GRAHAM HUTSON looks at the preparations being made in the run up to the electoral boundary changes - changes that if implemented, will re-shape the face of the Essex countryside map

You probably don't know this, but the boundaries of your council ward are about to change. You probably don't care either.

Unless you live in Hullbridge, where Government-enforced changes to electoral ward boundaries will mean many residents could end up living in Rawreth, without moving an inch.

It's all part of a shake-up ordered by the Local Government Commission, aimed at providing councillors with a fairer representation of their residents.

"It is to bring about electoral equality so it is seen to be fairer, and we have a closer match of people in a ward to the number of councillors," says Paul Warren, Rochford District Council's chief executive.

Over the past few months a council working party comprising officers and councillors has been painstakingly moving boundaries to even up the numbers.

"Like throwing a pebble into a pond," explains Mr Warren. "By tinkering with a bit of it you can't help but do something to the rest."

The result is that some wards will be smaller, others bigger, some will have less councillors and others will have more.

Others could span more than one village, although not if the council can help it.

"People might not care about this now, but it is one of those issues that they will regret not being consulted about in the future," added Mr Warren.

The council is anxious to get some sort of response back from the public on the changes it proposes, along with other issues relating to them.

If it doesn't get any feedback, the commission could ignore the proposals of the working group and impose its own changes, with potentially disastrous results for local identities and community ties.

Says Mr Warren: "If you strictly adhere to the guidelines, we have to amalgamate Hullbridge with another settlement, to even out numbers, but as a council we don't think that should take place because we recognise Hullbridge as a free standing community.

If the working party had stuck to the Government guidelines, Hullbridge would have been shoved onto either Rawreth, or, in another direction, Hockley.

But it has gone out on a limb and proposes to keep Hullbridge more or less as it is, adding the Dome caravan park to its Riverside ward to make up some numbers.

Nevertheless, with one ward covered by two councillors and another with only one, the village will be a councillor short of the ideal, and that's where the public come in.

"We all know what happens when football teams amalgamate, and this is exactly what could happen here with villages if the residents don't offer their support for our proposals," explains Paul Warren.

As usual everything is against the council. The leaflets which Rochford residents should find on top of their wheelie bins over the next few days must be acted upon by February 22.

The council will formulate its proposals, to reach the commission by February 28. The commission then looks at them and draws up its own which it will publish in June or July before publishing final proposals in November.

For their part, residents can either e-mail the council, call, or go into their local library to find out about them, and it doesn't just stop at electoral boundaries.

The council is asking for residents' views on the total number of councillors elected to the council, as well as in each ward, the number and boundaries of wards, the future name of each ward and frequency of elections.

A tall order, given the public has been given no clear indication as to how they should respond to said issues, but an important one all the same.

But only to a few people - Rochford District Council estimates the ward changes are only going to be significant to around ten per cent of the population, and most of them are around Hullbridge.

One ward will not change at all, and the shift around in some others is so small to be virtually unnoticeable. But if only ten per cent of responses is received, the commission could theoretically take it as a sign of discontent and bulldoze its way in.

For more information call the council on 01702 318135.

Mapping out the future - council officers John Honey, Paul Warren and Andrew Smith

Picture: MIKE BELLENIE

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.