COUNCIL officers are proposing a shake up in the ward boundaries in Darlington - the first in almost a quarter of a century.

The proposed changes would have a particular impact on two rural wards, Sadberge and Heighington, to accommodate a reduction in the town's largest ward, Whessoe.

A draft review of ward boundaries for the borough of Darlington has been compiled in preparation for a submission to the Local Government Commission next month.

The commission has invited the borough council to develop proposals to be taken into account in its submission to the Secretary of State for the Environment next year.

The draft will now go out to public consultation for 28 days and will be discussed in full on August 22, the day before it must be submitted to the commission.

In his report to a meeting of a special committee on electoral arrangements, held on Monday, Mr Peter Kearsley, electoral registration officer for Darlington, said the draft took into account changes in population in the borough over the last 24 years and predicted further changes over the next five years.

He said: "This is the first such exercise in Darlington since 1976, and since then there have clearly been significant changes in the borough by way of residential development and movement of population.

"Paramount is the achievement of electoral equality, in that the number of local government electors represented by each councillor should be, as near as possible, the same in every ward.

"Obviously, that is not completely achievable, but this draft has attempted to get as close to equality as possible."

Mr Kearsley said one of the options for carrying out this exercise would have involved scrapping existing ward boundaries entirely and re-drawing them.

He added that this idea had been rejected, however, as there would be a risk of losing community identity and of confusing the electorate.

He said: "Proposals have concentrated on achieving electoral balance in each ward, and even this exercise results in some significant changes to existing ward arrangements."

The proposed changes include an additional ward at Haughton and the amalgamation of the two Eastbourne wards, with significant changes in the Sadberge and Whessoe wards.

Mr Kearsley said: "The existing imbalance in the Whessoe ward was so significant that wide ranging measures are proposed to deal with it.

"This involves enlarging the existing Sadberge ward by adding part of the existing Whessoe ward, introducing an additional member in Sadberge, and amalgamating the rest of the Whessoe ward with Heighington, creating a two-member ward.

"The result would be a 53-member council as opposed to 52 at the present time."

Coun Eric Roberts, who represents the Whessoe ward, said he had not yet seen the draft, but welcomed a review to address the imbalance between his and other wards.

He said: "It was obvious to me that changes had to be made. My ward in particular is not only the largest in the area, but has over 2,000 electors, so some change would not seem unreasonable. But as the councillor for the area, I feel I should be consulted on these proposed changes.