BRAINTREE could lose as many as 11 councillors in a radical shake-up of the authority's boundaries.
The Local Government Boundary Commission for England published its final recommendations for changing wards across the country, proposing the changes to take effect from the next general election.
Braintree District Council is currently made up of 60 members, but under the changes the council would consist of 49 members, including six single-member wards, 17 two-member wards and three three-member wards. Some councillors have raised concerns about the effect this will have on rural areas of the district.
Leader of the Greens at Braintree District Council, Cllr James Abbott, said: "Right from the start we were concerned that this review was far more about reducing the number of councillors than anything else.
"At first sight it might seem that reducing the costs of having councillors is a good thing, but the costs of each district councillor are not high and allowances have rightly been restrained in recent years.
"We believe that local democracy must come first.
"These changes concentrate power even more in the hands of the council cabinet and also reduce the influence of parishes and the rural areas of Braintree District – which make up about 50 per cent of the population.
"And it is the very opposite of localism.
"Local communities may now find it that bit harder to get things done, that bit harder for their voices to be heard."
The commission now proposes to change the names of three wards it put forward as part of the draft recommendations.
This means Braintree Blackwater, Kelvedon and Witham Maltings wards have been renamed Bocking Blackwater, Kelvedon & Feering and Witham South respectively.
Elsewhere in the district, the commission has agreed to alter its recommendations for the boundary between Braintree Central and Beckers Green and Braintree Blackwater wards so that properties on that part of Coggeshall Road are not separated by a ward boundary.
Plans to reduce the number of councillors from 60 to 40 were first proposed as far back as December 2010 and various public consultations on the subject have run since September 2011, then in March 2013, this time only suggesting a cull of 10 councillors, July 2013 and then January this year.
Max Caller, chairman of the Commission, said, "We are grateful to people in Braintree and across the wider district who took the time and effort to send us their views.
"The Commission considered every piece of evidence it received before finalising these recommendations.
"Across the district, we have sought to balance the views expressed to us by local people with the criteria we must apply when we are deciding on new electoral arrangements.
"As such, we believe these recommendations deliver electoral equality for voters as well as reflecting the identities of communities across Braintree and outlying areas."
The proposed new arrangements must now be implemented by Parliament before they are implemented ahead of May 2015.
