CONSTITUENTS are being urged not to give up the fight to save Warwick and Leamington being divided.
Boundary Commission for England (BCE) proposals published last year proposed new boundaries for the Warwick and Leamington parliamentary constituency. The plans would see the constituency divided, with Leamington joining Kenilworth to form a new Kenilworth and Leamington seat and Warwick joining Stratford to create a Stratford and Warwick constituency.
The aim of the nationwide proposals is to reduce the number of MPs by 50 and make the number of people living in each constituency more equal.
But the proposals were met with alarm in the Warwick and Leamington constituency and the cross-party 1885 campaign group was launched to oppose the proposal.
A total of 122 representations were made to the BCE during the initial consultation by people in Warwick and Leamington. These included businesses, politicians, voluntary groups and residents.
A second consultation has now opened – the purpose of which is to publish all of the responses received during last year’s consultation on the initial proposals and to invite comments on them.
The consultation run until Monday (March 27) and once closed the commissioners will consider all representations from both consultation periods, before deciding on how to revise the initial proposals.
Ben Wesson, a founding member of the 1885 campaign, said: “We received a fantastic response last year with over 100 people including local politicians, businesses and voluntary organisations letting the Boundary Commission know that we oppose their plan to divide our community.
“However it is important not to be complacent. The second consultation provides us with another chance to tell the Boundary Commission that our community does not want to be split in two and that the Commission must revise its proposals.
“The Commission has said that any revisions they make to their plans will be based on comments received throughout the consultation period. One last push could make all the difference.”
Visit www.bce2018.org.uk to respond to the consultation.
