THE city council is to gain an extra councillor after a number of recommendations were agreed by Wiltshire Council.

It comes as part of the Community Governance Review, which began in November 2019, and was agreed at an Extraordinary Meeting of Wiltshire Council yesterday (September 9).

Earlier this year Wiltshire Council’s Electoral Review Committee carried out a public survey in relation to the areas included within the review.

The council said: "More than 500 responses were received and following analysis of the feedback; as well as information received from emails; public meetings and information gathering sessions; the committee formed and put forward the draft recommendations.

"Following a further consultation which received more than 200 responses, which were analysed and considered by the committee, final recommendations were prepared for consideration by Full Council."

These recommendations include the area of Netherhampton East Ward being transferred to the parish of Salisbury City as part of the Salisbury Harnham West Ward.

The changes to electoral arrangements for some parishes, as a result of the Community Governance Review, will come into effect at the next scheduled ordinary parish council elections in May 2021.

The Salisbury Harnham West Ward will also be increased from two city councillors to three, meaning the total number of councillors for Salisbury City Council will be increased from 23 to 24.

The parish of Netherhampton will be comprised of five councillors, without wards.

In order for these changes to take effect, the Local Government Boundary Commission for England need to provide consent.

Another recommendation is to merge the Salisbury City wards of Salisbury Milford and Salisbury St Mark’s and Bishopdown into a single ward of three councillors, "coterminous with the Salisbury Milford Electoral Division".

The city ward would also be called Salisbury Milford.

The council will now be consulting on proposals for new Area Board boundaries, to align these with the Electoral Divisions that are incoming for the May 2021 elections.

The consultation begins on September 10 and will run until October 31.

The Electoral Review Committee will review all responses to the consultation and prepare final recommendations for consideration by Full Council when it meets on November 24.

Councillor Richard Clewer, chairman of the Electoral Review Committee, said: “This has been a very complex process and a huge logistical challenge. We know that not everyone will be pleased with the outcome and we are completely understanding and sympathetic to any of those sentiments.

"We met and consulted with so many people and every proposal put forward has been done so with the best of intentions.

"We have made a concerted effort to ensure local governance is as effective and convenient as it can be, and that it reflects the identity and interests of local communities.

“The next stage is to look at the Area Board boundary alignments and I encourage everyone to look at those proposals and have their say.

“Finally, I’d like to thank the team behind the scenes for getting us to this point. Their hard work and organisation has kept this process fully on track throughout and that of course has been made even more complicated by the pandemic.”

More information about the review can be found at wiltshire.gov.uk/council-democracy-cgr.