The District of Mid Bedfordshire (Electoral Changes) Order 2001

Statutory Instruments

2001 No. 4067

LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ENGLAND

The District of Mid Bedfordshire (Electoral Changes) Order 2001

Made

20th December 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 August 2001 on its review of the district of Mid Bedfordshire together with its recommendations:

And whereas the Secretary of State has decided to give effect 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 Mid Bedfordshire (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 Mid Bedfordshire;

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

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 Mid Bedfordshire (Electoral Changes) Order 2001”, and deposited in accordance with regulation 27 of the Local Government Changes for England Regulations 1994(3).

Wards of the district of Mid Bedfordshire

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 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 or similar geographical feature, it shall be treated as running along the centre line of the feature.

Elections of the council of Mid Bedfordshire

3.—(1) The ordinary elections of all councillors of the district of Mid Bedfordshire 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 Biggleswade

4.—(1) The existing wards of the parish of Biggleswade 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 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 Flitwick

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

(2) The parish shall be divided into two 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 Henlow

6.  The parish of Henlow shall be divided into two parish wards which shall bear the names set out in column (1) of Schedule 4; 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 Sandy

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

(2) The parish shall be divided into two parish wards which shall bear the names set out in column (1) of Schedule 5; 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.

Numbers of parish councillors for Aspley Heath

8.  The number of parish councillors to be elected for the parish of Aspley Heath shall be nine.

Revocation

9.  The District of Mid Bedfordshire (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 of Transport, Local Government and the Regions

20th December 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
Ampthill	The parishes of Ampthill and Millbrook	3
Arlesey	The parish of Arlesey	2
Aspley Guise	The parishes of Aspley Guise and Husborne Crawley	1
Biggleswade Holme		2
Biggleswade Ivel		3
Biggleswade Stratton		2
Clifton and Meppershall	The parishes of Clifton and Meppershall	2
Cranfield	The parishes of Brogborough, Cranfield, and Hulcote and Salford	2
Flitton, Greenfield and Pulloxhill	The parishes of Flitton and Greenfield, and Pulloxhill	1
Flitwick East		2
Flitwick West		3
Harlington	The parish of Harlington	1
Houghton, Haynes, Southill and Old Warden	The parishes of Haynes, Houghton Conquest, Old Warden and Southill	2
Langford and Henlow Village		2
Marston	The parishes of Lidlington and Marston Moretaine	2
Maulden and Clophill	The parishes of Clophill and Maulden	2
Northill and Blunham	The parishes of Blunham, Mogerhanger, Northill and Tempsford	2
Potton and Wensley	The parishes of Dunton, Edworth, Everton, Eyeworth, Potton, Sutton, and Wrestlingworth and Cockayne Hatley	3
Sandy Ivel		2
Sandy Pinnacle		3
Shefford, Campton and Gravenhurst	The parishes of Campton and Chicksands, Gravenhurst and Shefford	3
Shillington, Stondon and Henlow Camp		2
Silsoe	The parish of Silsoe	1
Stotfold	The parishes of Astwick and Stotfold	3
Westoning and Tingrith	The parishes of Tingrith and Westoning	1
Woburn	The parishes of Aspley Heath, Battlesden, Eversholt, Milton Bryan, Potsgrove, Ridgmont and Woburn	1

Article 4

SCHEDULE 2 WARDS OF THE PARISH OF BIGGLESWADE NAMES AND AREAS OF WARDS AND NUMBERS OF COUNCILLORS

(1)	(2)	(3)
Name of ward	Area of ward	Number of Councillors
Holme	So much of the district ward of Biggleswade Holme as comprises part of the parish of Biggleswade	4
Ivel	So much of the district ward of Biggleswade Ivel as comprises part of the parish of Biggleswade	6
Stratton	So much of the district ward of Biggleswade Stratton as comprises part of the parish of Biggleswade	5

Article 5

SCHEDULE 3 WARDS OF THE PARISH OF FLITWICK NAMES AND AREAS OF WARDS AND NUMBERS OF COUNCILLORS

(1)	(2)	(3)
Name of ward	Area of ward	Number of Councillors
East	So much of the district ward of Flitwick East as comprises part of the parish of Flitwick	7
West	So much of the district ward of Flitwick West as comprises part of the parish of Flitwick	10

Article 6

SCHEDULE 4 WARDS OF THE PARISH OF HENLOW NAMES AND AREAS OF WARDS AND NUMBERS OF COUNCILLORS

(1)	(2)	(3)
Name of ward	Area of ward	Number of Councillors
Camp	So much of the district ward of Shillington, Stondon and Henlow Camp as comprises part of the parish of Henlow	2
Village	So much of the district ward of Langford and Henlow Village as comprises part of the parish of Henlow	10

Article 7

SCHEDULE 5 WARDS OF THE PARISH OF SANDY NAMES AND AREAS OF WARDS AND NUMBERS OF COUNCILLORS

(1)	(2)	(3)
Name of ward	Area of ward	Number of Councillors
Ivel	So much of the district ward of Sandy Ivel as comprises part of the parish of Sandy	6
Pinnacle	So much of the district ward of Sandy Pinnacle as comprises part of the parish of Sandy	9

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

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

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 Mid Bedfordshire to take place in 2003 and every 4 years after that year.

Articles 4 to 8 make electoral changes in the parishes of Biggleswade, Flitwick, Henlow, Sandy and Aspley Heath.

Article 9 revokes the District of Mid Bedfordshire (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1976.

The areas of the new district 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 Mid Bedfordshire 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 Mid Bedfordshire (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1976 (S.I. 1976/808).

(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).