A public consultation to seek views on a draft electoral arrangements is open.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) has published proposals for new electoral arrangements for Northumberland which could affect Hexham.

LGBCE propose that 69 councillors should be elected to Northumberland in future, which will also propose new division boundaries across the authority.

Ahead of the proposal, there will be a public consultation on the which will run from 2 May 2023 to 10 July 2023.

Once all responses to the consultation have been considered, the LGBCE aim to publish final recommendations in October 2023.

Following the recommendations, they will then lay a draft order in both houses of Parliament where it will then be subjected to parliamentary scrutiny.

It is believed that the new electoral arrangements will be scheduled to come into effect at the authority’s elections in 2025.

They will consider every response received during the consultation period and will weigh each response against the criteria above.

If you would like to explore the draft recommendations, you can do so by visiting their website at www.lgbce.org.uk/all-reviews/northumberland.

They also accept comments by email reviews@lgbce.org.uk or by post The Review Officer for Northumberland LGBCE, PO Box 133, Blyth, NE24 9FE