Didcot Community Governance Review: we'd like your feedback

1

Your reducing the number of councillors in areas where there will be more people living. Stupid idea.

2

Do not understand why Millbrook where I live appears to have far fewer councillors for the population And this does not seem to be addressed though changes are being made

3

No. of electorates in Didcot is growing due to the new housing developments throughout, so why should the No. of councillors reduce.

4

It is not just about the number of people, it is about quality and willing to do something for the community.

5

It has a balanced ratio per parish compared to the previous proposal.

6

Too many councillors reduce the numbers to a more suitable level ie one per area

7

I’d prefer to see Orchard ward merge with a neighbouring ward, making the average No of electors per councillor more even with other wards.

8

The number of councillors for Ladygrove ward should not be reduced. The figures for electorate are already out of date (May 22). The Ladygrove ward is growing rapidly with the housing development to the north and imminent development to the east. Baking in these changes on out of date data will lead to inequality of representation for years. Either pause this exercise until all housing development is complete or use projected data for the completed population at end of development.

9

This is not what we requested at Didcot Town Council. We need to have all wards electing a similar amount of councillors. Not some wards electing 6 councillors and others electing two. That is not equal. The wards need to be redrawn and ideally made smaller. The size of Millbrook is a good size. Smaller wards reflect local communities better rather than being drowned out in larger wards. Didcot is growing and each area should have a strong and equal voice. Wards should be no larger than 2,000 electors.

10

Due to the almost completed new housing developments on Hagbourne Road and on the corner of the old High Street and Church Road, the Northbourne electorate will increase considerably. This increase needs to be taken into account by adjusting Park's councillors to 4 and maintaining Northbourne's number of 4.

11

Why do we have to have wards?

12

The Wards are not equal. Ideally, they should be made smaller and provide them with equal number of councillors.

13

Disproportionately gives some wards precedence over others, as they will have more representatives at Town Council meetings making decisions for them. Not a democratic decision; the same people, and their friends, will end up representing the same wards, and opposition voices will be shut out.

14

Wards should not have such disparity. Wards should elect an equal number of councillors and not be over sized. This is not representative or fair and I would like to see more Wards that are fairer and equally distributed both with electors and councillors.

15

I oppose this because the wards all elect different numbers of councillors. I have moved here from people a town in Wales where our town council had small ward and each elected the same number of councillors. It surprises me moving here that someone in one part of Didcot has six votes, others three or one. Each ward should elect the same number of councillors. And why are the wards so large? They should be made smaller and more representative , living on a great Western Park it makes no sense to be in the Park Ward. We can’t even drive between GWP south and the rear of the ward! Please redraw the wards and make them smaller instead of keeping them the same.

16

Firstly, there should be more consistency in the number of councillors per ward. Either All Saints, Ladygrove and Park are split into smaller wards or Millbrook Orchard and Northbourne are merged into one larger. In the latter case a proportional representation should be implemented, which would encourage a more diverse set of councillors on the council.

If no change to the wards is made, then growth of the number of dwellings and therefore residents should be taken into account in allocating the number of councillors. For instance All Saints has seen considerable growth recently and now Ladygrove will see significant expansion, even in the next five years.

17

Response below received via email.

In response to the consultation on the Governance review, Didcot Town Council held at an Extra Ordinary full Council meeting on 18th July 2022. The view of the Town Council was that the comments and requests submitted and ratified at our full Council meeting on 7th March 2022 had been largely ignored by SODC.

The instruction given to me is to re-send the requests that were ratified at our full Council meeting on 7th March 2022. You will find these attached. The recorded vote on the minutes of this item was unanimous.

1

Why is "Orchard" a parish with so few electorate? Can it not be combined with one or more of the neighbouring?

2

Ladygrove Ward is now building again on the North and there are plans in for the East too. If you reduce the number of councillors for ladygrove it will soon become unbalaced and under-represented.
I would strongly suggest retaining 7 councillors for Ladygrove.
Park Ward is complete housing wise. I would suggest Park having 4 councillors (1279) is balanced as that is mid point between the figures for Northbourne and All Saints.

Please retain 7 councillors for Ladygrove.

3

At least remain at current levels.

4

Councillors should work under constant target goal. They need to have clear evaluation and makes things happen. Also residents must be able to comment about those tasks to see if it was really done as good as it can be.

5

One per area no more

6

See 5.  [Officer note: This comment relates to “I’d prefer to see Orchard ward merge with a neighbouring ward, making the average No of electors per councillor more even with other wards. “

7

Use proportional representation across Didcot to allocate councillors against the total poll.

8

Yes, please draw Didcot's wards smaller to be more representative. With the electorate being 23,155, you could create 10 wards, each electing 1-2 councillors, with an electorate around 2,316. This would be very good for the town and allow for better democracy and representation.

9

In support of my above statement, may I also add the potential electorate increase in Northbourne due to the imminent completion of the new care home next to the Aldi supermarket.

10

1 councillor per 1000 residents

11

Yes, I believe there should 10 wards with each selecting 1-2 councillors.

12

Each ward should be altered in size (relative to population) and made as equal as practically possible; that way, each ward can have the same number of councillors and there will be no inequality of representation

13

I would like to see smaller wards. I know it was proposed at Didcot Town Council that there would be 10 wards each electing 1 or 2 Councillors. This makes sense, and would be very representative. It would ensure small communities are heard in a growing town. I would like to see this as I currently feel the current way we elect the town Council is not fair.

14

My friend is a councillor and he has mentioned there should be 10 wards electing 1 or 2 councillors per ward. This is appropriate and would make every area of Didcot equal and have a local voice. The wards in Didcot are too large and small communities lose their voice when bundled together with other communities. Please make the wards smaller and equal.

15

Best way to ensure a council that will do justice to the diverse population of Didcot is to have a small number of large wards and PR within each of these wards.

1

Please improve amenities in the Didcot area around Great Western park as we need proper facilities such as GPs surgery and NHS dentist.

2

Yes, Get things done! I am tired of paying council tax from day one, when I moved to the new house in 2018 and in 4 years, can't really see anything happening. Why does it take 4 years to have a bus running, well, still not running yet. Why there isn't enforcement for illegal parking on pavement? Why Diamond road has no bumps or control of the speed? Why there are no clear pathways? You are waling on a pavement and soundly you need to jump onto the street as it is ended. Has someone really check the planning? Why do we pay full council if the area still belongs to the developer? Why Council is not effective and faster? Why everything takes ages?

3

Infrastructure not keeping up with Didcot’s expansion

Who is responsible for the complete mess re the ongoing road work

4

Actually ask people what they want! I have met or heard from any local counselor

5

No

6

The starting point of no growth in councillor numbers appears unfair. Didcot Garden Town is doubling in size. Exactly how did the review arrive at the conclusion that the same number of councillors will be fine for a town double the size? Is this County/District well known bias against Didcot having allocated a large proportion of Oxfordshire's housing growth to Didcot? AKA "Dumping on Didcot".

7

Yes, Harwell (Vale of White Horse) portion of GWP and the proposed Valley Park should come into Didcot (South Oxfordshire). The people there identity with Didcot and use our facilities.

8

The parish should include all
housing within the GWP development and any future development within a 2 mile radius of the current boundaries.

9

No.

10

Great Western Park should completely be in South Oxfordshire and not have a portion in the Vale of White Horse.

11

Why does the boundary of the two districts go through Great Western Park. Please put all of GWP under one council, and that should be South Oxfordshire.