City of York Council Task and Finish Group Proposal

Corporate Scrutiny Committee                                              7 July 2025

Boundary Commission Electoral Review – Council size

Members: To be confirmed (two Labour, two Liberal Democrat, one Conservative)

1. Summary and Rationale

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) has announced its intention to undertake an Electoral Review to examine and propose new electoral arrangements for the City of York Council. These are:

· The total number of councillors to be elected to the council.

· The names, number and boundaries of wards.

· The number of councillors to be elected from each ward.

The first part of the review will determine the total number of councillors to be elected to the council in the future - ‘council size’. Ward boundaries will not be considered until this phase is completed.

By 17 October 2025 the council and/or its political groups can present the Commission with a case for a council size that they believe is right for the authority. The Commission will make its judgment on council size by considering three broad areas:

· Governance arrangements of the council and how it takes decisions across the broad range of its responsibilities

· The council’s scrutiny functions relating to its own decision making and the council’s responsibilities to outside bodies

· The representational role of councillors in the local community and how they engage with people, conduct casework and represent the council on local partner organisations

2. Aims and Objectives

It is proposed that a Task & Finish Group (TFG) is formed in order to gather residents’ views and seek cross-party agreement for a recommendation on council size to be submitted to Executive for consideration. Executive will then make a recommendation to Council.

3. Methods

The Local Government Boundary Commission England (LGBCE) will work with officers to provide demographic data on electors projecting out to 2031 for the TFG to consider. In coming to their recommendation, TFG members will need to demonstrate how they have taken into account the areas listed above on which the LGBCE will make its judgement on council size, in the context of the evidence on council size provided as part of Electoral Reviews conducted for other local authorities, and considering the number of electors per councillor in York compared with similar local authorities.

4. Impact on Resources

· Member time and commitment

· Officer and partner time will be required

· Scrutiny Officer / Democracy Officer time will be essential to support the group’s work

· There will be a need to organise public information-gathering or engagement sessions in order for residents’ views to be taken into account

5. Proposed Timescale

· Draft recommendation to be discussed at a Corporate Scrutiny Committee meeting on 29 September 2025

· Agreed recommendation to be considered by Executive at its meeting on 7 October 2025

· Executive’s recommended submission to the LGBCE to be considered at an Extraordinary Council meeting on 16 October 2025