Boundary Commission Retains Proposal to Reunite Hammersmith and Fulham
Revised plans would also create new constituency of Willesden and Shepherd's Bush
Plans to reunite Hammersmith and Fulham as a parliamentary constituency have been retained in revised proposals published today by the Boundary Commission.
The commission's updated 2018 review also still proposes separating the four wards in Shepherd's Bush from the rest of the borough. However, whereas the original proposals envisaged them being split between two new constituencies, the revised plans places them all together in one new constituency of Willesden and Shepherd's Bush.
The commission notes that there would be opposition to this, but sees no other option.
In the south, the revised proposals envisage scrapping the existing constituency of Chelsea and Fulham, created in the last Boundary Commision review in 2010 would disappear. It has been one of the safest Tory seats in the country, with MP Greg Hands retaining his seat throughout.
The six wards in Fulham would instead be joined with six wards in Hammersmith to create the new constituency of Hammersmith and Fulham, thus scrapping the current Hammersmith constituency, again created in the 2010 review, with Labour MP Andy Slaughter retaining his seat throughout.
As this map of the revised proposals shows, this constituency would follow the same boundaries as the borough of Hammersmith and Fulham as far north as Goldhawk Road. The four wards north of this ward however would now join as new T shaped constituency called Willesden and Shepherd's Bush.
In the revised proposals the commission says of its plans for Hammersmith and Fulham: "3.83 In the initial proposals, we suggested a Hammersmith and Fulham constituency that included six wards from the existing Chelsea and Fulham constituency and six wards from the existing Hammersmith constituency.
"We received some opposition to this proposal, and also some counter-proposals were put forward. Andrew Slaughter (BCE-29011), Member of Parliament for Hammersmith, proposed that central London be kept together and that there should be ‘four seats wholly contained within the Cities of London and Westminster, Hammersmith& Fulham, and Kensington & Chelsea’.
" This counter-proposal was supported by the Labour Party (BCE-33244) and many other respondents such as Jane Bain (BCE-40689) who said, ‘I fully support the views of and alternative proposals proposed by Andy Slaughter MP. I am specifically concerned about the proposed changes to the Hammersmith constituency.
" The proposal to split the north of the borough (LBHF) across several different constituencies will result in a loss of social cohesion. Splitting the north and south of Shepherd’s Bush along Goldhawk Road will mean that communities are severed by an artificial constituency boundary down the middle of the street.’
" However, we also received some
support for our proposed Hammersmith
and Fulham constituency. We considered
that the representation from Oliver Van
Dongen (BCE-28724) was representative
of those supporting our initial proposals
and objecting to the Labour Party
counter-proposals. He said, ‘I have lived
in Fulham for the past 3 years and it is
a wonderful location. One of the special
things about Fulham is its village feel and
that it is one of the few places in London
where you can very easily define its
geographical boundaries. Because of this
Fulham very much feels like a distinctive
community and this is a primary reason
why I support the Boundary Commission’s
proposal as opposed to the counter
proposal from the Labour Party.’
"Our assistant commissioners
considered the counter-proposals and
noted the representations received.
In their view, the counter-proposals
would require consequential changes to
neighbouring constituencies, including that
of Kensington and Chelsea for which we
had received significant support. They also
noted that a number of representations
supported the proposed Hammersmith
and Fulham constituency. Therefore,
they recommended no changes to this
constituency as part of the revised
proposals, and we agree."
Of its plans for Shepherd's Bush, the commission says: "Our assistant commissioners
noted the representations that suggested
the Shepherd’s Bush area should be
included in a Hammersmith constituency.
However, they considered that persuasive
evidence had not been received to
support that configuration, given the
knock-on effects that would result.
"They also investigated alternative proposals to Mr Bryant’s, particularly in light of opposition to our proposed Ealing Central and Shepherd’s Bush constituency. They noted the representations from Robert Largan (BCE-30528 and BCE-33852) who proposed that the Shepherd’s Bush
area could be included in a Willesden
and Shepherd’s Bush constituency.
" Our assistant commissioners decided to visit the area to observe for themselves whether
the proposed constituency had suitable
road connections. Having visited the area,
they observed that road connections were
good. We accept the recommendation to
adopt Mr Bryant’s counter-proposal for
this area.
" Our assistant commissioners therefore endorsed Mr Bryant’s counterproposal for the constituencies of Ealing and Acton, Greenford and Sudbury, and Southall and Heston, noting that they unite communities and allow for local ties to be restored in Wembley, Harrow, Southall, and (to some extent) Shepherd’s Bush and White City. ]
"The assistant commissioners acknowledged that there will remain opposition to moving the White City area into a Willesden constituency, but could not find a suitable alternative."
The rules set out in the legislation on boundary changes state that there will be 600 Parliamentary constituencies covering the UK – a reduction of 50 from the current number. This means that the number of constituencies in England must be reduced from 533 to 501.
Each constituency has to have an electorate that is no smaller than 71,031 and no larger than 78,507.
The Boundary Commission for England is now taking comments on the new proposals until December 11, with a final version due to be voted on in Parliament in September 2018, ready to be used at the next scheduled General Election in 2022. You can submit comments on the BCE 2018 website.
September 13, 2016