Last chance for Harrogate voters to help reshape map of next general election

Today will see the launch of a final month-long consultation by The Boundary Commission for England, giving the public a last opportunity to send in their views which may help shape how the next general election is fought.

Tim Bowden, Secretary to the Boundary Commission for England, said: “Today we are announcing the publication of our revised proposals.

"Last year we published our initial proposals for new constituency boundaries – our first go at what the map should look like.

"We are delighted with the huge number of comments from members of the public on our initial proposals, many which included valuable evidence about local communities.

In general, the revised proposals published today for new constituencies in the Harrogate district include few new revisions for the North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire region.

The recommendation is that there should be six Borough of Harrogate wards at the next general election.

But previous consultation has seen the occasional contentious moment between local political parties, resulting in revised proposals for Claro, Bedale and Boroughbridge.

The points of contention addressed by The Boundary Commission for England include:

1. The proposed inclusion of the Harrogate borough ward of Claro in the Wetherby and Easingwold constituency (as opposed to Harrogate and Knaresborough) was highly contentious (although supported by all qualifying political parties other than the Conservative Party)

The Claro ward is currently split between three constituencies due to changes to local government ward boundaries, but more electors reside in the part that is in the existing Harrogate and Knaresborough constituency.

At the Northallerton public hearing, Andrew Jones, MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough highlighted the strong connections between the Claro ward and the towns of Harrogate and Knaresborough, while pointing out the relatively few links to Wetherby and Easingwold.

The recommendation now is that Claro should belong to Harrogate and Knaresborough.

2. Boroughbridge ward is to be part of the proposed new Wetherby and Easingwold constituency.

3. Bishop Monkton & Newby will also be transferred to the proposed Wetherby and Easingwold constituency under the revised proposals.

4. Despite strong opposition to the inclusion of the Bedale and Tanfield wards in the proposed Thirsk and Malton constituency, the revised proposal is to retain this change.

The Boundary Commission for England is now nearing the end point of a lengthy independent review of all

constituencies in England as requested by Parliament.

The changes are designed to reflect the fact that the number of electors within each constituency currently varies widely due to population changes since the last boundary review.

As part of the review, the number of constituencies in England will increase from 533 to 543.

The Boundary Commission has already taken into consideration over 45,000 comments sent in by the public during the previous two stages of public consultation, and has changed nearly half of its initial proposals based on this feedback.

A third and final consultation on the new map of revised constituency proposals is open now until December 5.

After this final consultation has closed, the Boundary Commission’s final recommendations will be submitted to Parliament by July 1, 2023.

To take part, visit www.bcereviews.org.uk/