NEW BOUNDARY PROPOSALS CUT NEWHAVEN IN HALF


October 25th, 2017.


Last week The Boundary Commission for England issued a Revised Proposal for the new constituency boundaries. The new proposals draw a boundary straight through the middle of Newhaven, leaving the North East of the town in the new Lewes and Uckfield constituency and the rest of the town to the South and West in the new Brighton Kemp Town and Seahaven constituency.


You have until the 11th of December 2017 to tell the Boundary Commission what you think of the proposals.

Insert your postcode in the space at www.bce2018.org.uk and then use the map to view the proposals and comment by clicking the green 'Make a Comment' button at the top right side of the map.

Haven News asked Newhaven Town Councillor Steve Saunders for his reaction to the proposals:

"I am not happy with the proposed boundary changes, which propose cutting part of the town off and putting the greater part into a new constituency along with several towns to the West that are outside of both the District and County Council, to which we both currently belong.

"The Valley Ward that I represent on Town and District would, under the new plans, remain in what essentially becomes a more rural constituency. One that politically, does not represent the majority of its residents.

"Our river and rail links are all to the North of our town and we feel more of an affinity with those to the North and East.

"Seaford Bay forms a natural Southerly border to the current constituency too.

"The new Lewes and Uckfield constituency will become a safer Tory seat, removing many of the more centre and centre/left-leaning voters from what would become a far more rural-focused area.

"Newhaven and Seaford, together with its new Westerly neighbours, all lie mostly outside the Southdown National Park. While this may not seem significant, our local government boundaries at District and County, rightly include the Park that borders us.

"The plans appear to break up the town to simply make the numbers work and ignore the fact that residents in adjoining streets of the same town, will be served by different MP's of almost certainly different political views.

"Maria Caulfield currently has an office in Newhaven, but I would suggest that her future political career would be better served in the new, more Tory-friendly, constituency and would certainly move her administrative base to be more central to Lewes and/or Uckfield as a consequence.

"The focus of attention for any successful candidate in the new Brighton Kemptown and Seahaven constituency would almost certainly be on Brighton itself and leave Newhaven and Seaford to become a cast-off of Brighton.

"These proposals are wrong and have no regard for geography, just number-crunching and political gain.

"By all accounts, the whole scheme will be thrown out, as several Tories stand to lose their seats and Labour will oppose the planned changes too, along with all the other parties. However, I urge residents to feed back to this consultation at www.bce2018.org.uk and object in the strongest possible terms, to the proposals."


*Map copyright Boundary Commission: www.bce2018.org.uk
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