2007 No. 138

local government, england

The Borough of Castle Morpeth (Electoral Changes) Order 2007

Made25th January 2007

Coming into force in accordance with article 1(2)

The Boundary Committee for England1, under section 15(4)2 of the Local Government Act 19923 (“the 1992 Act”), have conducted a review of the borough4 of Castle Morpeth and have submitted to the Electoral Commission5 recommendations dated August 2006.

A period of not less than six weeks has expired since the receipt of those recommendations.

The Electoral Commission have decided to give effect, without modification, to those recommendations.

Accordingly, the Electoral Commission, in exercise of the powers conferred by sections 176 and 267 of the 1992 Act, make the following Order:

Citation and commencement1

1

This Order may be cited as the Borough of Castle Morpeth (Electoral Changes) Order 2007.

2

This Order comes into force—

a

for the purpose of proceedings preliminary or relating to any election to be held on the ordinary day of election of councillors in 2007, on the day after that on which it is made;

b

for all other purposes, on the ordinary day of election of councillors in 2007.

Interpretation2

In this Order—

“borough” means the borough of Castle Morpeth;
“existing”, in relation to a ward, means the ward as it exists on the date this Order is made;
“map” means the map marked “Map referred to in the Borough of Castle Morpeth (Electoral Changes) Order 2007”, of which prints are available for inspection at the principal office of the Electoral Commission: and any reference to a numbered sheet is a reference to the sheet of the map which bears that number;
“ordinary day of election of councillors” has the meaning given by section 37 of the Representation of the People Act 19838; and
“registration officer” means an officer appointed for the purpose of, and in accordance with, section 89 of the Representation of the People Act 1983.

Wards of the borough of Castle Morpeth3

1

The existing wards of the borough10 shall be abolished.

2

The borough shall be divided into seventeen wards which shall be named as set out in column (1) of the Schedule.

3

Each ward shall comprise the area described in column (2) of the Schedule by reference to parishes and parish wards.

4

The number of councillors to be elected for each ward shall be the number specified in respect of the ward in column (3) of the Schedule.

5

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.

Wards of the parish of Hepscott4

1

The existing wards of the parish of Hepscott shall be abolished.

2

The parish shall be divided into two wards which shall be named Hepscott and Hepscott Stobhill Manor.

3

Each ward shall comprise the area designated on sheet 3 by reference to the name of the ward and demarcated by orange lines.

4

The number of councillors to be elected for Hepscott ward shall be five and for Hepscott Stobhill Manor ward shall be two.

Wards of the parish of Morpeth5

1

The existing wards of the parish of Morpeth shall be abolished.

2

The parish shall be divided into four wards which shall be named Morpeth Kirkhill, Morpeth North Central, Morpeth South and Morpeth Stobhill.

3

Each ward shall comprise the area designated on sheet 3 by reference to the name of the ward and demarcated by orange lines.

4

The number of councillors to be elected for Morpeth North Central ward shall be five, for Morpeth South ward shall be four, and for each of Morpeth Kirkhill and Morpeth Stobhill wards shall be three.

Wards of the parish of Ponteland6

1

The existing wards of the parish of Ponteland shall be abolished.

2

The parish shall be divided into four wards which shall be named Ponteland East, Ponteland North, Ponteland South and Ponteland West.

3

Each ward shall comprise the area designated on sheets 4 and 5 by reference to the name of the ward and demarcated by orange lines.

4

The number of councillors to be elected for each of Ponteland East, Ponteland North, Ponteland South and Ponteland West wards shall be three.

Number of parish councillors for the parish of Wallington Demesne7

1

The existing wards of the parish of Wallington Demesne shall be abolished.

2

The number of councillors to be elected for the parish of Wallington Demesne shall be nine.

Map8

Castle Morpeth Borough Council shall make a print of the map available for inspection at its offices by any member of the public at any reasonable time.

Electoral register9

The registration officer for the borough shall make such rearrangement of, or adaptation of, the register of local government electors as may be necessary for the purposes of, and in consequence of, this Order.

Sealed with the seal of the Electoral Commission on the 25th day of January 2007

Sam YoungerChairman of the Commission25th January 2007

Peter WardleChief Executive to the Commission25th January 2007

SCHEDULENAMES AND AREAS OF WARDS AND NUMBERS OF COUNCILLORS

article 3

Column (1)	Column (2)	Column (3)
Name of Ward	Area of Ward	Number of Councillors>
Chevington	East Chevington parish; West Chevington parish ward of Tritlington and West Chevington parish	2
Hartburn	Belsay parish; Hartburn parish; Meldon parish; Netherwitton parish; Wallington Demesne parish	1
Heddon-on-the-Wall	Heddon-on-the-Wall parish	1
Longhorsley	Longhorsley parish; Thirston parish	1
Lynemouth and Ellington	Cresswell parish; Ellington and Linton parish; Lynemouth parish	3
Morpeth Kirkhill	Morpeth Kirkhill parish ward of Morpeth parish	2
Morpeth North Central	Morpeth North Central parish ward of Morpeth parish	3
Morpeth South	Morpeth South parish ward of Morpeth parish	2
Morpeth Stobhill	Hepscott Stobhill Manor parish ward of Hepscott parish; Morpeth Stobhill parish ward of Morpeth parish	2
Pegswood and Hebron	Hebron parish; Longhirst parish; Pegswood parish; Tritlington parish ward of Tritlington and West Chevington parish	3
Ponteland East	Ponteland East parish ward of Ponteland parish	2
Ponteland North	Ponteland North parish ward of Ponteland parish	2
Ponteland South	Ponteland South parish ward of Ponteland parish	2
Ponteland West	Ponteland West parish ward of Ponteland parish	2
Stamfordham	Capheaton parish; Matfen parish; Stamfordham parish	1
Stannington and Mitford	Mitford parish; Stannington parish; Whalton parish; Hepscott parish ward of Hepscott parish	2
Ulgham	Ulgham parish; Widdrington Station and Stobswood parish; Widdrington Village parish	2

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order)

This Order makes changes to the electoral arrangements for the borough of Castle Morpeth following recommendations made by the Boundary Committee for England to the Electoral Commission.

The Electoral Commission accepted the Boundary Committee’s recommendations without modification.

The electoral changes apply in respect of local government elections to be held on and after the ordinary day of election of councillors in 2007.

Article 3 abolishes the existing wards of the borough and replaces them with 17 new ones. That article, the Schedule and the map also establish the names and areas of the new borough wards and the numbers of borough councillors for each ward.

Article 4 abolishes the existing parish wards of the parish of Hepscott and replaces them with 2 new ones. That article and the map also establish the names and areas of the new parish wards and the numbers of parish councillors for each ward.

Article 5 abolishes the existing parish wards of the parish of Morpeth and replaces them with 4 new ones. That article and the map also establish the names and areas of the new parish wards and the numbers of parish councillors for each ward.

Article 6 abolishes the existing parish wards of the parish of Ponteland and replaces them with 4 new ones. That article and the map also establish the names and areas of the new parish wards and the numbers of parish councillors for each ward.

Article 7 abolishes the existing parish wards of the parish of Wallington Demesne and establishes the number of parish councillors for the parish.

Article 9 obliges the Electoral Registration Officer to make any necessary amendments to the electoral register to reflect the new electoral arrangements.

The map defined in article 2 shows the new parish wards. It is available at www.boundarycommittee.org.uk/your-area/castlemorpeth.cfm and, at all reasonable times, at the offices of Castle Morpeth Borough Council and at the principal office of the Electoral Commission at Trevelyan House, Great Peter Street, London SW1P 2HW.