North Tyneside Labour claim new council ward proposals will "rip communities apart" - but Tory councillors claim they will help councillors properly represent their communities.
The Local Government Boundary Commission has published its draft proposals for the new wards in North Tyneside. The new proposed map sees many wards merged, renamed, and or otherwise altered.
The new council wards aim to be more representative with each councillor representing approximately 2,756 residents.
The commission has favoured numerous local Conservative recommendations to create new wards or otherwise alter and re-name existing ones.
The commission adopted Tory recommendations for the following wards:
Whitley Bay North
Monkseaton
Cullerocats and Whitley Bay South
Tynemouth
Chirton and Percy Main
Preston with Preston Grange
New York and Murton
Shiremoore
Howdon
Wallsend Central
Wallsend North
Benton
Killingworth
Holystone
Anitsford, Burradon, and Backworth
Dudley, Seaton Burn, and Wideopen
St Mary's
Conservative Preston councillor Liam Bones said: "I'm delighted that the Boundary Commission has taken the vast majority of the suggestions we made on board. These proposed boundaries keep communities together and will allow councillors to properly represent their wards.
"The proposals are a far cry from the Labour group's previous suggestion which attempted to gerrymander communities. I am glad to see that the commission saw through their dog's dinner of a proposal."
The commission asks residents to get in touch and give their views on their draft ward map at consultation.lgbce.org.uk. The deadline for the consultation is April 17 2023.
Deputy Mayor and Labour councillor Carl Johnson, said: "The proposals which the council sent to the boundary commission were the result of a cross-party working group. The proposals of the Conservative group were never shared with the group and we'd have been happy to consider them.
"While there are some good parts of the commission's proposals, there are significant issues in the map which rip communities apart, we'll be making representations in this round of consultations."
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