THE final recommendations for the new ward boundaries for Ellesmere Port and Neston have been put forward.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (BcfE) is proposing to increase the number of councillors by three to 75, serving 46 wards across Cheshire West and Chester.

The recommendations will go before Parliament in October and if accepted will come into force at the council elections in May 2011.

The proposed ward names and number of councillors are:

Ellesmere Port Town (2).

Grange (1).

Ledsham and Manor (2).

Little Neston and Burton (2).

Neston (1).

Netherpool (1).

Parkgate (1).

Rossmore (1).

St Paul's (2).

Strawberry (1).

Sutton (2).

Whitby (2).

Willaston and Thornton (1).

Reaction to the proposals has been mixed.

Council leader Mike Jones said: “We are currently reviewing the implications created by the recommendations and although we welcome parts of the proposals we are disappointed that in some cases they split apart natural communities.”

Labour group leader Cllr Derek Bateman said: “We are a little disappointed because we did not get all single member wards in the proposal, which, after all, was the basis of the bid that was submitted to the Government.

“However, it will certainly allow a lot of local member advocacy.”

Cllr Malcolm Gaskill, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, said: “We are quite pleased with the recommendations because they very much follow our arguments put forward in debates.”