REVEALED: Electoral Register changes by Council Ward
Following on from his row with the Rochdale Labour Party, Rochdale Lib Dem leader Councillor Andy Kelly has now revealed that every ward in the Borough has lost electors. A comparison from the General Election electorate to the December 2015 equivalent shows huge drops in people eligible to vote. Big losers include Milkstone and Deeplish, Central Rochdale and Smallbridge and Firgrove. They are the worst affected areas in the Borough.
Councillor Kelly has now issued a rallying call for anyone not on the register to sign up. He said: "Labour said I was wrong when I revealed that nearly 9,000 had disappeared off the register altogether. I proved that I was correct. I can now go one stage further and reveal the exact number of people who have disappeared off the register altogether by council ward. These changes, due to single voter registration has led to significant changes. I don't believe for one minute that all of these are down to electoral fraud. This Council needs to address this as a matter of urgency. There's no point pretending that there is not a problem here like Labour are doing. We now know the affect on funding for the Borough and the threat to democracy. This Council needs to wake up!"
Councillor Kelly previously wrote to the Department for Communities and Local Government asking for clarification on the effect of loss of electorate on central government funding. He also made a plea for transitional funding to offset any losses.
The figures are available on the Electoral Commission website.
The biggest losers were Milkstone and Deeplish who lost 918 voters, followed by Central Rochdale who lose 899 voters. Other areas that saw significant drops were Council Leader Richard Farnell's Balderstone and Kirkholt who lost 658 voters. The new figures also show a huge disparity in council wards. The highest electorate is now West Middleton with 8,848 voters - a whopping 1,554 more voters than Balderstone and Kirkholt that has the lowest.
Councillor Kelly said: "The case for ward boundary changes is strong. This would of course mean all-out elections but how can it be right that some areas have hundreds more electors with the same amount of Councillors. This needs to be addressed and the way to do that is by encouraging anyone who is not on the electoral register to sign up immediately."
| Ward | December 15 | May 2015 | Change |
| Balderstone and Kirkholt | 6,636 | 7,294 | -9.0% |
| West Heywood | 8,139 | 8,606 | -5.4% |
| West Middleton | 8,033 | 8,848 | -9.2% |
| Kingsway | 7,819 | 8,477 | -7.8% |
| Hopwood Hall | 7,798 | 8,401 | -7.2% |
| Healey | 7,674 | 8,069 | -4.9% |
| South Middleton | 7,631 | 8,077 | -5.5% |
| Milnrow and Newhey | 7,582 | 7,998 | -5.2% |
| Norden | 7,505 | 7,972 | -5.9% |
| North Middleton | 7,462 | 7,960 | -6.3% |
| Littleborough Lakeside | 7,410 | 7,910 | -6.3% |
| Castleton | 7,400 | 7,866 | -5.9% |
| Spotland and Falinge | 7,390 | 8,158 | -9.4% |
| Bamford | 7,377 | 7,911 | -6.8% |
| East Middleton | 7,371 | 8,064 | -8.6% |
| Wardle and West Littleborough | 7,362 | 7,801 | -5.6% |
| Smallbridge and Firgrove | 7,344 | 8,110 | -9.4% |
| North Heywood | 7,164 | 7,656 | -6.4% |
| Milkstone and Deeplish | 6,804 | 7,722 | -11.9% |
| Central Rochdale | 6,509 | 7,408 | -12.1% |
| Total | 148,410 | 160,308 | -7.4% |