule 7 confirms that it shall not be the duty of the Commission to aim at giving full effect to the other rules but that they should take account, so far as they reasonably can, of any local ties that would be broken by the changes they make to constituencies.

6. The Commission noted that if they treated the two authorities as one combined review area, it would be possible to consider the option of minimum change whereby constituency boundaries would only be realigned to take account of the divided wards.

7. They also noted that if they treated the two authorities separately, it would produce a Darlington seat with 75,705 electors and an average electorate for the Durham seats of 64,905: with the probability that at least one seat in Durham would have an electorate lower than 64,905. The Commission did not consider that the disparity (at least 10,800) produced between the electorate of the Darlington seat and that of the smallest seat in Durham would, necessarily, be excessive. However, they noted that if they treated Darlington and Durham separately, it would require substantial changes to be made to the existing seats and that this would not only involve the transfer of a large number of electors between them but it would, in all likelihood, break local ties.

8. The Commission considered that the decision was finely balanced and they concluded that the option of treating the two authorities as one combined review area was to be provisionally recommended, because it would allow them to make only those changes required to realign constituency boundaries with altered ward boundaries. Having decided to treat the two authorities as one combined review area, the Commission decided that in every case, but one, the constituency boundaries should be realigned with the nearest ward boundary so as to cause a minimum amount of disruption. This would mean that the part of a divided ward with the fewest number of electors would be transferred to the constituency containing the part of the divided ward with the greater number of electors.

9. The one exception to this minimum realignment would be the inclusion of the Easington District ward of Hutton Henry in the Easington seat. The Commission noted that 43% of the electorate of the Hutton Henry ward was already in the Easington seat. They considered that it was necessary to locate the whole of the ward in the Easington seat to address the low electorate of the existing seat (61,809) which has declined since the last general review and to reduce the disparity between neighbouring seats.

10. The overall effect of these changes would be the transfer of only 1,446 electors between seats. The changes would also slightly reduce the disparity between the constituencies with the highest and lowest electorates in the combined review area from 8,117 to 7,364.

11. The proposed new constituencies are illustrated in outline on the sketch map which forms part of this document (please note the copyright warning below concerning the map). The letters on the map refer to the districts, and the numbers refer to the district wards. The map is to be used in conjunction with the ward listing at the end of this document which shows the letters and districts, the numbers and wards, and the 2000 ward electorates on which the Commission are required by law to work.

12. The composition of the seven constituencies provisionally recommended would be (the 2000 electorates are shown in brackets):-

BISHOP AUCKLAND COUNTY CONSTITUENCY (67,474). Seven wards of the Borough of Sedgefield:- Byerley, Low Spennymoor and Tudhoe Grange, Middlestone, Spennymoor, Sunnydale, Thickley, Tudhoe; the District of Teesdale; and eight wards of the District of Wear Valley:- Bishop Auckland Town, Cockton Hill, Coundon, Dene Valley, Escomb, Henknowle, West Auckland, Woodhouse Close.

CITY OF DURHAM COUNTY CONSTITUENCY (69,926). The City of Durham.

DARLINGTON BOROUGH CONSTITUENCY (65,872). Twenty wards of the Borough of Darlington:- Bank Top, Central, Cockerton East, Cockerton West, College, Eastbourne, Faverdale, Harrowgate Hill, Haughton East, Haughton North, Haughton West, Hummersknott, Lascelles, Lingfield, Mowden, Northgate, North Road, Park East, Park West, Pierremont.

EASINGTON COUNTY CONSTITUENCY (62,562). Eighteen wards of the District of Easington:- Acre Rigg, Blackhalls, Dawdon, Dene House, Deneside, Easington Colliery, Easington Village and South Hetton, Eden Hill, Haswell and Shotton, Horden North, Horden South, Howletch, Hutton Henry, Murton East, Murton West, Passfield, Seaham Harbour, Seaham North.

NORTH DURHAM COUNTY CONSTITUENCY (68,087). The District of Chester-le- Street; and seven wards of the District of Derwentside:- Annfield Plain, Catchgate, Craghead and South Stanley, Havannah, South Moor, Stanley Hall, Tanfield.

NORTH WEST DURHAM COUNTY CONSTITUENCY (67,298). Fifteen wards of the District of Derwentside:- Benfieldside, Blackhill, Burnhope, Burnopfield, Castleside, Consett East, Consett North, Consett South, Cornsay, Delves Lane, Dipton, Ebchester and Medomsley, Esh, Lanchester, Leadgate; and eleven wards of the District of Wear Valley:- Crook North, Crook South, Howden, Hunwick, St John's Chapel, Stanhope, Tow Law and Stanley, Wheatbottom and Helmington Row, Willington Central, Willington West End, Wolsingham and
Witton-le-Wear.

SEDGEFIELD COUNTY CONSTITUENCY (63,917). Four wards of the Borough of Darlington:- Heighington and Coniscliffe, Hurworth, Middleton St George, Sadberge and Whessoe; two wards of the District of Easington:- Thornley and Wheatley Hill, Wingate; and twelve wards of the Borough of Sedgefield:- Bishop Middleham and Cornforth, Broom, Chilton, Ferryhill, Fishburn and Old Trimdon, Greenfield Middridge, Neville and Simpasture, New Trimdon and Trimdon Grange, Sedgefield, Shafto St Marys, West, Woodham.

13. Please note that the wards have not been shown for those districts (e.g. the District of Teesdale) where the whole of the district is contained in the proposed constituency. However, as already mentioned, a full ward listing with 2000 ward electorates is given at the end of this document.

14. The wards named in this document are the new wards which were created by the following Orders, all of which come into effect at the local elections on 1 May 2003:-

The Borough of Darlington (Electoral Changes) Order 2001; The District of Chester-le-Street (Electoral Changes) Order 1999; The District of Derwentside (Electoral Changes) Order 1999; The City of Durham (Electoral Changes) Order 1999;
The District of Easington (Electoral Changes) Order 1999; The Borough of Sedgefield (Electoral Changes) Order 1999; The District of Teesdale (Electoral Changes) Order 1999; and The District of Wear Valley (Electoral Changes) Order 1999.

Publication of Provisional Recommendations

15. The provisional recommendations will be published formally in a notice appearing in local newspapers in Durham and Darlington on 23 May 2002. Local authorities, MPs, the Political Parties' Headquarters, and others will be sent a copy of the recommendations. The notice will also be published on the Commission's web site at:- http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pbc/

Places of Inspection

16. The notice in local newspapers will also give the addresses where a copy of the recommendations and a more detailed map illustrating them may be inspected once the notice has been published in local newspapers on 23 May 2002 (please note the copyright warning below concerning the map). Those addresses are:-

BARNARD CASTLE Teesdale District Council, Teesdale House, Galgate, Barnard Castle
BISHOP AUCKLAND Wear Valley District Council, Old Bank Chambers, Market Place, Bishop Auckland
CHESTER-LE-STREET Civic Centre, Newcastle Road, Chester-le-Street CONSETT Civic Centre, Medomsley Road, Consett
CROOK Wear Valley District Council, Civic Centre, Crook
DARLINGTON Darlington Borough Council, Town Hall, Feethams, Darlington
DURHAM Chief Executive's Office, 4 Saddler Street, Durham NEWTON AYCLIFFE Leisure Centre, Beveridge Arcade, Newton Aycliffe PETERLEE Council Offices, Seaside Lane, Easington Village, Peterlee SPENNYMOOR Sedgefield Borough Council, Council Offices, Spennymoor STANHOPE Durham Dales Centre, Stanhope
STANLEY Council Offices, Front Street, Stanley

Representation Period: 23 May 2002 to 30 June 2002

17. The Commission are statutorily required to consider
representations about their provisional recommendations made within one month of local publication on 23 May 2002. However, the normal one month representation period has been extended to allow for the Queen's Golden Jubilee holiday.

18. Representations should be addressed to the Boundary Commission for England, PO Box 31060, London, SW1V 2FF, or faxed to 020 7533 5176, or emailed to chris.ault@ons.gov.uk. All representations received by the Commission will be acknowledged.

19. Please note that the Commission are not statutorily required to consider any representations made after 30 June 2002, but will endeavour to take late representations into account. However, the later the representation is made, the more difficult this will be. The Commission therefore ask that all representations be made within the period allocated. In the event that a local inquiry is held into the provisional recommendations, all representations will be made public beforehand so that interested persons may prepare for the local inquiry. Any representation received too late to be issued with the other representations before the local inquiry cannot be given the same weight as the other representations because other interested persons will not have had the same opportunity to consider it.

20. Where representations objecting to the provisional
recommendations are made by an interested local authority (a county, unitary authority or district council) or by a body of 100 or more electors, the Commission cannot proceed with their final recommendations to the Secretary of State until a local inquiry has been held. If the Commission decide to alter their recommendations as a result of the inquiry, the revised recommendations must also be published and representations invited, but a further local inquiry is not obligatory.

21. Those who make representations are requested to say whether they approve of, or object to, the Commission's proposals and to give their reasons for their approval or objection. In particular, objectors are advised to say what they propose in place of the Commission's recommendations and should note that an objection accompanied by a counter-proposal is likely to carry more weight than a simple statement of objection.

22. The Commission wish to stress that their provisional recommendations relate solely to parliamentary constituencies and do not affect county, unitary authority, district or parish boundaries, taxes or services. The Commission will therefore not take account of any representation made about those local issues.

Background Note

23. The Commission are constituted under Schedule 1 to the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986. The ex officio Chairman is the Speaker of the House of Commons. The Deputy Chairman, who presides over Commission meetings, is a High Court Judge appointed by the Lord Chancellor. The other two Commissioners are appointed by the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions. The two Assessors to the Commission are the Registrar General of England and Wales and the Director General of Ordnance Survey. Assistant Commissioners are lawyers appointed by the Secretary of State to conduct local inquiries.

24. The Commission are required by the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 as amended by the Boundary Commissions Act 1992 to conduct a general review of all the constituencies in England every eight to twelve years. The Commission completed their previous general review on 12 April 1995 and must therefore complete the current review after 11 April 2003 and before 12 April 2007.

25. The general review started formally with the publication of a notice in the London Gazette on 17 February 2000. The Commission's recommendations throughout the review must by law be based on the numbers of electors on the electoral registers on that date.

Rules

26. In recommending new constituencies, the Commission are required to give effect to the Rules for Redistribution of Seats which are contained in Schedule 2 to the 1986 Act.

27. Rule 1 places a limit on the total number of constituencies. Rule 2 requires single member constituencies. Rule 3 relates to the City of London. Rule 4 states that county and London borough boundaries are to be followed so far as is practicable. Rule 5 states that the electorates of constituencies are to be as nearly equal as practicable. Rule 6 allows the Commission to depart from rules 4 and 5 if special geographical considerations make a departure desirable. Rule 7 allows the Commission to depart from other rules; and requires them to take account of inconveniences caused or local ties broken by changes to constituencies. Rule 8 defines the electoral quota as the total number of parliamentary electors in England (i.e. 36,995,157) divided by the existing number of seats (529), and requires the Commission to use the electorates as at the start of a review.

Procedures

28. In conducting a general review of constituencies, the Commission are required by the legislation to follow certain procedures, principally to provide for public consultation.

29. The Secretary of State must be given notice of a review and that notice must be published in the London Gazette. Provisional recommendations must be published in newspapers in the affected constituencies and, unless the proposals are for no changes to be made, they must also be deposited for public inspection in at least one place in each affected constituency.

30. Representations may be made within one month of publication of the provisional recommendations (however, see paragraph 17) and the Commission must take any representations into consideration. Where objections are received from a county or district council or a body of 100 or more electors, a local inquiry must be held.

31. If the Commission revise their recommendations as a result of an inquiry, the revised recommendations must also be published and further representations invited and considered. A second local inquiry cannot be forced by these further representations, but there is discretionary power to hold a second inquiry. Any further modifications, as a result of further representations or a second inquiry, must also be published and representations invited.

32. When the Commission have decided their final recommendations for the whole country, they must submit a report to the Secretary of State.

Implementation of the recommendations

33. The Secretary of State has a statutory duty to lay the Commission's report before Parliament together with a draft Order in Council giving effect to the Commission's recommendations with or without modifications. If modifications are proposed, the Secretary of State must also lay a statement of reasons for the modifications.

34. The draft Order in Council is submitted to both Houses of Parliament for approval and, after it is made by Her Majesty in Council, it cannot be called into question in any legal proceedings. The new constituencies take effect at the next following general election.

35. The above information is intended to be a general guide only. For a definitive statement of the law, please refer to the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 - as amended by the Boundary Commissions Act 1992, the Local Government (Wales) Act 1994, the Government of Wales Act 1998, and the Scotland Act 1998 - together with the Court of Appeal ruling in R v Boundary Commission for England Ex parte Foot [1983] QB 600.

Crown Copyright

36. The outline map which forms part of this document and the maps deposited at the addresses listed above are based on Ordnance Survey data and are subject to ©Crown Copyright. Unauthorised reproduction will infringe Crown Copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings.

37. Any person wishing to reproduce the outline map or the maps placed on deposit should first contact the Copyright Office at Ordnance Survey, Romsey Road, Southampton SO16 4GU (telephone 023 8079 2929).

Enquiries

38. Should you require further information about these provisional recommendations or about other aspects of the Commission's work please write to:-

Boundary Commission for England
PO Box 31060
London
SW1V 2FF

or telephone:-

Durham and Darlington enquiries 020 7533 5174 or 020 7533 5143 General enquiries 020 7533 5177
Fax 020 7533 5176

Email addresses for:-
Durham and Darlington enquiries: chris.ault@ons.gov.uk
General enquires: bcomm.england@ons.gov.uk

39. The Internet version of this news release is now available on:- http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pbc/

DURHAM AND DARLINGTON 2000 WARD ELECTORATES BY DISTRICT
TO BE USED THROUGHOUT THE REVIEW

A. Chester-le-Street District 43,179
1. Bournmoor 2,364
2. Chester Central 2,317
3. Chester East 2,738
4. Chester North 3,910
5. Chester South 2,625
6. Chester West 2,602
7. Edmondsley and Waldridge 3,894
8. Grange Villa and West Pelton 1,298
9. Kimblesworth and Plawsworth 1,340
10. Lumley 3,353
11. North Lodge 2,522
12. Ouston 2,447
13. Pelton 4,204
14. Pelton Fell 1,237
15. Sacriston 3,774
16. Urpeth 2,554

B. Darlington Borough 75,705
1. Bank Top 2,893
2. Central 2,803
3. Cockerton East 3,785
4. Cockerton West 3,108
5. College 2,964
6. Eastbourne 4,095
7. Faverdale 858
8. Harrowgate Hill 4,106
9. Haughton East 3,000
10. Haughton North 2,970
11. Haughton West 4,157
12. Heighington and Coniscliffe 2,493
13. Hummersknott 2,966
14. Hurworth 2,862
15. Lascelles 2,722
16. Lingfield 2,778
17. Middleton St George 2,864
18. Mowden 3,115
19. Northgate 3,142
20. North Road 4,668
21. Park East 4,425
22. Park West 2,898
23. Pierremont 4,419
24. Sadberge and Whessoe 1,614

C. Derwentside District 67,918
1. Annfield Plain 3,689
2. Benfieldside 3,786
3. Blackhill 3,806
4. Burnhope 1,124
5. Burnopfield 3,688
6. Castleside 1,192
7. Catchgate 2,401
8. Consett East 1,206
9. Consett North 3,630
10. Consett South 2,327
11. Cornsay 1,265
12. Craghead and South Stanley 3,635
13. Delves Lane 3,711
14. Dipton 2,351
15. Ebchester and Medomsley 3,709
16. Esh 3,945
17. Havannah 3,942
18. Lanchester 3,698
19. Leadgate 3,572
20. South Moor 3,724
21. Stanley Hall 3,840
22. Tanfield 3,677

D. City of Durham 69,926
1. Bearpark and Witton Gilbert 3,519
2. Belmont 2,950
3. Brancepeth, Langley Moor and Meadowfield 3,005
4. Brandon 4,717
5. Carrville and Gilesgate Moor 4,640
6. Cassop-cum-Quarrington 4,466
7. Coxhoe 4,304
8. Crossgate and Framwelgate 3,825
9. Deerness 2,847
10. Elvet 3,959
11. Framwellgate Moor 4,181
12. Neville's Cross 2,696
13. New Brancepeth and Ushaw Moor 3,974
14. Newton Hall North 3,078
15. Newton Hall South 2,904
16. Pelaw and Gilesgate 3,530
17. Pittington and West Rainton 3,059
18. St Nicholas 2,913
19. Shadforth and Sherburn 3,984
20. Shincliffe 1,375

E. Easington District 71,745
1. Acre Rigg 3,067
2. Blackhalls 4,121
3. Dawdon 4,105
4. Dene House 3,017
5. Deneside 4,310
6. Easington Colliery 3,849
7. Easington Village and South Hetton 4,034
8. Eden Hill 2,954
9. Haswell and Shotton 4,435
10. Horden North 3,777
11. Horden South 2,654
12. Howletch 2,819
13. Hutton Henry 1,320
14. Murton East 2,853
15. Murton West 2,779
16. Passfield 4,345
17. Seaham Harbour 4,181
18. Seaham North 3,942
19. Thornley and Wheatley Hill 4,616
20. Wingate 4,567

F. Sedgefield Borough 68,422
1. Bishop Middleham and Cornforth 3,059
2. Broom 3,789
3. Byerley 2,639
4. Chilton 4,088
5. Ferryhill 3,723
6. Fishburn and Old Trimdon 4,295
7. Greenfield Middridge 3,983
8. Low Spennymoor and Tudhoe Grange 4,366
9. Middlestone 4,057
10. Neville and Simpasture 3,791
11. New Trimdon and Trimdon Grange 1,477
12. Sedgefield 4,094
13. Shafto St Marys 4,297
14. Spennymoor 4,062
15. Sunnydale 2,912
16. Thickley 2,773
17. Tudhoe 2,712
18. West 4,270
19. Woodham 4,035

G. Teesdale District 19,841
1. Barnard Castle East 1,275
2. Barnard Castle North 1,233
3. Barnard Castle West 1,809
4. Barningham and Ovington 499
5. Cockfield 1,300
6. Cotherstone with Lartington 581
7. Eggleston 511
8. Etherley 1,964
9. Evenwood, Ramshaw and Lands 1,855
10. Gainford and Winston 1,308
11. Greta 614
12. Hamsterley and South Bedburn 497
13. Ingleton 560
14. Lynesack 1,171
15. Middleton-in-Teesdale 1,278
16. Romaldkirk 727
17. Staindrop 1,194
18. Startforth 754
19. Streatlam and Whorlton 711

H. Wear Valley District 48,400
1. Bishop Auckland Town 2,274
2. Cockton Hill 3,855
3. Coundon 3,307
4. Crook North 1,256
5. Crook South 3,734
6. Dene Valley 2,271
7. Escomb 2,201
8. Henknowle 2,979
9. Howden 1,193
10. Hunwick 1,188
11. St John's Chapel 1,171
12. Stanhope 2,749
13. Tow Law and Stanley 2,931
14. West Auckland 3,635
15. Wheatbottom and Helmington Row 2,359
16. Willington Central 3,944
17. Willington West End 1,181
18. Wolsingham and Witton-le-Wear 2,582
19. Woodhouse Close 3,590

Boundary Commission for England PO Box 31060 London SW1V 2FF T 020 7533 5177 Fax 020 7533 5176 GTN 3042 5177
e-mail bcomm.england@ons.gov.uk
Web Site http://www.statistics.gov.uk/pbc/

Issued by the
Boundary Commission for England
PO Box 31060
London
SW1V 2FF
Telephone 020 7533 5174 or 020 7533 5143
Fax 020 7533 5176
Date 15 May 2002