Issue - meetings

The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager introduced the report, explaining the proposals set out by the Boundary Commission for England to create three constituencies that cover the Borough of Maidstone, which based on electorate the Council would be the lead authority for all three. A consultation response was suggested to with four main areas of feedback: election complexities; community identities; political engagement; and the Ward boundary review.

Concerns were raised about the ability to achieve consensus on what the alternative proposal should look like. The Democratic and Electoral Services Manager acknowledged that agreement on where parliamentary boundaries should lie would be difficult to achieve, but that the principles outlined in the report could be agreed and put forward in response to the consultation. If the Committee decided not to respond to the consultation, the Returning Officer would submit a response independently which would set out the election difficulties of the proposed boundaries.

RESOLVED: That option 3 of the report, whereby a consultation response is not submitted, be agreed.