The District of South Oxfordshire (Electoral Changes) Order 2001

Statutory Instruments

2002 No. 49

LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ENGLAND

The District of South Oxfordshire (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 South Oxfordshire 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 South Oxfordshire (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 South Oxfordshire;

“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 South Oxfordshire (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 South Oxfordshire

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

(2) The district shall be divided into twenty-nine 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, 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 South Oxfordshire

3.—(1) The ordinary elections of all councillors of the district of South Oxfordshire 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 which their predecessors retire.

Wards of the parish of Didcot

4.—(1) The existing wards of the parish of Didcot shall be abolished.

(2) The parish shall be divided into four 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 East Hagbourne

5.  The parish of East Hagbourne 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 Thame

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

(2) The parish shall be divided into two parish wards which shall bear the names North and South and each parish ward shall comprise the area of the district wards bearing the names Thame North and Thame South respectively.

(3) The number of councillors to be elected for each of the parish wards shall be eight.

Wards of the parish of Wallingford

7.—(1) The parish of Wallingford shall be divided into two parish wards which shall bear the names North and South, the North parish ward shall comprise the area of the district ward bearing the name Wallingford North; and the South parish ward shall consist of the rest of the parish.

(2) The number of councillors to be elected for the North parish ward shall be thirteen and for the South parish ward shall be three.

Revocation

8.  The District of South Oxfordshire (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1980 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

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
Aston Rowant	The parishes of Aston Rowant, Crowell, Sydenham, Tetsworth and Towersey	1
Benson	The parishes of Benson, Berrick Salome, Brightwell Baldwin and Ewelme	2
Berinsfield	The parishes of Berinsfield, Dorchester, Drayton St Leonard, Newington, Stadhampton and Warborough	2
Brightwell	The parishes of Brightwell-cum-Sotwell, Little Wittenham and Long Wittenham	1
Chalgrove	The parish of Chalgrove	1
Chiltern Woods	The parishes of Bix and Assendon, Checkendon, Highmoor, Rotherfield Greys and Stoke Row	1
Chinnor	The parish of Chinnor	2
Cholsey and Wallingford South		2
Crowmarsh	The parishes of Crowmarsh, Ipsden and Nuffield	1
Didcot All Saints		2
Didcot Ladygrove		3
Didcot Northbourne		2
Didcot Park		2
Forest Hill and Holton	The parishes of Beckley and Stowood, Elsfield, Forest Hill-with-Shotover, Holton, Stanton St John, and Woodeaton	1
Garsington	The parishes of Cuddesdon and Denton, Garsington, Marsh Baldon and Toot Baldon	1
Goring	The parishes of Goring, Goring Heath, South Stoke, and Whitchurch-on-Thames	2
Great Milton	The parishes of Great Haseley, Great Milton, Little Milton, Tiddington-with-Albury, Waterperry with Thomley and Waterstock	1
Hagbourne		1
Henley North	The Henley North parish ward of Henley-on-Thames parish	2
Henley South	The Henley South parish ward of Henley-on-Thames parish	2
Sandford	The parishes of Clifton Hampden, Culham, Nuneham Courtenay and Sandford-on-Thames	1
Shiplake	The parishes of Binfield Heath(6), Eye and Dunsden, Harpsden, Kidmore End, Mapledurham and Shiplake	2
Sonning Common	The parish of Rotherfield Peppard and Sonning Common	2
Thame North		2
Thame South		2
Wallingford North		2
Watlington	The parishes of Adwell, Britwell Salome, Cuxham with Easington, Lewknor, Nettlebed, Pishill with Stonor, Pyrton, Shirburn, Stoke Talmage, Swyncombe, Watlington and Wheatfield	2
Wheatley	The parishes of Horspath and Wheatley	2
Woodcote	The parish of Woodcote	1

Article 4

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

(1)	(2)	(3)
Name of ward	Area of ward	Number of Councillors
All Saints	The district ward of Didcot All Saints	5
Ladygrove	The district ward of Didcot Ladygrove	6
Northbourne	So much of the district ward of Didcot Northbourne as comprises part of the parish of Didcot	5
Park	The district ward of Didcot Park	5

Article 5

SCHEDULE 3 WARDS OF THE PARISH OF EAST HAGBOURNE NAMES AND AREAS OF WARDS AND NUMBERS OF COUNCILLORS

(1)	(2)	(3)
Name of ward	Area of ward	Number of Councillors
East Hagbourne	So much of the district ward of Hagbourne as comprises part of the parish of East Hagbourne	6
Millbrook	So much of the district ward of Didcot Northbourne as comprises part of the parish of East Hagbourne	3

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Order)

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

The modification relates to the name of one of the district wards and eight parish wards. The Secretary of State has decided that the wards shown in the first column of the Table below with the names proposed by the Commission should bear the names shown in the second column—

Proposed District Ward Name	District Ward Name
Forest	Chiltern Woods

Proposed Parish Ward Name	Parish Ward Name
Didcot All Saints	All Saints
Didcot Ladygrove	Ladygrove
Didcot Northbourne	Northbourne
Didcot Park	Park
Thame North	North
Thame South	South
Wallingford North	North
Wallingford South	South

Article 2 abolishes the existing wards of the district and provides for the creation of 29 new wards. That article and the Schedule 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 South Oxfordshire to take place in 2003 and every 4 years after that year.

Articles 4 to 7 make electoral changes in the parishes of Didcot, East Hagbourne, Thame and Wallingford.

Article 8 revokes the District of South Oxfordshire (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1980.

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 South Oxfordshire 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 South Oxfordshire (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1980 (S.I. 1980/1343).

(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).

(6)

See the South Oxfordshire (Parishes) Order 2000 (S.I. 2000/2345).