Kentish Express Ashford & District
Seat will face the chop under plans for boundary shake-up
A shake-up of Kent’s parliamentary seats could see the disappearance of Faversham and Mid Kent and changes and new names for several others.
The seat held by the Conservative MP Helen Whatley and formerly by sports minister Hugh Robertson is set to be scrapped under a boundary review.
The seat is one of a number earmarked to go in a review of constituencies aimed at curbing the number of MPs to cut costs.
There will also be significant changes to Ashford, Maidstone and Thanet. The proposals include:
A new seat to be called High Weald which will straddle East Sussex and Kent and be partly created by taking seven wards currently part of Ashford and absorbing Tenterden and Biddenden.
A more compact Maidstone seat which will comprise the town and Barming, Bearsted and Otham.
It will lose four wards to a Tonbridge and the Weald constitu- ency, including Staplehurst.
A new Canterbury and Faversham seat to include six wards from the current Faversham and Mid Kent seat.
A Thanet East constituency made up mainly of existing Thanet South wards and five from North Thanet.
A new North Kent Coastal seat made of remaining wards in North Thanet and Herne Bay and Westgate-On-Sea.
The current Chatham and Aylesford seat would be renamed Chatham and the Mallings to reflect that its boundary will now include the towns of East and West Malling.
Helen Whatley, the MP for Faversham and Mid Kent, said: “It’s sad that the Boundary Commission’s draft proposals would split up the Faversham and Mid Kent constituency – but the rationale behind the review is to make all parliamentary constituencies a similar size, so each person’s vote carries the same weight.
“There is now a consultation period, so people can give their views on the proposals. Meanwhile, I will keep on working hard for everyone across Faversham and Mid Kent.” Kent’s proposed boundaries Ashford CC* ................................... 71, 303 Canterbury and Faversham CC ................................ 72,011 Chatham and The Mallings CC .................................... 75,494 Dartford CC ..................................... 72,180 Dover CC .......................................... 76,650 Folkestone and Hythe CC.......................................... 77,333 Gillingham and Rainham BC** ............................... 75,283 Gravesham CC ............................... 76,583 High Weald CC ................................ 74,102 Maidstone CC.................................. 71,284 North Kent Coastal CC ................. 75,023 Rochester and Strood CC ............ 78,455 Sevenoaks CC ................................ 76,611 Sittingbourne and Sheppey CC .................................... 75,638 Thanet East BC ............................. 78,130 Tonbridge and The Weald CC ......................................... 71,575 Tunbridge Wells CC ...................... 73,871 *County Constituency **Borough Constituency
Nationally, the number of MPs would be cut from 533 to 501 in England, from 40 to 29 in Wales, from 59 to 53 in Scotland and from 18 to 17 in Northern Ireland.
A public consultation will now take place and a final decision will be made in 2018. Ashford MP Damian Green signalled he was unhappy with the planned shake-up and the loss of a large chunk of his constituency.
He said: “I am shocked by the size and nature of what the Commission is taking out. I had expected there to be some reduction but in terms of sheer numbers this is one of the more dramatic. I will obviously be talking to the Commission and my constituency.”
He said the plans were more far-reaching than changes that were outlined in 2013 when a re-organisation was put forward but was shelved because of differences within the coalition.
He said the new High Weald seat, which would incorporate Tenterden and Biddenden and take seven wards from Ashford, could be problematic. “It is very big indeed and it is difficult to see how there would be any sense of a natural consensus between different areas.”