Cornwall Council to carry out governance review and electoral review in parallel

In late 2015, the Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE), the body with the legal duty to consider and to decide on these matters, announced that it would be carrying out a review of the number of councillors in Cornwall and the electoral divsion boundaries prior to the 2017 elections. This proposal met with unanimous opposition from the leaders of all groups on Cornwall Council and a letter has been despatched to the chair of the LGBCE making our views clear and asking that they reconsider the proposed timetable.

After further consideration, in January 2016, the LGBCE has now accepted that it would not be possible to complete the review before the 2017 elections. The new timetable assumes that the number of councillors will be determined by early 2017 and then the new boundaries drawn by spring 2018. The changes will then take effect from the next elections in 2021.

Cornwall Council has put into place an Electoral Review Panel to consider all the issues around the size of the Council and potential new boundaries and will be making submissions to the LGBCE over the next months. For further information about the electoral review, see the information on the Cornwall Council website.

It was always intended that, as part of the process of trying to secure more devolved powers from central government, Cornwall Council would carry out an in-depth review of its own governance to ensure that it was fit for purpose for any new roles it would take on or in the light of itself devolving responsibilities to towns and parish councils. This governance review is taking place in parallel with the electoral review and any conclusions reached within the governance review will inform the work on the electoral review.

Submissions from all interested parties will be sought in this review process. The Constitution and Governance Committee will be leading the work within the Council and reporting back to Full Council. In addition, a Governance Review External Group (GREG) will be formed to take evidence and to feed back to the Council its own thoughts on how we should be governed.

May 2016