Council Backs New Telford and Wrekin & Bridgnorth constituencies
The national review into parliamentary constituencies should scrap its ideas and instead create two constituencies covering the Telford urban area and the surrounding Wrekin area and key market towns - Wellington, Newport, Shifnal, Bridgnorth and Much Wenlock.
That's the view of Telford & Wrekin Council which says that the review’s proposals to create a Telford North and Wrekin and a Bridgnorth and South Telford constituency would create an unnatural divide between the north and south of Telford.
The Council tonight voted to urge the Boundary Commission for England to adopt its alternatives as part of the consultation on the Commission’s proposals – a Telford constituency and a Wrekin & Bridgnorth constituency.
The Commission is seeking to reduce the number of constituencies in England and ensure that all have a comparable sized electorate. It proposes replacing the existing Telford and the Wrekin constituencies with two new ones - a North Telford and the Wrekin; Bridgnorth and South Telford.
The North Telford and the Wrekin constituency could include all of the Telford & Wrekin council area north of the M54, including Wellington and Newport and the borough’s Wrockwardine ward.
The Bridgnorth and South Telford constituency would bring all of Telford south of the M54 together with parts of Shropshire including Shifnal, Albrighton, Bridgnorth and Much Wenlock
Instead the Council says its alternatives much better reflect the nature of the area and satisfy the Commission’s key criteria around electorate size.
These would see a Telford constituency which would cover most of the urban parts of north and south Telford, including Ironbridge, with the exception of Wellington.
The Wrekin & Bridgnorth constituency would include Wellington, Newport, Albrighton, Shifnal, Bridgnorth and Much Wenlock and surrounding rural area.
Council leader Kuldip Sahota said; “The Commission’s proposals ignore the geography of the area and just divide Telford on an arbitrary line – the M54.
“They would lump South Telford together with the market towns of Shifnal, Albrighton and Bridgnorth which in reality have very little in common.
“Our alternatives make much clearer sense to people locally, would keep the main urban area Telford as a single constituency, while bringing together a number of historic market towns and the surrounding rural area that share many similarities into another constituency.”
The Council will be making its case at a hearing on the Commission’s proposals in Ludlow next week, and is urging people affected by the proposals to back its ideas as part of the consultation. People have until December 5 to make their views known and can do so at http://consultation.boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/
Related Article: Shropshire constituencies to change under review
