The independent Boundary Commission for England (BCE) has today (Tuesday 13 September) published the initial proposals for splitting the Isle of Wight into two parliamentary constituencies.
Since the Government announced the Isle of Wight constituency would be split into two, there has been much speculation about how the split would fall – East/West or North/South.
How the split breaks down
As can be seen from the map below, the proposed split is for East/West.
The split follows ward boundaries from Fishbourne down to Niton. At first glance it looks as though the ward of Chale, Niton and Whitwell, which historicaly had been part of the South Wight Ward, would be separated and grouped in the West Wight constituency. We’ll seek clarification and update if any change.
Consultation launched
The release of the constituency proposal marks the start of 12 weeks of consultation, during which the Commission is keen to hear from you in order to help shape the proposed new constituency boundaries.
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Guidance notes
If you have an interest in procedure of the constituency boundary being revised, highly informative guidance notes by Dr Ed Gouge, formerly Lecturer in Politics at the University of Leeds can be found at the bottom of the article. They are well worth a read to gen yourself up on how it all works.
Once the consultation has taken place the BCE must report back to Parliament in 2018 and, if agreed by Parliament, the new constituencies will be in use at the next scheduled General Election in 2020.
Nationwide announcements
Under the proposals announced, only 68 of the existing 533 English constituencies remain unchanged.
Sam Hartley, Secretary to the Commission, said:
“Today’s proposals mark the first time people get to see what the new map of Parliamentary constituencies might look like. But they are just the Commission’s initial thoughts during the next 12 weeks we want people to take a look and tell us what they like and don’t like about our proposals.
“Parliament has set us tight rules about reducing the number of constituencies, and making them of more equal size, and we now need the views of people around the country to help us shape constituencies that best reflect local areas. Use our website to tell us what you think, or come along to one of our public events to give us your views in person.”
Have your say
If you have a view on the changes to the constituency boundary you can have your say using the BCE’s Website or by attending a public hearing in the area (we’ll let you know if/when any take place on the Isle of Wight).
The consultation closes on 5 December 2016 and there’ll be a further two rounds of consultation next year.
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