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Welsh Liberal Democrats Democratiaid Rhyddfrydol Cymru |
Proposed Ward Changes Are Idiotic
January 25, 2010 4:15 PM
Councillor Mike Powell has reacted angrily to the latest Boundary Commission review calling it "little short of imbecilic"
The Review is designed to realign ward boundaries in Rhondda Cynon Taff, to even out the number of electors each Councillor represents. However, some of the proposed new wards are bizarre to say the least.
Councillor Powell, who is also the Welsh Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate for Pontypridd said the proposals would be laughable if they were not so potentially serious.
"Whoever drew up the proposed new wards couldn't even have looked at a map of the area, never mind visited. Some of the ideas contained in the report are nothing less than idiotic.
"For example, Glyncoch could be merged with the Rhondda Ward of Pontypridd, which covers MaesYCoed and Hopkinstown. The report states that 'as this proposal joins together two wards of the same community we are of the view that no local ties will be broken.'
"They seemed to have ignored that fact that the entire town of Pontypridd lies between Glyncoch and the Rhondda ward. This adds insult to injury to the people of Glyncoch who against their will were moved into the Cynon valley constituency during the last review. The proposal is that this two site ward will be called the 'Rhondda ward' just to confuse things still further."
On a similar line the report suggests combining the wards of The Graig and Trallwn to form one ward. Again this ignores the fact that there is no geographical link between the two.
Councillor Powell says he is not against changes to make representation fairer, but that there needs to be a modicum of common sense.
"There will be no reduction in the total number of Councillors coming from all of this, so no money will be saved in the long term. The idea was to iron out some inconsistencies, as some Councillors currently have much larger numbers of electors in their wards than others.
In some areas it can be done with relative ease and no noticeable affect on residents. For instance in Talbot Green and Pontyclun.
However, you cannot join wards that have no geographical link whatsoever - and that actually have other wards running through the middle of them. That is absolute nonsense."
ENDS
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