New London wards same as the existing ones, with few tweaks

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London city councillors have decided on the new electoral boundaries that will be in place for the 2026 election.

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In a 13-1 vote, with Ward 7 Coun. Corrine Rahman opposed and Ward 1 Coun. Hadleigh McAlister absent, the strategic priorities and policy committee decided Tuesday to keep London’s 14 wards largely intact while shifting boundaries to better balance population.

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“What people really want is not a complete overhaul,” deputy mayor Shawn Lewis, chair of the committee, said after the meeting. “They understand the need to balance the populations, but they want to keep their neighbourhood communities together, and I think we’ve achieved the majority of both.”

Politicians decided on the first of two options from the consulting firm that undertook the ward boundary review, Watson and Associates Economists Ltd.

Several wards will see little changes, but some will change significantly in order to correct a population imbalance among the 14 wards established seven years ago.

Among the largest changes include:

• Expansion of Ward 14 to all city land south of Highway 401; Ward 12 will be cut in half
• Shrinking Ward 7 by moving Ward 5 west to between Wonderland Road and Adelaide Street
• Ward 3 will take over the remainder of what is now Ward 5 east of Adelaide north to the city boundary
• Moving Ward 4 north, boxed in by Fanshawe Park Road, Oxford Street, Highbury Avenue and Adelaide Street
• Ward 1 expands into Old East Village

Robert Williams, one of the lead consultants, agreed councillors’ ultimate choice balanced population, including into the future, while adhering to the public’s top concern, keeping neighbourhoods together.

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“This allowed us to come back with a proposal which we feel is a much more balanced approach to the distribution of population across the city, while paying considerable attention to the communities of interest that are found across the city,” he said.

To that end, several residents of Lambeth came out to speak in support of the first option, as opposed to the other that split the village among three wards.

Lewis said he was satisfied with the public consultation, pointing to several town halls as well as more than 600 survey responses from Londoners.

“Some communities move wards, but the entire community moves wards, not just part of the community, and we get a better population balance out of that. I think we’ve actually put ourselves in a really good position for the next decade,” he said.

Rahman shared her concerns about splitting her current ward with a new Ward 5, saying new homes in her neighbourhood haven’t existed long enough to establish a cohesive community.

She argued her constituents have established communities around their school catchment areas, and that demographics should have been factored in to accommodate for newcomers and language barriers.

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Coun. Skylar Franke also unsuccessfully attempted to have each of London’s wards given a name, saying residents would more easily remember and identify a name over a ward number.

However, politicians raised concerns of ward names being exclusionary to different neighbourhoods within the same ward.

Politicians did vote to make several small changes to the prepared boundaries, including:

• Reversing a suggestion to absorb 15 homes in the Coves neighbourhood into Ward 13 from Ward 11
• Shifting the eastern boundary of the new Ward 11 east to the rail tracks adjacent to Adelaide Street South
• Shifting the southern border of the new Ward 4 south from Oxford Street to the rail yard to encompass all of Carling Heights

Though councillors received a rough analysis of each move’s impact, the consultants will bring a more in-depth analysis to the Dec. 17 council meeting before any final change is approved.

Based on the new information and if it arrives in time, council could approve the changes or defer until January, Lewis said.

Any further delay risks not having the new wards ready in time for the next municipal election, especially if the wards are appealed to the Ontario Land Tribunal.

Council must pass a bylaw with the changes by Dec. 31, 2025, to take effect for the next election on Oct. 26, 2026. 

jmoulton@postmedia.com

@JackAtLFPress

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