The District of Sevenoaks (Electoral Changes) Order 2001

Statutory Instruments

2001 No. 3557

LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ENGLAND

The District of Sevenoaks (Electoral Changes) Order 2001

Made

1st November 2001

Coming into force in accordance with article 1(2)

Whereas the Local Government Commission for England, acting pursuant to section 15(4) of the Local Government Act 1992(1), has submitted to the Secretary of State a report dated May 2001 on its review of the district of Sevenoaks together with its recommendations:

And whereas the Secretary of State has decided to give effect, subject to modifications, to those recommendations:

Now, therefore, the Secretary of State, in exercise of the powers conferred on him by sections 17(2) and 26 of the Local Government Act 1992, and of all other powers enabling him in that behalf, hereby makes the following Order:

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the District of Sevenoaks (Electoral Changes) Order 2001.

(2) This Order shall come into force—

(a) for the purpose of proceedings preliminary or relating to any election to be held on 1st May 2003, on 15th October 2002;

(b) for all other purposes, on 1st May 2003.

(3) In this Order—

“district” means the district of Sevenoaks;

“existing”, in relation to a ward, means the ward as it exists on the date this Order is made;

any reference to the map is a reference to the map prepared by the Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions marked “Map of the District of Sevenoaks (Electoral Changes) Order 2001”, and deposited in accordance with regulation 27 of the Local Government Changes for England Regulations 1994(3); and

• any reference to a numbered sheet is a reference to the sheet of the map which bears that number.

Wards of the district of Sevenoaks

2.—(1) The existing wards of the district(4) shall be abolished.

(2) The district shall be divided into twenty-six wards which shall bear the names set out in column (1) of Schedule 1.

(3) The wards shall comprise the areas described in column (2) of that Schedule by reference to parishes, parish wards or parishes and parish wards or, where an area is not so described, the area designated on the map by reference to the name of the ward and demarcated by red lines; and the number of councillors to be elected for each ward shall be the number specified in respect of the ward in column (3) of that Schedule.

(4) Where a boundary is shown on the map as running along a road, railway line, footway, watercourse of similar geographical feature, it shall be treated as running along the centre line of the feature.

Elections of the council of Sevenoaks

3.—(1) The ordinary elections of all councillors of the district of Sevenoaks shall be held simultaneously on the ordinary day of election of non-metropolitan district councillors in 2003(5) and every fourth year after 2003.

(2) The term of office of councillors shall be four years; and all councillors shall retire on the fourth day after the ordinary day of election of councillors in the year of retirement and the newly-elected councillors shall come into office on the day on which their predecessors retire.

Wards of the parish of Chiddingstone

4.  The parish of Chiddingstone shall be divided into two parish wards which shall bear the names set out in column (1) of Schedule 2; each parish ward shall comprise the area of the district ward specified in respect of the parish ward in column (2) of that Schedule; and the number of councillors to be elected for each parish ward shall be the number specified in respect of the parish ward in column (3) of that Schedule.

Wards of the parish of Edenbridge

5.—(1) The existing wards of the parish of Edenbridge shall be abolished.

(2) The parish shall be divided into two parish wards which shall bear the names Edenbridge North and East, and Edenbridge South and West; each parish ward shall comprise the area of the district ward bearing the same name.

(3) The number of councillors to be elected for the Edenbridge North and East parish ward shall be eight, and for the Edenbridge South and West parish ward shall be seven.

Wards of the parish of Sevenoaks

6.—(1) The existing wards of the parish of Sevenoaks shall be abolished.

(2) The parish shall be divided into six parish wards which shall bear the names Sevenoaks, Eastern, Sevenoaks Kippington, Sevenoaks Northern, Sevenoaks St John's, Sevenoaks Town and Sevenoaks Wildernesse; and the wards shall comprise the areas designated on sheet 9 by reference to the name of the ward and demarcated by orange lines.

(3) The number of councillors to be elected for each of the Sevenoaks Eastern, Sevenoaks Kippington, Sevenoaks Northern, Sevenoaks St John’s and Sevenoaks Town parish wards shall be three, and for the Sevenoaks Wildernesse parish ward shall be one.

Wards of the parish of Shoreham

7.—(1) The existing wards of the parish of Shoreham shall be abolished.

(2) The parish shall be divided into three parish wards which shall bear the names set out in column (1) of Schedule 3; each parish ward shall comprise the area of the district ward specified in respect of the parish ward in column (2) of that Schedule; and the number of councillors to be elected for each parish ward shall be the number specified in respect of the parish ward in column (3) of that Schedule.

Wards of the parish of Swanley

8.—(1) The existing wards of the parish of Swanley shall be abolished.

(2) The parish shall be divided into five parish wards which shall bear the names Swanley Christchurch, Swanley Hextable, Swanley St Mary's, Swanley Village and Swanley White Oak; and the wards shall comprise the areas designated on sheet 8 by reference to the name of the ward and demarcated by orange lines.

(3) The number of councillor to be elected for each of the Swanley Christchurch, Swanley St Mary’s and Swanley White Oak parish wards shall be four, for the Swanley Hextable parish ward shall be three, and for the Swanley Village parish ward shall be one.

Numbers of parish councillors

9.  The number of parish councillors to be elected for the parish of Eynsford shall be eight, and for the parish of Hartley shall be thirteen.

Revocation

10.  The District of Sevenoaks (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1976 is hereby revoked.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions

Alan Whitehead

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,

Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions

1st November 2001

article 2

SCHEDULE 1 NAMES AND AREAS OF WARDS AND NUMBERS OF COUNCILLORS

(1)	(2)	(3)
Name of Ward	Area of Ward	Number of Councillors
Ash	The parish wards of Ash, New Ash Green North West and New Ash Green South East of Ash-cum-Ridley parish	3
Brasted, Chevening and Sundridge	The parishes of Brasted, Chevening and Sundridge	3
Cowden and Hever	The parishes of Cowden and Hever	1
Crockenhill and Well Hill		1
Dunton Green and Riverhead	The parishes of Dunton Green and Riverhead	2
Edenbridge North and East		2
Edenbridge South and West		2
Eynsford	The parish of Eynsford	1
Farningham, Horton Kirby and South Darenth	The parishes of Farningham, and Horton Kirby and South Darenth	2
Fawkham and West Kingsdown	The parishes of Fawkham and West Kingsdown	3
Halstead, Knockholt and Badgers Mount		2
Hartley and Hodsoll Street	The parish of Hartley, and Hodsoll Street and Ridley parish ward of Ash-cum-Ridley parish	3
Hextable		2
Kemsing	The parish of Kemsing	2
Leigh and Chiddingstone Causeway		1
Otford and Shoreham		2
Penshurst, Fordcombe and Chiddingstone		1
Seal and Weald		2
Sevenoaks Eastern		2
Sevenoaks Kippington		2
Sevenoaks Northern		2
Sevenoaks Town and St John's		3
Swanley Christchurch and Swanley Village		3
Swanley St Mary's		2
Swanley White Oak		3
Westerham and Crockham Hill	The parish of Westerham	2

article 4

SCHEDULE 2 WARDS OF THE PARISH OF CHIDDINGSTONE

NAMES AND AREAS OF WARDS AND NUMBERS OF COUNCILLORS

(1)	(2)	(3)
Name of Ward	Area of Ward	Number of Councillors
Chiddingstone	So much of the district ward of Penshurst, Fordcombe and Chiddingstone as comprises part of the parish of Chiddingstone	6
Chiddingstone Causeway	So much of the district ward of Leigh and Chiddingstone Causeway as comprises part of the parish of Chiddingstone	3

article 7

SCHEDULE 3 WARDS OF THE PARISH OF SHOREHAM

NAMES AND AREAS OF WARDS AND NUMBERS OF COUNCILLORS

(1)	(2)	(3)
Name of Ward	Area of Ward	Number of Councillors
Badgers Mount	So much of the district ward of Halstead, Knockholt and Badgers Mount as comprises part of the parish of Shoreham	3
Shoreham	So much of the district ward of Otford and Shoreham as comprises part of the parish of Shoreham	6
The Well Hill Hundreds	So much of the district ward of Crockenhill and Well Hill as comprises part of the parish of Shoreham	1

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order gives effect, with modifications, to recommendations by the Local Government Commission for England for electoral changes in the district of Sevenoaks. The changes have effect in relation to local government elections to be held on and after 1st May 2003.

The modifications relate to the name of a district ward, the names of the parish wards in the parish of Edenbridge, an increase in the number of parish councillors for the parish of Sevenoaks and a boundary change.

The Secretary of State has decided that the district ward for which the Commission suggested the name “West Kingsdown and Fawkham” should be called “Fawkham and West Kingsdown”. The parish wards for which the Commission suggested the name “Edenbridge North” and “Edenbridge South” should be called “Edenbridge North and East” and “Edenbridge South and West” respectively. The Secretary of State has also decided that the number of parish councillors for the parish ward of Sevenoaks Eastern should be increased from two councillors to three councillors. The modification is to the boundary between the Crockenhill and Well Hill Ward and the Otford and Shoreham Ward. A small area to the east of the M25 has been transferred from the Otford and Shoreham Ward to the Crockenhill and Well Hill Ward.

Article 2 abolishes the existing wards of the district and provides for the creation of 26 new wards. That article and Schedule 1 also make provision for the names and areas of, and numbers of councillors for, the new wards.

Article 3 provides for the election of all councillors of the district of Sevenoaks to take place in 2003 and every 4 years after that year.

Articles 4 to 9 make electoral changes in the parishes of Chiddingstone, Edenbridge, Sevenoaks, Shoreham, Swanley, Eynsford and Hartley.

Article 10 revokes the District of Sevenoaks (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1976.

The areas of the new district and parish wards are demarcated on the map described in article 1(3). Prints of the map may be inspected at all reasonable times at the offices of Sevenoaks District Council and at the offices of the Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions, 2nd Floor, Ashdown House, 123 Victoria Street, London SW1E 6DE.

(1)

1992 c. 19.

(2)

Section 17 is amended by section 39(4) and (5) of the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994 (c. 29).

(3)

S.I. 1994/867, to which there are amendments not relevant to this Order.

(4)

See the District of Sevenoaks (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1976 (S.I. 1976/1927) as amended by the Kent (District Boundaries) Order 1987 (S.I. 1987/305).

(5)

For the ordinary day of election of councillors of local government areas, see section 37 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 (c. 2), amended by section 18(2) of the Representation of the People Act 1985 (c. 50) and section 17 of, and paragraphs 1 and 5 of Schedule 3 to, the Greater London Authority Act 1999 (c. 29).