Let the great boundary rejig commence

[minionofmidas]

Angus Council had suggested "Strathmore & Sidlaw" which suffers from the same problem as the name now adopted, ie excluding the Ferry. Some wiseguy from the public suggested reviving "North Tayside" which was once a constituency that covered a similar area in Angus and a territorially larger part of Perthshire but with much the same populated areas (but no part of Dundee).
With the examples of "Angus East & Kincardine" and "Stirling & Crieff" in mind, "Angus West, [insert random place in East Perthshire here] & Broughty Ferry"?

Paper 2012/15 actually states they'd probably go with "Dundee" if (actually, it sounds more like when but still, the decision is listed as needing to be taken separately by the Commission) they decide to adopt the alternative proposal. Names suggested by those who made the proposal were "Dundee" or "Dundee City", which is the official name of the local government district and one that the Commission rejected outright. "Dundee West" is listed in paper 2012/15 as an alternative, apparently suggested by the Assistant Commissioner.

[minionofmidas]

Ah, gotta love the public.

"a member of the public (48) supports East Renfrewshire and Hairmyres constituency in the belief that it will improve schooling in Hairmyres".
"Portobello Community Council (92) believes mistakenly that the Initial Proposals put Portobello in a constituency with part of East Lothian, and opposes this."

[minionofmidas]

Fresh outrages planned for 16th October!

[afleitch]

Dundee was sorted out in a sensible way as was Fife. Disappointed in the 'jigsaw piece' solution to East Dunbartonshire taking the middle out of the Bearsden-Milngavie area.

[doktorb]

Fresh outrages planned for 16th October!

I can't wait

Honestly, I can't. Given the shambles the BCE came up with thinking on their own terms, the mess they're going to create after handling peoples' suggestions and QC's musings is going to be immense. I'm considering organising a party for the day with a lavish opening ceremony and that sort of thing.

If they keep "Mersey Banks" I may die laughing. What a way to go. "Cause of death?" "He laughed so hard at the concept of a cross-Mersey constituency with no bridge that his heart gave way."

[minionofmidas]

One way to fix the bill may be to establish regional boundary commissions before the next review.

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

One way to fix the bill may be to establish regional boundary commissions before the next review.

I don't see how that would improve matters to be honest - we already have four regional boundary commissions.  It would add an extra dimension of "the South West boundary commission wouldn't have done that so we don't want the North West boundary commission to do that".

The way to solve the whole problem once and for all is, of course, to pay doktorb and me to do it

[minionofmidas]

One way to fix the bill may be to establish regional boundary commissions before the next review.

I don't see how that would improve matters to be honest - we already have four regional boundary commissions.

Three regional boundary commissions, two of which are working as well as the bill framework permits. And an overwhelmed group of codgers sent to deal with the entirety of England who're making even the third one look good.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

YL and me would do a better job. Though I suppose we could add you to the panel.

[doktorb]

I'd be more than happy to front the new Northern England Boundary Commission if you want to take Midlands and Southern England?

[dadge]

The best solution is a rolling review. Divide England up according to counties (as was the case at previous reviews, before the new policy of amorphous blobbism) and when the seats in a county get too big/small, review it.

[minionofmidas]

The best solution is a rolling review. Divide England up according to counties (as was the case at previous reviews, before the new policy of amorphous blobbism) and when the seats in a county get too big/small, review it.

That would also work but would require a much larger tolerance of deviation.

[minionofmidas]

Fresh outrages planned for 16th October!

Wales on the 24th.

[doktorb]

Fresh outrages planned for 16th October!

Wales on the 24th.

*rubs hands with glee*

If the BCW haven't adopted my alternative name for North Wales Coast I'm going to....write a blog or something. [shakes fist really hard]

[doktorb]

The Boundary Commission of Northern Ireland will release its revised recommendations on the 16th October, the same day as their English colleagues.

[doktorb]

Nadine Dorries has broken the embargo by tweeting:

"MidBeds has now become MidBeds and Harpenden, taking in W'hampstead , Church End and Caddington"

[doktorb]

Mersey Banks is dead! Long live Mersey Banks!

[dadge]

Funny/nice going round the boards seeing the familiar names. There really ought to be a RejigCon next year - I wonder if we could get ERS or EC or JRF or someone to host?

[YL]

Well, based on what I've looked at so far (mostly my own region) I think it's better, but it's not good enough to change my mind that the Lib Dems are right to vote against it.

Oddly, they have split a single ward, in Gloucester.  But in north Cheshire, and around the big cities, they've continued to propose messy constituencies whose only real rationale is to avoid splitting wards.  In Yorkshire, perhaps the worst is the bizarrely named "Leeds Metropolitan and Ossett"; it's not as bad as the initial proposals' "Leeds North West and Nidderdale", but that really isn't saying much.

[Gary J]

I have had a look at the revised proposals for my part of the world. I live in Slough and used to live in Spelthorne.

The Boundary Commission originally treated Berkshire and Surrey as distinct sub-regions.  In Berkshire the only change was to transfer one extra ward of Slough Borough, from the old Slough constituency to the new Windsor one. The ward chosen was Foxborough, in the east of Slough Borough. In Surrey there was some shuffling of wards, mostly caused by the need to expand Spelthorne south of the River Thames (the traditional boundary between historic Middlesex and historic Surrey). The ward selected to join the new Spelthorne constituency was Weybridge North, which I would have said had zero community ties with Spelthorne Borough.

The revised plan treats Berkshire and Surrey together. In Berkshire the only changes is to the Slough Borough wards, to be excluded from the new Slough constituency. The eastern ward of Foxborough remains with the Slough constituency. The southern Slough Borough ward of Cippenham Meadows, is now the one to be transferred to the new Windsor constituency. The easternmost Slough Borough ward (Colnbrook with Poyle), currently in the existing Windsor constituency, is proposed to be added to Spelthorne to create a cross-county new constituency. As a result fewer changes are needed in the rest of Surrey and more existing seats are left unchanged.

From my point of view the revised plan is an improvement from the original proposals. Cippenham Meadows does have slightly better transport links, with the town of Windsor, than the eastern Slough Borough wards do. Foxborough residents, who were confused by the prospect of living in Slough Borough but becoming part of the Windsor constituency, will be happier with the change. Cippenham Meadows voters will, of course, inherit the confusion but it is unavoidable given the numbers that some part of Slough Borough has to be added to the new Windsor constituency.

The  new cross county Spelthorne is a distinct improvement on the earlier version with its expansion south idea. Given that Spelthorne had to be expanded somewhere, to make the electorate a suitable size, I think the transport links and community ties are much stronger in the new proposals than in the old. Indeed, Poyle was part of Spelthorne Borough until the mid 1990s, so I think the people of Staines will be much happier with this addition to Spelthorne constituency, rather than with having the boundary cross the Thames.

All in all, should Parliament ultimately approve the current revised proposals, I think they would not be a disaster for the Berkshire/Surrey border area.

[ObserverIE]

Norn Iron revised fantasy proposals released.

The biggest changes are in Antrim, where the initially proposed Mid Antrim would have linked Ballymena and a long stretch of countryside to its west to Larne and Carrickfergus along a glorified boreen and South Antrim would have been stretched from Toomebridge to the sea and the outskirts of Carrickfergus town.

This is replaced by a more logical arrangement whereby the old East Antrim constituency is recreated, and Ballymena joins Antrim town in South Antrim (to which it's connected by a motorway rather than a cart-track).

Elsewhere, Fermanagh and South Tyrone and Mid Tyrone are cleaned up so as to conform with local government boundaries (FST goes back to its pre-1997 configuration). Both the previous and the current fantasy Fermanagh and South Tyrones have been made much safer for Sinn Féin.

[You kip if you want to...]

Bye bye Mersey Banks (thank god).

Either way, they're dead anyway.

[minionofmidas]

Oddly, they have split a single ward, in Gloucester.  But in north Cheshire, and around the big cities, they've continued to propose messy constituencies whose only real rationale is to avoid splitting wards.

lolwut

Anyways, I'll be looking at stuff now.

[YL]

Bye bye Mersey Banks (thank god).

Not really.  It now only contains one bank, but it's still an abomination.

The Norn Iron proposals are OK, I think.  I'm slightly surprised they didn't rename "Glenshane", and not surprised that they didn't rename "Strangford" though they really should have done.

[minionofmidas]

Bye bye Mersey Banks (thank god).

Not really.  It now only contains one bank, but it's still an abomination.

Have they at least undone the actually worst bit of it - the bizarre split of Ellesmere Port?

[YL]

Bye bye Mersey Banks (thank god).

Not really.  It now only contains one bank, but it's still an abomination.

Have they at least undone the actually worst bit of it - the bizarre split of Ellesmere Port?

No.  The only differences are that the new version includes Heath ward in west Runcorn and doesn't include Hale and Ditton wards on the Lancashire bank.

And here is Leeds Metropolitan and Ossett.  I'm trying to work out what sort of animal it looks like.