Initial proposals for new Parliamentary constituency boundaries in the South West Contents Summary 3 1 What is the Boundary Commission for England? 5 2 Background to the 2018 Review 7 3 Initial proposals for the South West 11 Initial proposals for the Cornwall and Devon sub‑region 12 Initial proposals for the Dorset and Wiltshire sub‑region 14 Initial proposals for the Swindon sub‑region 16 Initial proposals for the Gloucestershire and South 16 Gloucestershire sub‑region Initial proposals for the Bristol sub‑region 17 Initial proposals for the North Somerset sub‑region 18 Initial proposals for the Somerset, and Bath and North 18 East Somerset sub‑region 4 How to have your say 19 Annex A: Initial proposals for constituencies, 23 including wards and electorates Glossary 41 Initial proposals for new Parliamentary constituency boundaries in the South West 1 Summary Who we are and what we do What is changing in the South West? The Boundary Commission for England is an independent and impartial The South West has been allocated non‑departmental public body which is 53 constituencies – a reduction of two responsible for reviewing Parliamentary from the current number. constituency boundaries in England. Our proposals leave nine of the 55 existing The 2018 Review constituencies unchanged. We have the task of periodically reviewing In North Somerset, both the existing the boundaries of all the Parliamentary constituencies are unchanged. constituencies in England. We are currently conducting a review on the basis of rules In Bristol, two of the four existing set by Parliament in 2011. The rules tell constituencies are unaltered, while the us that we must make recommendations remaining two are changed only by the for new Parliamentary constituency transfer of one ward. boundaries in September 2018. They also result in a significant reduction in In Swindon, we have made changes to the number of constituencies in England realign constituency boundaries with the (from 533 to 501), and require that every new ward boundaries. constituency – apart from two specified exceptions – must have an electorate that More substantial change is required, is no smaller than 71,031 and no larger however, in other parts of the region. than 78,507. As it has not always been possible to Initial proposals allocate whole numbers of constituencies to individual counties, we have grouped We published our initial proposals for some county and local authority areas the new Parliamentary constituency into sub‑regions. The number of boundaries in England on 13 September constituencies allocated to each sub‑region 2016. Information about the proposed is determined by the electorate of the constituencies is now available on our combined local authorities. website. Consequently, it has been necessary to propose some constituencies that cross county or unitary authority boundaries. Initial proposals for new Parliamentary constituency boundaries in the South West 3 Sub‑region Existing allocation Proposed allocation Bath and North East Somerset, 7 7 and Somerset Bristol 4 4 Cornwall, Devon, Isles of Scilly, 18 17 Plymouth and Torbay Bournemouth, Dorset, Poole and 13 12 Wiltshire Gloucestershire and South 9 9 Gloucestershire North Somerset 2 2 Swindon 2 2 We have proposed one constituency that How to have your say contains electors from both Cornwall and Devon; it crosses the boundary in the We are consulting on our initial proposals north of the two counties, combining the for a 12‑week period, from 13 September towns of Bude, Bideford and Launceston. 2016 to 5 December 2016. We encourage Another proposed constituency contains everyone to use this opportunity to help electors from both Dorset and Wiltshire, us shape the new constituencies – the and combines the towns of Shaftesbury more views we hear, the more informed our and Warminster. decisions will be when considering whether to revise our proposals. Additionally, we propose that some electors from the north‑east of the County Our website, at www.bce2018.org.uk of Somerset are combined with electors has more information about how to from Bath and North East Somerset in one respond as well as details of where and constituency. We also propose that some when we will be holding public hearings in electors from the south of the County your area. You can also follow us on Twitter of Gloucestershire are combined with @BCE2018 or using #2018boundaryreview. electors from South Gloucestershire. 4 Boundary Commission for England 1 What is the Boundary Commission for England? 1 The Boundary Commission for England (BCE) is an independent and You can find further information on our impartial non‑departmental public body website, at www.bce2018.org.uk. You which is required to review Parliamentary can also contact us with any general constituency boundaries in England. We enquiries by emailing information@ conduct a review of all the constituencies boundarycommissionengland.gov.uk, in England every five years. Our role is to or by calling 020 7276 1102. make recommendations to Parliament for new constituency boundaries. 2 The Chair of the Commission is the Speaker of the House of Commons, but by convention he does not participate in the review. The current Deputy Chair, Mrs Justice Patterson, and two further Commissioners, take decisions on proposals and recommendations for new constituency boundaries. Further information about the Commissioners can be found on our website.1 1 At www.bce2018.org.uk Initial proposals for new Parliamentary constituency boundaries in the South West 5 2 Background to the 2018 Review 3 We are currently conducting a review 5 This is a significant change to the old of Parliamentary constituency boundaries rules under which Parliamentary boundary on the basis of rules set by Parliament in reviews took place, in which achieving as 2011. 2 These rules require us to reduce the close to the average number of electors number of constituencies in the UK and in each constituency was an aim, but make more equal the number of electors in there was no statutory fixed permissible each constituency. This report covers only range. For example, in England, existing the work of the Boundary Commission for constituencies (drawn under the previous England (there are separate Commissions rules) currently range from 54,232 to for Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) 105,448 electors. Furthermore, the current and, in particular, introduces our initial constituencies were constructed under the proposals for the South West. last completed review, which relied on the data contained in the electoral registers for 4 The rules set out in the legislation 2000 and applied the earlier version of the state that there will be 600 Parliamentary rules. Achieving a more even distribution constituencies covering the UK – a of electors in every constituency across reduction of 50 from the current England, together with the reduction in number. This means that the number of the total number of constituencies, mean constituencies in England must be reduced that a significant amount of change to the from 533 to 501. There are also other rules existing map of constituencies is inevitable. that the Commission has regard to when conducting the review – a full set of the 6 Our Guide to the 2018 Review rules can be found in our Guide to the contains further detailed background 2018 Review3 published in summer 2016, information, and explains all the policies but they are also summarised later in and procedures that we are following in this chapter. Most significantly, the rules conducting the review. We encourage require every constituency we recommend anyone wishing to be involved in the review (with the exception of two covering the to read this document, which will give them Isle of Wight) to contain no fewer than a greater understanding of the rules and 71,031 electors and no more than 78,507. constraints placed on the Commission, especially if they are intending to comment on our initial proposals. 2 The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, available at www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/1/contents 3 Available at www.bce2018.org.uk and at all places of deposit Initial proposals for new Parliamentary constituency boundaries in the South West 7 The rules in the legislation 9 Although the first review under the new rules will unavoidably result in 7 As well as the primary rule that significant change, we have also taken constituencies must have no fewer than into account the boundaries of existing 71,031 electors and no more than 78,507, constituencies so far as we can. We have the legislation also states that, when tried to retain existing constituencies deciding on boundaries, the Commission as part of our initial proposals wherever may also take into account: possible, as long as the other factors can also be satisfied. This, however, has proved • special geographical considerations, difficult. Our initial proposals retain just including in particular the size, shape above 16% of the existing constituencies and accessibility of a constituency; in the South West – the remainder are • local government boundaries as they new constituencies (although in a number existed on 7 May 2015; of cases we have been able to limit the • boundaries of existing constituencies; changes to existing constituencies, making and only minor changes as necessary to enable • any local ties that would be broken us to comply with the rules). by changes in constituencies. 10 Our proposals are based on the nine 8 In addition, in relation to local regions used for European elections (though government boundaries in particular, it it should be clear that our work has no should be noted that we are obliged to take effect on European electoral matters, nor is into account local government boundaries it affected by the recent referendum result). as they existed in May 2015, rather than This report relates to the South West.