Two Coventry wards could be renamed as November decision approaches
Concerns have been raised about access to the public consultation
A decision on whether to rename parts of Coventry is expected to made in November following a public consultation.
A petition by campaigner Ian Rogers has asked the council to change the names of Woodlands ward and Tile Hill & Canley ward following recent boundary changes which did not take into account their local history or landscape.
The redrawn Woodlands ward no longer contains any of the wooded areas it was named after, while Tile Hill & Canley – which was known as Westwood before the boundary review – doesn’t incorporate all of the Tile Hill area of the city.
The options are to keep the existing names or to change Woodlands to Broadvale or Eastern Green & Tile Hill North, and Tile Hill & Canley either to Woodlands or to Canley & Tile Hill South.
A public consultation allowing people to give their views and pick a preferred option ran from September 9 to October 21 but the council has been told that there were issues with making it easy for people to respond.
Cllr Julia Lepoidevin (Cons, Woodlands) told a full meeting of the city council: “The recent consultation for the proposal to change ward names has not been user-friendly for residents who do not have access to the internet. Our older residents have had real difficulty in responding.
“Can the cabinet member ensure that all future consultations are made accessible for all residents, and not just those who have IT skills?”
Cllr John McNicholas (Lab, Lower Stoke), the Cabinet Member for Community Safety and Cohesion who approved the consultation, said he had “some sympathy” with the issues that were reported but, in spite of those, there had been 491 responses to date.
“Even though there’s a concern being expressed, in terms of it not being user-friendly, nevertheless there has been a good response by the people of Tile Hill & Canley and Woodlands,” he said.
Cllr McNicholas acknowledged there had been “confusion” in local libaries, with staff unaware of the proposals and how they could help customers give their views, along with complaints about the lack of a phone number to use for giving a response. The consultation leaflet had only included a QR code and some people didn’t know how to use it.
He had been assured by officers that “lessons had been learned” for future consultations. But he added: “The responses from Tile Hill, Canley and Woodlands are very good, and I will be receiving a report in November to take a decision as appropriate.”
Cllr Lepoidevin said the phone number should have been on the initial form that had gone out and it was “quite late in the day by the time the telephone number had been circulated.” She asked if these difficulties would be taken into account when a decision is reached.
Cllr McNicholas said: “I think that’s going to be one of the lessons learned. But let me emphasise the point that in the past we’ve had a number of duplicates in terms of responses. You’ve got one response and no more, like voting.
“So it’s those sorts of issues that need to be addressed to ensure that the consultation itself is fair and reflects what is actually of concern in the local area.”