The County of Somerset (Electoral Changes) Order 2000

Citation, commencement and interpretation

1.—(1) This Order may be cited as the County of Somerset (Electoral Changes) Order 2000.

(2) This article and articles 2 and 5 shall come into force—

(a) for the purpose of proceedings preliminary or relating to any election to be held on 3rd May 2001, on 10th October 2000;

(b) for all other purposes, on 3rd May 2001.

(3) Articles 3 and 4 of this Order shall come into force—

(a) for the purpose of proceedings preliminary or relating to any election of a parish councillor for the parish of Frome or Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge on 1st May 2003, on 10th October 2002;

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

(4) In this Order—

“county” means the county of Somerset;

“existing”, in relation to a division or ward, means the division or ward as it exists on the date this Order is made;

references to wards, unless the context otherwise requires, are references to district and borough wards in the county(1);

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 County of Somerset (Electoral Changes) Order 2000”, and deposited in accordance with regulation 27 of the Local Government Changes for England Regulations 1994(2); and

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

Divisions of the county of Somerset

2.—(1) The existing divisions of the county(3) shall be abolished.

(2) The county shall be divided into fifty-eight divisions which shall bear the names set out in column (1) of Schedule 1.

(3) The divisions shall comprise the areas described in column (2) of that Schedule by reference to wards, wards and parishes, wards and parish wards or, where no area is so described, the area designated on the map by reference to the name of the division and demarcated by red lines; and the number of councillors to be elected for each division shall be one.

(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.

Wards of the parish of Frome

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

(2) The parish of Frome shall be divided into six 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 or county division 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 Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge

4.—(1) The existing wards of the parish of Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge(5) shall be abolished.

(2) The parish of Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge shall be divided into five parish wards which shall bear the names Burnham East, Burnham North, Burnham Central and South, Burnham West, and Highbridge; and the wards shall comprise the areas designated on sheet 5 by reference to the name of the ward and demarcated by orange lines.

(3) The number of councillors to be elected for each of the Burnham North and Highbridge wards shall be six, for the Burnham Central and South ward shall be three, for the Burnham East ward shall be two, and for the Burnham West ward shall be one.

Revocation

5.  The County of Somerset (Electoral Arrangements) Order 1980, article 3 of the District of Mendip (Electoral Changes) Order 1998 and article 3 of the District of Sedgemoor (Electoral Changes) Order 1998 are hereby revoked.

Signed by authority of the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions

Hilary Armstrong

Minister of State,

Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions

11th September 2000