BREAKING: BOUNDARY REVIEW 2023
The Sedgefield Parliamentary seat is set to see significant changes and be renamed Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor following the boundary review proposals.
Paul Howell, Member of Parliament for Sedgefield, shares the proposals published today by the Boundary Commission for England (BC) to disband the Sedgefield constituency and rename it ‘Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor’.
The Boundary Commission for England has today issued details of its latest round of proposals for changes to the make-up of constituencies across England. The Commission has been tasked by Parliament to undertake an independent and impartial review of all constituencies in England to give each MP a roughly similar number of voters. Constituency sizes currently vary from 53,210 to 109,246 electors due to population changes since the last boundary review.
The new map proposed by the Commission will make sure each constituency has between 69,724 and 77,062 electors, so that each MP represents roughly the same number of people.
Recommendations by the Commission will alter the structure of the constituency. Previously, the Sedgefield constituency encircled Darlington and stretched North reaching communities such as Wheatly Hill, Wingate and Thornley. With the implementation of the proposed boundaries, areas such as Tudhoe, Coxhoe, Croxdale and Bowburn will be integrated into the newly named Newton Aycliffe and Spennymoor constituency. Whereas Heighington, Coniscliffe, Hurworth, Sadberge & Middleton St. George from the Darlington area, and Thornley and Wingate from Durham will be lost.
These changes mean that 12,000 electors in Darlington, as well as 8,000 in the Thornley to Station Town area have been reallocated into neighbouring constituencies, while the additions will add 27,000 electors— a net increase of
7,000— moving the constituency from 64,000 electors to 71,000 and into the required range.
As part of the independent process, the commission has taken into consideration more than 45,000 comments sent in by the public during the previous two stages of public consultation.
A further public consultation on the plans runs until 5 December and the Commission will then analyse the responses and submit the final recommendations to Parliament by 1 July 2023. MPs do not get to vote on the final proposals. The Boundary Commission for England has invited the public to visit bcereviews.org.uk and comment on the proposals via the website, email or letter to the Boundary Commission for England, 35 Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BQ.