The City of Oxford (Electoral Changes) Order 2001

Statutory Instruments

2001 No. 4063

LOCAL GOVERNMENT, ENGLAND

The City of Oxford (Electoral Changes) Order 2001

Made

20th December 2001

Coming into force in accordance with article 1(2) and (3)

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 city(2) of Oxford 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(3) 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 City of Oxford (Electoral Changes) Order 2001.

(2) This article and articles 2, 3 and 7 shall come into force—

(a) for the purpose of proceedings preliminary or relating to any election to be held on 2nd May 2002, on the day after that on which it is made;

(b) for all other purposes, on 2nd May 2002.

(3) Articles 4, 5 and 6 shall come into force—

(a) for the purpose of proceedings preliminary or relating to elections of parish councillors for the parishes of Blackbird Leys, Littlemore, and Risinghurst and Sandhills, on 1st May 2003, on 15th October 2002;

(b) for all other purposes, on 1st May 2003.

(4) In this Order—

“city” means the city of Oxford;

“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 for Transport, Local Government and the Regions marked “ Map of the City of Oxford (Electoral Changes) Order 2001”, and deposited in accordance with regulation 27 of the Local Government Changes for England Regulations 1994(4); and

• any reference to a numbered sheet is a reference to the sheet of the map which bears that number.

Wards of the City of Oxford

2.—(1) The existing wards of the city(5) shall be abolished.

(2) The city shall be divided into twenty-four wards which shall bear the names set out in column (1) of Schedule 1.

(3) The wards shall comprise the areas 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 two.

(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 Oxford

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

(2) Elections of all councillors for all wards of the city shall be held simultaneously on the ordinary day of election of councillors in 2002(6).

(3) The councillors holding office for any ward of the city immediately before 6th May 2002 shall retire on that date and the newly-elected councillors for those wards shall come into office on that date.

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

(5) Of the councillors elected in 2002 the first to retire shall, subject to paragraphs (6) and (7), be the councillor elected by the smallest number of votes.

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

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

(8) 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.

(9) Except as otherwise provided in the preceding 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 Blackbird Leys

4.—(1) The parish of Blackbird Leys shall be divided into two parish wards which shall bear the names Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys; the parish ward of Blackbird Leys shall be coterminous with the city ward of the same name, and the Greater Leys parish ward shall consist of the rest of the parish.

(2) The number of councillors to be elected for each parish ward shall be eight.

Wards of the parish of Littlemore

5.—(1) The parish of Littlemore shall be divided into three parish wards which shall bear the names Littlemore, Rose Hill and Sandy Lane West; and the wards shall comprise the areas designated on sheet 2 by reference to the name of the ward and demarcated by orange lines.

(2) The number of councillors to be elected for the Littlemore parish ward shall be fifteen, for the Rose Hill parish ward shall be five, and for the Sandy Lane West parish ward shall be one.

Wards of the parish of Risinghurst and Sandhills

6.  The parish of Risinghurst and Sandhills shall be divided into three parish wards which shall bear the names set out in column (1) of Schedule 3; each parish ward shall comprise the area of the city 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.

Revocation

7.  The City of Oxford (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1977 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 OF WARDS

The names of the wards are—

• Barton and Sandhills

• Blackbird Leys

• Carfax

• Churchill

• Cowley

• Cowley Marsh

• Headington

• Headington Hill and Northway

• Hinksey Park

• Holywell

• Iffley Fields

• Jericho and Osney

• Littlemore

• Lye Valley

• Marston

• North

• Northfield Brook

• Quarry and Risinghurst

• Rose Hill and Iffley

• St Clement's

• St Margaret's

• St Mary's

• Summertown

• Wolvercote

Article 3(4)

SCHEDULE 2 ORDER OF RETIREMENT OF COUNCILLORS

(1)	(2)	(3)	(4)
Name of ward	Number of councillors to retire in 2003	Number of councillors to retire in 2004	Number of councillors to retire in 2006
Barton and Sandhills	1	1	0
Blackbird Leys	1	0	1
Carfax	1	1	0
Churchill	1	1	0
Cowley	0	1	1
Cowley Marsh	0	1	1
Headington	0	1	1
Headington Hill and Northway	0	1	1
Hinksey Park	0	1	1
Holywell	0	1	1
Iffley Fields	1	0	1
Jericho and Osney	1	1	0
Littlemore	1	0	1
Lye Valley	1	0	1
Marston	1	0	1
North	1	1	0
Northfield Brook	1	0	1
Quarry and Risinghurst	1	1	0
Rose Hill and Iffley	1	1	0
St Clement's	0	1	1
St Margaret's	0	1	1
St Mary's	1	0	1
Summertown	1	0	1
Wolvercote	1	1	0

Article 6

SCHEDULE 3 WARDS OF THE PARISH OF RISINGHURST AND SANDHILLSNAMES AND AREAS OF WARDS AND NUMBERS OF COUNCILLORS

(1)	(2)	(3)
Name of Ward	Area of Ward	Number of Councillors
Risinghurst	So much of the city ward of Quarry and Risinghurst as comprises the parish of Risinghurst and Sandhills	8
Sandhills	So much of the city ward of Barton and Sandhills as comprises the parish of Risinghurst and Sandhills	5
Wood Farm	So much of the city ward of Churchill as comprises the parish of Risinghurst and Sandhills	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 city of Oxford. The changes have effect in relation to local government elections to be held on and after 2nd May 2002.

The modification relates to boundary changes and name changes to city wards. The Secretary of State has decided that all of the properties on the northern side of Canterbury Road that are part of St Hughs College are to be transferred from the Manor Ward to St Margaret’s Ward, and Pulker Close, Compass Close and the northern portion of Littlemore Road are to be transferred from the Templars Square Ward to the Littlemore Ward.

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 Ward Name	Ward Name
Abingdon Road	Hinksey Park
Cowley and Lye Valley	Lye Valley
Iffley and Rose Hill	Rose Hill and Iffley
Magdalen	St Mary's
Manor	North
Templars Square	Cowley
University	Holywell

Article 2 abolishes the existing wards of the city and provides for the creation of 24 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 2002 and for reversion to elections by thirds in subsequent years. Schedule 2 regulates the order of retirement of councillors.

Articles 4 to 6 make electoral changes in the parishes of Blackbird Leys, Littlemore, and Risinghurst and Sandhills.

Article 7 revokes the City of Oxford (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1977.

The areas of the new city 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 Oxford City 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)

The non-metropolitan district of Oxford has the status of a city.

(3)

Section 17 is amended by section 39(4) and (5) of the Police and Magistrates' Courts Act 1994 (c. 29).

(4)

S.I. 1994/867, to which there are amendments not relevant to this Order.

(5)

See the City of Oxford (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1977 (S.I. 1977/1885).

(6)

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).