LOCAL POWER
  • Intro
  • Why do this?
  • What could it do?
  • Who else has done this?
  • Arguments For & Against
  • What area should it cover?
  • Myths
  • UDI 1970
  • More info
  • Who is behind this?
  • I am interested what next?
  • Intro
  • Why do this?
  • What could it do?
  • Who else has done this?
  • Arguments For & Against
  • What area should it cover?
  • Myths
  • UDI 1970
  • More info
  • Who is behind this?
  • I am interested what next?

What area should it cover?

This is the main question to be resolved
It needs to be big enough to have some weight and to have economies of scale as it needs to employ some staff.
But not so big it become unmanageable or where people involved do not know every part of the area after all this is where local decisions should be made.
There also has to be a reason why the area should be in one local Council.
There are no clear rules on size, Sutton Coldfield has about 95,000 residents, Queens Park 14,500 residents, see map below for how to find sizes of existing local Councils. Some have only a few hundred residents.
It seems logical that it should contain the full range of services i.e. transport, shopping centres, parks, police station, medical facilities, sports etc.
But it helps if it has clear boundaries so people know where it starts and ends; rivers, main roads, railway lines etc are good clear boundaries.
It is much easier to manage if it is also based on existing administrative boundaries like:
  • Ward (see map below)
  • Polling districts (see maps below but these are also based on Wards)
  • Low Layer Super Output Areas (LSOA) but these change as populations change and are not linked to clear boundaries. 
  • The Isle of Dogs, Limehouse and Poplar all have their own Neighbourhood Planning Forums, see maps below. 
One suggestion is that the area could cover the three political wards of Canary Wharf, Island Gardens and Blackwall & Cubitt Town. That would be smaller then Sutton Coldfield, have clear boundaries (river & main roads) and existing political divisions. Other areas like Limehouse & Poplar may wish to set their own Local Councils and it maybe that a federation of local Councils is the ideal solution, sharing some overhead costs but making their own decisions.
There will be more surveys on this issue.
What do you think?



Maps below show existing local Councils (in blue) as at December 2019.From this useful ONS map here. Shows how unusual London is in only having one local Council.Queens Park, the tiny dot above the L in London.
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WARD MAP
Green line Tower Hamlets Council boundary
Red lines ward boundaries
Picture
Polling districts blue dotted lines
Picture
Neighbourhood Planning Forums areas
Isle of Dogs, Poplar, Limehouse - from left to right
Isle of Dogs Opportunity Area Planning Framework
Boundary set by the GLA
Picture
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  • Intro
  • Why do this?
  • What could it do?
  • Who else has done this?
  • Arguments For & Against
  • What area should it cover?
  • Myths
  • UDI 1970
  • More info
  • Who is behind this?
  • I am interested what next?