Boundary changes enrage Dearne MP

ONE Barnsley MP – who has been ousted from the borough through new boundary proposals – has hit out at the commission in charge for not listening to residents.

On Tuesday, the Boundary Commission for England published new proposals for constituencies across the country.

A final month-long consultation has now been opened, with the public having their last chance to have a say on the plans.

Currently, Barnsley is split into four different constituencies – Barnsley Central led by Dan Jarvis, Barnsley East’s Stephanie Peacock, Penistone and Stocksbridge’s Miriam Cates, and Wentworth and Dearne with John Healey.

However, if the revised plans go ahead these will be slightly changed.

Dan will hold the new Barnsley North constituency, Stephanie Barnsley South, Ms Cates will still have Penistone and Stocksbridge – but John will no longer have direct links to Barnsley.

His ward will change to Rawmarsh and Conisbrough – including Wath and Swinton – but this has left him frustrated due to the public’s views not being taken into account.

He told the Chronicle: “This is the latest and final stage of the proposals put forward by the Boundary Commission and people have until December 8 to comment on them.

“I’m disappointed that the Boundary Commission has not taken local views into account and paid no attention to the decades-long ‘Wentworth’ constituency name. I will continue to work flat out for residents in the Dearne until any changes to the boundary are formally made.”

Dan Jarvis, who described the changes as ‘sensible’, said he was excited to work for the people of his newly-named ward.

“I welcome the finalised Boundary Commission proposals for the Barnsley parliamentary constituencies and in particular the creation of the new Barnsley North constituency,” he said.

“These proposals offer sensible, pragmatic changes that are entirely consistent with our local geography and community ties.

“I very much look forward to contesting the general election on these revised boundaries.”

Stephanie Peacock echoed similar sentiments.

“The changes the Boundary Commission proposes are sensible.

‘It is important that constituency lines work for the communities they are intended to serve.

“The proposals absolutely do this for Barnsley.

‘If the Tories do not do the right thing for the country and call a general election before July 2023, I am looking forward to fighting the next election based on these new boundaries, especially in the newly-created constituency of Barnsley South.”

The commission say they have taken into consideration more than 45,000 comments sent in by the public during the previous two stages of public consultation.

They added they’ve changed nearly half of its initial proposals based on feedback from residents.

Tim Bowden, the secretary, said: “Last year we published our initial proposals for new constituency boundaries, our first go at what the map should look like.

“We are delighted with the huge number of comments from members of the public on our initial proposals, many which included valuable evidence about local communities.

“This publication is the culmination of months of analysis and we have revised nearly half of our initial proposals based on what people have told us. We now believe we are close to the best map of constituencies that can be achieved under the rules we are working to. However, we still want people to tell us what they think of this latest map before we submit our final recommendations to Parliament next year.

“This is our final consultation and I encourage you to participate in the 2023 Boundary Review.”

■ The Chronicle contacted Miriam Cates’ office but did not receive a response.