People power has shone through and led to plans to chop a community in half being dropped.

The Local Government Boundary Commission for England (LGBCE) had proposed to effectively cut the Weston Green ward in half, which caused outrage among councillors and residents.

In the consultation’s third stage, of 281 submissions from people across the whole county, almost half of the objections were from people against the plans for Weston Green.

Objectors had a nervous wait to see whether their arguments would hold any sway over the final recommendations and, on January 17, after a 12-week consultation, the LGBCE released the news people had been waiting for.

Surrey County Council will gain one extra councillor than originally proposed, taking the number up to 81, but changes were made to plans to split Weston Green in to two electoral divisions.

Instead, it proposed keeping the whole of Weston Green in the Dittons division and move the area south of the Dittons to the Hinchley Wood, Claygate and Oxshott division.

LGBCE’s deputy chairman Professor Colin Mellors said: “During the consultation phase of the review, we received very strong evidence from local people about the community identity and interests of the Weston Green area which has persuaded us to change the draft recommendations.

“Across the whole county, we have sought to balance the views expressed to us by local people with the criteria we must apply when we are deciding on new electoral arrangements, namely to deliver electoral equality for voters as well as reflecting the interests of communities across the county and promoting effective local government.”

The proposed new arrangements must now be implemented by Parliament, to come in to force at the next county council elections in May 2013.

Keith Evetts from Thames Ditton and Weston Green Residents’ Association said: “That Weston Green will remain intact is excellent news to all residents who made the effort to respond.

“It’s refreshing to see a public body taking the results of a public consultation seriously, and really changing the outcome - congratulations to the Boundary Commission. Democracy lives.”