Community Governance Review - stage 2 - Sandy

Responses and recommendations

Responses from consultation

Town council: no proposal received

9 responses

Comments:

“Twice the existing number, to enable better representation of the population. Ward boundary should be proportionate to number of people living there.”

“Already divided into wards and seems to work.”

“Nothing wrong with Sandy Town Council. Far more effective than Central Bedfordshire Council. Its officers and administrators are effective, honest and great communicators, which is more than can be said for staff at Central Bedfordshire Council. I’d be more than happy to give more powers to Sandy Town Council if some of the underperforming administrators in CBC were made redundant and the money saved was handed to Sandy Town Council.”

Feedback received through the public consultation indicated a preference to retain the current level of representation and to make no other changes. This view has been considered alongside the working group’s rationale to ensure that any final draft recommendation reflects the aims of the terms of reference as well as the views of the community.

Draft recommendations

  1. that the parish name of Sandy should remain unchanged
  2. that the number of parish councillors on Sandy Town Council remain unchanged with Beeston Ward 1, Fallowfield Ward 3, Ivel Ward 5 and Pinnacle Ward 6

Reason for recommendations

In light of the representations received the working group felt that the current arrangements reflect effective and convenient local government.

Map

Proposal

Parish and ward information (Sandy – Beeston)
Beeston ward topic Value
Current number of councillors 1
Working group proposed number of councillors 1
Electorate as of 1 May 2025 660
Current ratio of electors to councillors 660
Forecast electorate for 2030 677
Revised ratio of electors to councillors 677
Parish and ward information (Sandy – Fallowfield)
Fallowfield ward topic Value
Current number of councillors 3
Working group proposed number of councillors 3
Electorate as of 1 May 2025 1,481
Current ratio of electors to councillors 494
Forecast electorate for 2030 1,483
Revised ratio of electors to councillors 494
Parish and ward information (Sandy – Ivel)
Ivel ward topic Value
Current number of councillors 5
Working group proposed number of councillors 5
Electorate as of 1 May 2025 2,823
Current ratio of electors to councillors 565
Forecast electorate for 2030 2,889
Revised ratio of electors to councillors 578
Parish and ward information (Sandy – Pinnacle)
Pinnacle ward topic Value
Current number of councillors 6
Working group proposed number of councillors 6
Electorate as of 1 May 2025 4,078
Current ratio of electors to councillors 680
Forecast electorate for 2030 4,110
Revised ratio of electors to councillors 685

Election history and number of candidates

Beeston ward — seats and candidates
Number of seats 1
Number of candidates in 2023 1
Number of candidates in 2019 1
Number of candidates in 2015 1
Number of candidates in 2011 1
Fallowfield ward — seats and candidates
Number of seats 3
Number of candidates in 2023 2
Number of candidates in 2019 2
Number of candidates in 2015 3
Number of candidates in 2011 4
Ivel ward — seats and candidates
Number of seats 5
Number of candidates in 2023 3
Number of candidates in 2019 6
Number of candidates in 2015 4
Number of candidates in 2011 8
Pinnacle ward — seats and candidates
Number of seats 6
Number of candidates in 2023 5
Number of candidates in 2019 4
Number of candidates in 2015 3
Number of candidates in 2011 5