Boundary changes could lead to new Tavistock and Plympton constituency

Boundary changes could lead to new Tavistock and Plympton constituency

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   Boundary Commission for England initial proposals South West region map - Tavistock and Plympton constituency

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   Local people rally against Devonwall constituencies

The Parliamentary constituency boundaries are re-evaluated every five years, and the current review, which must be reported to Parliament by 2013, is underway now. The initial proposals were released yesterday, and contain some controversial changes to the borders.

The overall number of constituencies will be reduced from 533 to 502, with the aim being to balance out the number of registered electors in each area. The number of constituencies in the South West will fall from 55 to 53. Both Devon & Cornwall and Dorset & Wiltshire will lose one constituency each.

A rejigging of the constituency boundaries in Plymouth has led to the proposal of a new 'Tavistock and Plympton' area. This electoral district will also encompass Okehampton, and has already received criticism form Gary Streeter, the MP for South West Devon. Mr. Streeter said:  "To me, these proposals in my part of the world look like a dog's dinner. You have people living in Plympton put in the same constituency as people living in Okehampton whose two world's are very different and very distant. I will be asking the Boundary Commission to think again."

The South West initial proposals summary, put together by the Boundary Commission for England, states: 'We are consulting on our initial proposals for a 12-week period, from 13 September 2011 to 5 December 2011. We encourage everyone to use this opportunity to contribute to the design of the new constituencies – the more public views we hear, the more informed our decisions will be when analysing the views we receive.'

The public have been invited to view the initial proposals report (Tavistock information on page 12) and the constituency boundary maps, and leave comments via the Boundary Commission for England website (links below).

South West initial constituency proposals summary

South West initial constituency proposals report

South West initial constituency proposals regional map

Boundary Commission for England – have your say

You can also view hard copies of the above at the Electoral Services Office, Kilworthy Park, Tavistock.

In particular the Boundary Commission for England would like to know:

1. If you agree in full, in part, or not at all with the initial proposals for the South West region;
2. Which sub-regions you agree with and why;
3. Which sub-regions you disagree with and why; and
4. If you can propose alternatives for areas you disagree with that meet the statutory rules set out in their report.

Click here to see how this will affect South West MPs

What are your thoughts on the proposed constituency boundary changes? Are the changes needed? Are you happy to be grouped with Plympton? How will this affect Parliment?

What do you think of the proposed cross-county constituency Bideford and Bude? Would you be happy if we were linked with Cornwall?