Views sought on MP constituency boundary proposals

Members of the public can have their say on feedback given to proposed changes to MP constituency boundaries.
Dr Caroline Johnson, MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham. EMN-170130-155442001Dr Caroline Johnson, MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham. EMN-170130-155442001
Dr Caroline Johnson, MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham. EMN-170130-155442001

In September last year, the Boundary Commission for England unveiled its initial plans following a review of the boundaries followed by a 12-week national consultation process which resulted in almost 20,000 responses.

The next stage of the 2018 Review is the publication of all those representations so that others may comment on them.

The representations are now available at www.bce2018.org.uk, with comments sought on the representations for four weeks until Monday, March 27.

Locally, for the Sleaford and North Hykeham seat held by Dr Caroline Johnson, the Boundary Commission had initially suggested balancing up the population numbers within the county’s parliamentary constituencies by transferring the North Hykeham wards, together with Skellingthorpe and lower Waddington into the Lincoln Parliamentary constituency while bringing Bracebridge Heath and upper Waddington back into the renamed Sleaford constituency from Lincoln.

It also proposed to transfer the North Kesteven wards covering Heckington, Kirkby la Thorpe, the Kymes, Helpringham and surrounding areas into the Boston and Skegness Constituency. This would effectively bring the Boston constituency right up to the town boundary of Sleaford, whilst the Sleaford Constituency would continue to take four South Kesteven wards and butt up to, and almost surround, Grantham.

The Commission is encouraging people to see what others have said about their initial proposals, and to add views to those.

This can be done using the web address above. Searches can be made by a number of different options, such as name, reference number, existing constituency or type of respondent, as well as using the interactive mapping system to locate comments geographically.

Following this round of consultation, the Commission will consider all representations received from both rounds, and will consider whether any revisions are needed, which would be subject to further consultation.

If they decide to revise the proposals, any such consultation would happen towards the end of 2017, or in early 2018.