The Labour and Conservative parties had a outbreak of temporary harmony during the consultation by the Boundary Commission into the possible way the Isle of Wight will be divided into two constituencies.
They both think that the Havenstreet, Ashey and Haylands ward should swap with the Nettlestone and Seaview ward, taking Havenstreet, etc into the North constituency and Nettlestone/Seaview South.
Maps below
To help you visualise the suggested changes, we’ve drawn up a map, so you can compare the two.
The reasoning put forward by Labour and Conservatives are detailed below.
Mr Pratt, representing the Conservative Party said (See it in context) …
We would make a very minor counter-proposal for the Isle of Wight, swapping two wards, the Havenstreet, Ashey and Haylands ward, and the Nettlestone and Seaview ward, between Isle of Wight North and Isle of Wight South. If you look at the ward of Havenstreet, Ashey and Haylands, if you look at the Haylands part of that ward, Haylands is effectively Ryde. It’s part of Ryde and there’s no — there’s continuous residential development, no discernible border, and therefore we think it’s better in the seat with Ryde, whereas Nettlestone and Seaview links with St Helens and it has strong communication links along the B3330. So that would be our Isle of Wight alternative, which I think actually is a slightly better shape, but it’s really the connection with that ward with Ryde that we think would — justifies that.
Mr Cook, representing Labour Party said (See it in context) …
In the Isle of Wight, we agree with the Commission that it should seek to make the electorates of the two constituencies as equal as is practicable. On balance, however, we believe that ties would be respected without too much damage to electoral balance by the inclusion of the Havenstreet, Ashey and Haylands ward in the Isle of Wight North constituency and the Nettlestone and Seaview ward in the Isle of Wight South constituency. This appears to be identical to the counter-proposal of the Conservative Party. We accept the broad distinction which the Commission make in their initial proposals between the more urban seat in the north, including the towns of Cowes, Newport and Ryde, and the more rural seat in the south. We believe the Haylands area in particular has strong ties to Ryde, while Nettlestone and Seaview ward is more distinct from the town.
Click on images for full version.
