Submission from Havant Labour Party re ward boundaries

Re the proposed Hayling West and Langstone ward.   page 16

This negates the principles set out by the Electoral Commission regarding Community.

Area DC in the St Faith’s ward (i.e. the present St Faith’s ward south of the motorway  including Langstone Village) has strong community groups. They have nothing in common with the people of Hayling. They do not shop or have links or associations with Hayling.  Going across the bridge is a bit like going abroad! There is a sailing club to the north of the bridge used by Havant people.  Hayling has its own sailing clubs. The residents of DC might occasionally visit South Hayling to enjoy  the beaches.

Langstone Village has very strong local activities.  The residents are particularly concerned about plans, which are being built up, to protect their homes from inundation by the sea. They would not be happy for these plans to be diluted by links to Hayling West, which has different problems.

Regarding the ward sizes in Hayling, it would be best to revert to the original east West split. A  lot of housing is proposed, but it is not certain how much will be achieved  because there are problems with the main road A2032 which is inadequate even for the present traffic.

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re the proposed Havant and St Faith’s Ward

If  the present DC area (i.e. 867voters in housing south of the motorway) is restored, the ward becomes too large.

To rectify this, Area  DE (1895 voters ) to the north east of Havant town should be attached to the present Bondfields ward. This area is adjacent to the industrial estate in Bondfields. There is access across the rail line.

In this format, Bondfields ward and its historical name,  should be retained. It is the old community housing estate which was built by HBC and eventually passed on to housing providers such as Guinness and Vivid.

Bondfields has a strong community with its own schools, shops, churches and sporting activities.  The busy B2149 cuts it off from the rest of Leigh Park .

(Locally, it is often referred to as West Leigh. To call it, as suggested in your recommendations Leigh Park East , would be a great error.)

Size of ward: 4865 + 1895 =  6436  This will change because, at present,  there is a lot of building on the old Industrial estate.

re Barncroft, Battins and Warren Park:

The proposed reorganisation of the three Leigh Park wards + Bondfields into 2 is unacceptable. It is noted that  the proposed deviation from average ward size would be +10% by 2027.  These wards are among the most deprived in England and need better representation than this.

re Leigh Park                                                

The Leigh Park Estate, one of the largest council estates in Europe, was built by Portsmouth CC post the 1939/45 war to accommodate their citizens whose homes had been destroyed.  It is an unusual situation. Homes built be one authority but taxes paid to and services delivered by another i.e. Havant. It is growing steadily. For example, Portsmouth are about to build 150 new social houses at the top of Warren Park.

Most of the houses and flats , not sold under the Thatcher Right to Buy, are allocated to Portsmouth residents, so the area is very different form Bondfields.  Again it has a distinct  community. There are shopping centres, churches, schools and local activities. There is considerable input from organisations such as CAB, Community First and Mind and activities centred on the Community Centre (Heart of the Park.)

These three wards (with two members each) could well be combined into two wards of approximately 7187 each with three Councillors.  There is a lot of building going on and they will grow further.

We could call them Leigh Park West and Leigh Park East.

This would give us 13 wards with 39 Councillors.

The wards to the west of the A3 are expected to be under-populated by 2027.If necessary reductions could be made here but we do not recommend this

The responsibilities of Councillors have grown in  recent years, especially those of the Cabinet members.  There is also an ever growing number of panels (such as advisory ones for the Environment and Budget) and some outside positions, such as links with Community First , have been missed.

We are convinced and recommend that this is a suitable number of Councillors for HBC.

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Suggested Realignment of Leigh Park Wards

At present Barncroft, Battins and Warren Park have 2 Councillors each.

Total 6.

We suggest that the boundaries move so that they become two wards, each having 3 Councillors.  Total 6

This would fall in line with the rest of the Borough.

These wards would be able to have an election every year.

The cycle is a four year one. Years 1, 2, and 3 for Borough Councillors,

Year 4 for the County Councillor.

Possible realignment ? East Leigh Park

Battins has 4865 voters

Warren Park HB 1898 voters.  This is Dunsbury Way, all roads off to the East down to Bramdean Drive, the Great Copse Drive area and the flats.

Total 6763

Possible realignment                ? West Leigh Park

Barncroft has 3672 voters

Warren Park HC 2040 This is the Warren

Warren Park HA 1071 This is Botley Drive, roads off to the East, the Ditcham Crescent area and part of Purbrook Way.

Total 6783

Source                              Electoral Registers for 2022

The outer boundary of the combined wards should remain the same.

The naming of these wards is provisional. There may be a better choice.