A bid to boost the number of councillors on Southend Council has cleared the first hurdle.

Leaders at the local authority have won the initial backing from the Local Government Commission for England.

The draft recommendations are open to public consultation until July 19 and show a major change to local politics:

Four extra borough wards will be created with a total of three councillors for each area

The number of councillors will increase by 12 from 39 to 51

The boundaries of Leigh Town Council wards will be altered slightly to fit in with the new borough groupings

There will be no increase in the number of town councillors.

Lib Dem council leader Graham Longley said: "We are very pleased that our recommendations have been accepted at this stage. It was made clear the commission has never given an increase of more than eight or nine councillors."

A spokesman for the Local Government Commission for England said: "We recognise that an additional 12 councillors constitutes a significant increase in council size.

"But we consider that Southend has demonstrated an increase is required in order to adequately carry out the function of the authority."

The recommendations are available for public scrutiny at the Civic Centre.

Anyone who wishes to register views about the changes can write to the Review Manager, Southend Review, Local Government Commission for England, Dolphyn Court, 10/11 Turnstile, London, WCIV 7JU.

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