Strong Case For More Councillors on Houghton Regis Town Council

14 councillors represent electors on Houghton Regis Town Council. In 1998 the National Association of Local Councils published its Circular 1126/1998 setting out guidance on the suggested number of parish councillors to be allocated depending on the size of the population represented. For a town the size of Houghton Regis, which had an electorate of 13,118 in September 2017, the circular indicates we ought to have 18-19 councillors. And the Aston Business School in 1992 recommended between 13 and 21 councillors for electorates between 10,001 and 20,000. The current allocation is 4 for Parkside (electorate 3,533); 4 for Tithe Farm (electorate 3,294), 6 for Houghton Hall (electorate 6,291). So, at present, we have one councillor per 937 voters in Houghton Regis overall. Compared to Dunstable where it's one per 1,390. In Caddington it's one per 320. Leighton Linslade one per 1,492.Toddington 1 per 332. By 2023 the forward planned electorate for Houghton Regis is expec