Agenda item

The Committee received a report which provided an update on the 2023 Parliamentary Boundary Review proposals published by the Boundary Commission, which were out for final consultation with the public for the four week period from 8^th November to 5^th December, 2022.

The Electoral Services Manager summarised the proposals affecting the three Doncaster constituencies, which were as follows:-

Doncaster Central CC(proposed constituency name)

·      The name has changed back to the original current name of ‘Doncaster Central’ from the proposed ‘Doncaster Town’ due to Doncaster receiving City status.

·      It resembles the current existing Doncaster Central constituency but without any part of the Stainforth & Barnby Dun ward.

·      The proposal also contains all of the Tickhill & Wadworth ward, which is currently divided between constituencies.

Doncaster East and Axholme CC (proposed constituency name)

·      In Humberside and South Yorkshire they have changed a constituency that crosses the county boundary which is Doncaster and North Lincolnshire by combining the Isle of Axholme area of North Lincolnshire unitary authority with wards from the east of the Borough of Doncaster.

·      The Thorne & Moorends ward is currently divided between the current existing Doncaster North and Don Valley constituencies, and they propose this ward now be included wholly within the proposed Doncaster East and Axholme constituency:

Doncaster North CC(proposed constituency name)

·      The Stainforth & Barnby Dun ward is currently divided between constituencies and they propose that the existing Doncaster North constituency boundary be realigned to follow the ward boundaries, and include the whole of the Stainforth & Barnby Dun ward.

Two Doncaster wards; Conisbrough and Edlington & Warmsworth (20,565 electors) will move into a Rotherham Council constituency with a Rotherham Member of Parliament, we would therefore provide ballot papers to Rotherham council for those wards when a parliamentary election takes place:

Rawmarsh and Conisbrough CC (proposed constituency name)

·    They propose to group the remaining Borough of Doncaster wards (Conisbrough, and Edlington & Warmsworth) with the Borough of Rotherham wards to form a Rotherham Constituency and propose the constituency be called Rawmarsh and Conisbrough.

In response to a question regarding the logistics of running elections in the   constituencies that were split across different local authority areas, the Electoral Services Manager explained that the fine details were still to be determined and arrangements were dependent on whether it was a combined election or stand-alone Parliamentary election.  However, in the case of Doncaster East and Axholme constituency, she explained that it was likely that the ballot papers would need to be returned to North Lincolnshire Council for verification, before being returned back to Doncaster to be counted. Particularly for postal voters, as their personal identifiers would need to be verified by them as Doncaster would not hold that data.  Similarly, for the Rawmarsh and Conisbrough constituency, the ballot papers for Conisbrough and Edlington and Warmsworth would be verified by Doncaster Council and then returned to Rotherham Council for counting.  It was noted that while this practice was new for Doncaster, it was already being carried out by colleagues in Barnsley and Rotherham, so the Electoral Services Manager would be liaising closely with her counterparts in those other authorities to see how these arrangements worked in practice.

During discussion on the wider context and reasons for the boundary change proposals affecting Doncaster, Councillor Nick Allen explained that the principle changes were in East Yorkshire, with the abolition of the Brigg and Goole constituency, which was to be divided three-ways with part coming into Doncaster and another part into Scunthorpe.

            RESOLVED to note the contents of the report.