Have your say on a proposal to change the Buckingham Town Council wards

Overview

We want to hear your view on a proposal to merge:

• the Highlands and Watchcroft ward into the Buckingham North ward
• the Fisher’s Field ward into the Buckingham South ward

As Buckinghamshire Council, we are responsible for reviewing local governance arrangements to ensure they meet local needs. Local governance arrangements are the processes in place for decision making that affects you and your local area. This includes how you and your local community are represented, such as by your local councillors at council meetings. It also includes who you can contact if you have a query about services in your area.

This review is called a community governance review and investigates whether:

• decisions made in your local area reflect the identity and interests of the local community
• arrangements are as convenient and effective as possible

The proposal

Buckingham Town Council have requested that:

1. the Highlands and Watchcroft ward is merged into the Buckingham North ward
   • this would increase the number of councillors for this ward from 7 to 8
2. the Fisher’s Field ward is merged into the Buckingham South ward
   • this would increase the number of councillors for this ward from 8 to 9

Buckingham Town Council propose that the changes would:

• better reflect the community identity
• ensure electoral equality
• promote efficient and effective local government

There would be no change in the overall number of councillors. The wards would keep the current names of Buckingham South and Buckingham North.

This proposal would not result in any changes to the new Buckinghamshire Council wards from May 2025.

Standards and General Purposes Committee considered the request at its meeting on 4 April 2024 and agreed for a CGR to be undertaken. View the meeting report.

Related documents

Before you respond to this activity, please have a look at the following documents:

• Map of Buckingham Town current wards and proposed wards (PDF 7.22MB)
• Community Governance Review of Parishes Terms of Reference (PDF 0.23MB)

How to have your say

You can tell us your views in one of the following ways:

• complete the online survey using the link at the end of the page
• complete, and return, a printed version of the survey (PDF 0.29MB)
• email us at elections@buckinghamshire.gov.uk
• write to us at Buckingham CGR consultation, Electoral Services, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, Bucks, HP19 8LB

If you have any questions about this activity, please email us at elections@buckinghamshire.gov.uk or phone us on 01296 798141.

Please tell us your views by 11:59pm on Sunday 16 June 2024.

What happens next

Your feedback will be considered by councillors, along with other relevant information. We will then consider the future community governance arrangements for the area.

Standards and General Purposes Committee will consider and approve the draft recommendations and decide on the next stages of the Community Governance Review in Summer 2024. This is when the final recommendations are expected to be published and the Community Governance Review ends.

If the proposal is taken forward, the Reorganisation Order would be made in Autumn 2024. The Order would set out the timetable for change.

Privacy

We will use the information you provide here only for this activity. We will store the information securely in line with data protection laws and will not share or publish any personal details. For more information about data and privacy, please see our Privacy Policy.

If you have questions about data and privacy, please email us on dataprotection@buckinghamshire.gov.uk or write to our Data Protection Officer at Buckinghamshire Council, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF.