Parliament boundaries “missed opportunity”

A constituency boundary shake-up could have been achieved without taking on more voters from outside Telford and Wrekin, a council report says.

Last month the Boundary Commission for England published a draft electoral map, which includes a small extension of Telford and a larger expansion and name change for The Wrekin.

In a report for the borough’s Boundary Review Committee, Telford and Wrekin policy and governance chief Anthea Lowe says the BCE’s stated aim of building constituencies with between 70,000 and 77,000 registered voters could be achieved without expanding The Wrekin further into

Shropshire Council territory. She calls the proposed map a “missed opportunity” to take into account local identities and existing borders.

The committee will discuss her report on Thursday, July 8.

Ms Lowe says the parliamentary boundary review is expected to be finalised in 2023 and the BCE’s aims include building constituencies with between 69,724 and 77,062 electors and minimising disruption by “trying, as far as possible, to have regard to local ties, geographic factors, existing constituencies and local government boundaries”.

Under the proposal, Telford – currently represented at Westminster by Conservative Lucy Allan MP – would gain part of Hadley from The Wrekin, bringing its electorate from 69,331 to 70,768.

The changes to The Wrekin – held by Conservative Mark Pritchard MP – are “more substantial”, Ms Lowe writes.

“These see a largely rural area that currently sits within North Shropshire moving into The Wrekin,” she says.

“The northernmost boundary is proposed to sit just south of Market Drayton, heading west north of Buntingsdale Estate and Weston before following a line south past Moston and Stanton upon Hine Heath before joining the existing boundary just northwest of Ellerdine.”

If implemented, the changes would bring the seat’s electorate from 71,077 to 76,143.

“The final significant change is that the proposed constituency is renamed ‘Newport and Wellington’ with no reference being made to The Wrekin,” Ms Lowe adds.

The Wrekin constituency currently encroaches into some parts of the Shropshire Council area. The proposed changes would see this area of overlap extend.

“This does impact the way in which elections are administered in that Telford and Wrekin acts as the returning officer for those parts of the constituency that fall into the parliamentary constituency but the electoral registration officer function rests with Shropshire Council,” Ms Lowe writes.

“Therefore, the returning officer does not have electoral registration data readily available to assist with queries.

“Whilst processes are in place to minimise the impacts of this, it seems an opportunity has been missed to improve this, particularly given that the BCE aims to use both local government boundaries and ward boundaries as building blocks.

“It is clear, when looking at the current electorate, changes could be made between the Telford and The Wrekin constituencies which would mean that they could each meet the ratio required without needing to take on electors from outside the local authority boundary.”