THE Boundary Committee offers a warm welcome to the new County Durham unitary authority, which started work last month.

We’re working at the moment to decide future electoral arrangements for the new authority and your readers can help to inform our decisions.

Your readers have already informed our decision that there should be 126 councillors who sit on the new Durham County Council. After making that decision, we began the second part of our consultation by asking people to tell us where the electoral boundaries should be drawn, in order that they reflect communities and provide for good electoral equality.

What do you think of as a “community”? Which areas in the county do you identify as your local community? Are there any areas nearby that you don’t identify with?

We’d like to hear views from everyone across County Durham. Readers can find out more information at local libraries or by clicking on the review for their new council area on our website at www.boundarycommittee.org.uk People have until June 8 to tell us what they think, but everyone will have another opportunity to submit their views later in the year when we publish our draft recommendations showing which area each councillor will represent.

Archie Gall, Director, Boundary Committee for England.