BOUNDARY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND PROCEEDINGS AT THE 2018 REVIEW OF PARLIAMENTARY CONSTITUENCIES IN ENGLAND HELD AT CIVIC CENTRE, DUKE STREET, CHELMSFORD, CM1 1JE ON TUESDAY 1 NOVEMBER 2016 DAY TWO Before: Ms Sarah Hamilton, The Assistant Lead Commissioner ______________________________ Transcribed from audio by W B Gurney & Sons LLP 83 Victoria Street, London SW1H 0HW Telephone Number: 0203 585 4721/22 ______________________________ Time Noted: 9.00 am THE LEAD ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER: Good morning, everybody. My name is Sarah Hamilton and I will be chairing today’s public hearing in Chelmsford on Day Two of the Boundary Commission hearing. We were due to start at nine o’clock this morning to hear from members of the public, but at the moment we do not have anyone booked in, so I am going to adjourn until 10.00 am. Thank you. Time noted: 9.00 am After a short break Time noted: 10.00 am THE LEAD ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER: Good morning again, everyone. It is now ten o’clock on Day Two in Chelmsford. As there are no members of the public who wish to speak at this time I am going to adjourn until 11.00 am. Thank you. Time noted: 10.00 am After a short break Time noted: 11.00 am THE LEAD ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER: Good morning again, ladies and gentlemen. For the purposes of people who have just joined the room my name is Sarah Hamilton and I will be chairing this morning’s hearing, which is Day Two in Chelmsford of the Boundary Commission public hearing. We have a member of the public who wishes to speak, Mr Jeater. Mr Gita, if you would like to make your way to the front, I would ask you when you start to give your full name and address, and, just to let you know, all proceedings are being filmed today. MR JEATER: That is absolutely fine. I must admit I was not expecting to speak quite this early in the morning! THE LEAD ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER: We thought that, rather than make you wait an hour sitting here, we would let you speak now. MR JEATER: (Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party) That is very kind of you, thank you. My name is Paul Jeater. I live at 80 The Furlongs, Ingatestone, Essex. I am here not only in a personal capacity but I am also here because I am the co-ordinator of Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party and also Chair of Eastern Region Green Party. 2 Fair political boundaries are crucial to ensure that our communities are fairly represented in Parliament and we believe that the Boundary Commission have acted appropriately and conscientiously within the remit they were given. The UK-wide review reduces the numbers of MPs from 650 to 600, and that has been justified as being about reducing costs. Of course, at the same time the House of Lords has been massively increased in size, so that blows that idea out of the water. The reduction in the number of seats cannot be seen to enhance democracy or increase MP contact time with constituents because clearly MPs are going to have far more constituents. Indeed, if enhancing democracy was under discussion at these hearings, then the electoral system itself would come under review, a system which does not convert votes into seats fairly in any way. I am here as the representative of Brentwood and Chelmsford Green Party and I am going to focus largely on Essex. However, wearing my regional hat, I should add how disappointed many people are that there is no hearing scheduled for Suffolk, when Chelmsford and Norwich are quite a distance during somebody’s working day to get to. I can only hope that the people of Suffolk are able to make written submissions. Essex, of all counties, is likely to be carved up differently. We are the county which loses a constituency from 18 to 17. After studying the proposed boundary map of Essex it seems clear to me and to our members that the decision to maintain Chelmsford as a single constituency has had repercussions throughout the county. The City of Chelmsford has grown substantially since the last review and it continues to do so, particularly at its north and potentially its north west quadrant. As it stands, Chelmsford City Council boundaries will be within five parliamentary constituencies. What local ties do the residents of Broomfield and The Walthams have with Brentwood and Ongar? Arguably the answer to that question is none, except for those who travel up to London by train, who on a good day will travel through Brentwood very fast. In recent times that is not quite so often. In what way do the people who live in Writtle associate with Brentwood? Do they send their children to school there? Do they ever shop in Brentwood? I would hazard a guess that many of the people in the wards being moved into Brentwood and Ongar from the existing Saffron Walden constituency have no connection with Brentwood whatsoever. Could the Commission have considered new constituencies in central Essex? Would a Chelmsford North and Witham and Chelmsford South constituency have embraced all the wards and parishes within Chelmsford City Council’s area? A quick calculation that I made last night says that they could between the 71,000 and 78,000 parameters that we are working to. Meanwhile, as other speakers said yesterday, there are substantial reasons why Warley should remain within the Ongar constituency. That is a view supported not only supported by some of the political parties that spoke yesterday but it 3 is also supported by Brentwood Council. Warley is in the Central Brentwood area. It is quite literally less than a stone’s throw from Brentwood station. While it is not possible to make the same case for Ingrave, Herongate and West Horndon, the argument for keeping the whole of a local authority within one constituency if it is possible is a powerful argument. While not crucial in itself, it should be noted that the person who would be elected MP for Brentwood and Ongar would need to liaise with three separate local authorities based on the Commission’s proposals as they stand. Moving outside Brentwood and Ongar and Chelmsford for the moment, having been a parliamentary candidate in the Braintree constituency in 2015, the moving of Rayne from Braintree into Saffron Walden again moves local residents away from their natural community. The people of Rayne school their children in Braintree, they go daily to Braintree railway station, they shop in Braintree. Their whole life is geared around Braintree. To move Rayne into Saffron Walden really breaks long existing ties between communities. Losing a constituency from 18 to 17, Essex will undoubtedly necessitate having its boundaries redrawn, more than any other county in the region. New constituencies will have to be created, some wards will need to be reallocated. However, I think there is a need to preserve local ties which seem to have been sacrificed in the examples I have given, and it is for these reasons that I hope that the Commission might look again at Brentwood and Ongar, Chelmsford, and to a lesser extent the Braintree constituencies in order that the local ties that people have with their communities are also considered along the mathematical parameters with which we are working. Thank you very much for hearing me today. THE LEAD ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER: Thank you, Mr Jeater. Do we have any questions from the audience for clarification? (None) Thank you for your time coming today. We do not have anyone else booked in now until ten past 11, so I will adjourn for another hour. Thank you. Time noted: 11.19 am After a short break Time noted: 12.00 noon THE LEAD ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome back to Day Two in Chelmsford for the public hearing of the Boundary Commission. My name is Sarah Hamilton, for people who have just joined us. I am the 4 Lead Assistant Commissioner for the Eastern Region. This morning we are hearing from members of the public and we are asking people to come and stand at the front and speak to us for about ten minutes. I believe we have Colin Riley? Mr Riley, would you like to step forward? Mr Riley, when you start would you give your full name and address, please, for the record, and we are videoing all proceedings. Thank you. CLLR RILEY: Thank you very much. My name is Colin Riley. I live at 164 Doris Heath Road in Benfleet, and I have lived there for 35 years. I am here today as a councillor in Victoria ward, where I have been a member of the Conservative group for more than 17 years. I am currently the Leader of the Council as well, so I have a good standing with the proposals that you are putting forward, and clearly want to make sure that my views are heard and considered. As I have already said, I have been a politician for 17 years, during which time I have been very active in the community, not just as a Conservative, but working across political borders. When I first came to Castle Point Sir Bernard Braine was our MP. He was also the MP for Rayleigh, so we have had a major boundary change at one time for our Member of Parliament, which then saw us come together as Castle Point. As you can see by the name, Castle and Point, The Point on Canvey Island and the castle in Hadleigh is where the name originated from, and this is why it is very important to us and to my residents for me to ask you to reconsider the proposal that I understand you are putting forward.