The District of Welwyn Hatfield (Electoral Changes) Order 1998

Statutory Instruments

1998 No. 2560

LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ENGLAND AND WALES

The District of Welwyn Hatfield (Electoral Changes) Order 1998

Made

16th October 1998

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 February 1998 on its review of the district of Welwyn Hatfield 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 Welwyn Hatfield (Electoral Changes) Order 1998.

(2) This Order shall come into force on 6th May 1999, except that for the purpose of all proceedings preliminary or relating to an election to be held on or after that date this Order shall come into force on the day after that on which it is made.

(3) In this Order–

“the district” means the district of Welwyn Hatfield;

“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 of the Environment, Transport and the Regions marked “Map of the District of Welwyn Hatfield (Electoral Changes) Order 1998”, 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 Welwyn Hatfield

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

(2) The district shall be divided into seventeen 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 parish wards, or, where no area is 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, waterway or other similar geographical feature, it shall be treated as running along the centre line of the feature.

Elections of the council of Welwyn Hatfield

3.—(1) Subject to the following provisions of this article, the election of councillors for wards of the district shall be by thirds.

(2) Elections of all councillors for wards of the district shall be held simultaneously on the ordinary day of election of councillors in 1999(5).

(3) The councillors holding office for any ward in the district immediately before 10th May 1999 shall retire on that date and the newly elected councillors for any such ward shall come into office on that date.

(4) The order of retirement of councillors shall be as set out in Schedule 2.

(5) Where the number of councillors elected in 1999 for any ward of the district is two, the first to retire shall, subject to paragraphs (7) and (8) below, be the councillor elected by the smaller number of votes.

(6) Where the number of councillors elected in 1999 for any ward of the district is three–

(a) the first to retire shall, subject to paragraphs (7) and (8) below, be the councillor elected in that ward by the smallest number of votes; and

(b) the second to retire shall, subject to those paragraphs, be the councillor elected in that ward by the next smallest number of votes.

(7) In the case of an equality of votes between any persons elected which makes it uncertain which of them is to retire in any such year, the person to retire in that year shall be determined by lot.

(8) If an election of councillors for any ward is not contested, the person to retire in each such year shall be determined by lot.

(9) Where under this article any question is to be determined by lot, the lot shall be drawn at the next practicable meeting of the council after the question has arisen and the drawing shall be conducted under the direction of the person presiding at the meeting.

(10) Except as otherwise provided in the foregoing paragraphs of this article, 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 Hatfield

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

(2) The parish shall be divided into six 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 that 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 that parish ward in column (3) of that Schedule.

Wards of the parish of North Mymms

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

(2) The parish shall be divided into three parish wards which shall bear the names Brookmans Park, Little Heath and Welham Green, and the wards shall comprise the areas designated on sheet 4 by reference to the name of the ward and demarcated by orange lines.

(3) The number of councillors to be elected for the Little Heath ward shall be two and for each of the wards of Brookmans Park and Welham Green shall be four.

Revocation

6.  The District of Welwyn Hatfield (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1991 and The District of Welwyn Hatfield (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1976(6) are hereby revoked.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State

Hilary Armstrong

Minister of State,

Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

16th October 1998

Article 2

SCHEDULE 1 NAMES AND AREAS OF WARDS AND NUMBERS OF COUNCILLORS

(1)	(2)	(3)
Name of New Ward	Area of ward	Number of councillors
Brookmans Park and Little		3
Heath
Haldens		3
Handside		3
Hatfield Central		3
Hatfield East		3
Hatfield North		3
Hatfield South		2
Hatfield West		3
Hollybush		3
Howlands		3
Northaw	The parish of Northaw and Cuffley	3
Panshanger		3
Peartree		3
Sherrards		3
Welham Green		2
Welwyn South		3
Welwyn North	The Mardley Heath and Woolmer Green parish wards of the parish of Welwyn	2

Article 3

SCHEDULE 2 ORDER OF RETIREMENT OF COUNCILLORS

Name of New Ward	Number of Councillors to retire in 2000	Number of Councillors to retire in 2002	Number of Councillors to retire in 2003
Brookmans Park and Little Heath	1	1	1
Haldens	1	1	1
Handside	1	1	1
Hatfield Central	1	1	1
Hatfield East	1	1	1
Hatfield North	1	1	1
Hatfield South	1	0	1
Hatfield West	1	1	1
Hollybush	1	1	1
Howlands	1	1	1
Panshanger	1	1	1
Peartree	1	1	1
Northaw	1	1	1
Sherrards	1	1	1
Welham Green	1	1	0
Welwyn South	1	1	1
Welwyn North	0	1	1

Article 4

SCHEDULE 3 WARDS OF THE PARISH OF HATFIELD: NAMES, AREAS AND NUMBERS OF COUNCILLORS

(1)	(2)	(3)
Name of ward	Description of area	Number of councillors
Hatfield Central	The Hatfield Central district ward	3
Hatfield East	Such part of the parish of Hatfield as is within the district ward of Hatfield East	3
Hatfield North	The Hatfield North district ward	3
Hatfield South	The Hatfield South district ward	2
Hatfield West	The Hatfield West district ward	3
Newgate & Wildhill	Such part of the parish of Hatfield as is within the district ward of Brookmans Park and Little Heath	1

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 Welwyn Hatfield.

Article 2 abolishes all of the existing wards of the district and provides for the creation of 17 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 makes provision for a whole council election in Welwyn Hatfield in 1999 and for reversion to elections by thirds in subsequent years. Schedule 2 provides for the order of retirement of councillors.

Articles 4 and 5 create new wards for the parishes of Hatfield and North Mymms and for the number of councillors.

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 Welwyn Hatfield District Council and at the offices of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions which are located at 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 Welwyn Hatfield (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1991 (S.I. 1991/695).

(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).

(6)

S.I. 1976/65.