Tuesday 22 November 2016

Changes to boundaries proposed

There is still time to comment on the Boundary Commission proposals to change the constituency boundaries for electing our MPs. These are a result of the Conservative Government's plans to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600 and make sure there are roughly the same number of voters in each constituency.

Under the proposals, most of the existing Thornbury and Yate constituency will join with part of Gloucestershire, taking in areas such as Berkeley, Can, Dursley and Wotton-under-Edge, to form a new constituency of Dursley, Thornbury and Yate. Westerleigh ward would remain in this new constituency but the wards of Frampton Cotterell and Boyd Valley (the area including Pucklechurch, Wick and Marshfield) would move into neighbouring constituencies.

While the Boundary Commission is independent, it has to work with the strict rules set by the current Conservative Government. The 2 million people who registered to vote prior to the EU referendum are not included in these plans and they are not allowed to take into consideration any proposed new housing developments. The new constituencies could be wildly different in size by 2020.

You can read the full proposals and submit a response online until 5th December.

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