The Council’s Governance Committee will be discussing the proposed ward changes at their meeting next week (Tuesday 19 September). In brief, the changes are necessary because of the sheer difference in the number of electors within each of th 17 wards in the borough. Blythe ward has by far the most electors and this brings with it a large difference in caseloads for each councillor.
The purpose of the report is to seek approval of the draft ward pattern to be submitted to the Local Government Boundary Commission for England. The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) have commenced a periodic electoral review of Solihull which includes the size of the Council and its pattern of wards.
Following submissions on the size of the Council, the Commission have indicated that they are minded retaining the size of the Council at 51 Members with 3 Members per ward. This will retain the number of wards at 17.
The next stage in the review process is to consider revisions to the pattern of wards to ensure that as far as possible, each ward contains approximately the same number of electors. The Commission have commenced a public consultation on this part of the review and have invited submissions to be made on what respondents believe to be an appropriate warding pattern. The consultation is open until 30th October 2023.
In brief the changes relating to Blythe ward and St Alphege ward results in Monkspath leaving Blythe ward and merging with parts of St Alphege ward, whilst parts of St |Alphege ward merge with neighbouring Shirley East wards.
Blythe ward changes:
The polling district being removed from the ward is BL02 which relates to the Monkspath area. This area is very different in character and identity from the remaining areas of the ward which are characterised by the rural settlements of Cheswick Green parish, Dickens Heath parish and Tidbury Green parish, separated from each other and the urban area by open countryside. The Monkspath area doesn’t have any strong connections with the rural settlements, and it functions as part of the urban area. The ward now becomes entirely rural in character.
Polling districts to remain in the ward are: BL01, BL03 & BL04 (The parishes of Cheswick Green, Dickens Heath and Tidbury Green.
St Alphege ward changes:
Polling districts to remain in the ward: SA01 (in part) (Park Avenue, Brueton Avenue and Blythway) SA02 (Sharmans Cross Road & Woodlea Road) SA04 ((Blossomfield Road/Alderbrook Road) SA05 (north of Streetsbrook Road.
Polling district to be added to the ward: BL02 (Monkspath).
St Alphege’s proximity to BL02 (Monkspath) makes it a prime location to accommodate that PD within the ward. Monkspath shares a similar identity and interest to the Hillfield area of the ward, and both are accessible to Solihull town centre. Without BL02 being moved into the ward, it was already at 10% above average and this therefore creates a need to look at what other areas of St Alphege could be moved to an adjacent ward, particularly one that was below average in electorate numbers. Shirley East shares a boundary with St Alphege and its variance is -12% from average and so could accommodate PDs from St Alphege. SA02 (Sharmans Cross Road & Woodlea Road areas) are closest to Shirley East and they are as close to Shirley town centre as Solihull town centre and share similar identities to the PDs in Shirley East. If SA02 were to move into Shirley East, this would isolate SA05 (north of Streetsbrook Road) from the rest of St Alphege (more can be found on the appendix within the reports).
APPENDIX B (explains in detail the changes for wards) Ward schedule and summary of changes:
Full details can be found in agenda item 9 in the attached link: Agenda for Governance Committee on Tuesday 26th September 2023, 6.00 pm | Solihull City and District Council
Next stages: I have copied the below table from the LGBC wesbite where you can read more about their review: https://www.lgbce.org.uk/all-reviews/solihull
| 22 August – 10 October 2023 | We carry out an initial public consultation on communities |
| 30 January – 8 April 2024 | We carry out a public consultation on our proposals |
| 2 July 2024 | We publish our recommendations |
| TBC | We ask Parliament to approve our recommendations |
| May 2026 | New arrangements apply to local elections |
Ken Hawkins 
Seems a sensible proposal.