CONTROVERSIAL boundary changes to MPs' seats in Worcestershire have gone out for a second consultation today - bringing the significant shake-up closer.
A first round of public feedback has been staged on the revisions, with a deluge of views handed to independent assessors.
It comes as:
- Senior Labour and Green Party politicians in Worcester are making a concerted bid to get the city's changes blocked, calling it "unfair"
- People in Droitwich have hit out at their town being handed to Bromsgrove's MP, saying they feel much closer ties with south Worcestershire
- Residents in Malvern have criticised a suggestion that its seat should be redrawn and lumped in with Ledbury, calling it a "head-scratcher"
As the Worcester News first revealed back in September, all six county seats are due changes under a Boundary Commission plan to reduce the number of MPs nationally from 650 to 600 and produce similar voter numbers across each.
The Worcester constituency will be extended to include rural Tory areas of Drakes Broughton, Norton and Whittington, Mid-Worcestershire will be replaced by a new seat called 'Evesham and south Warwickshire', taking in areas as diverse as Pershore and Stratford-upon-Avon, and Droitwich will be carved off and handed to Bromsgrove.
In Worcester 30 written comments have been made, mainly against the change from opposing politicians.
Former Labour city MP Mike Foster was among those hitting out, calling it a "political" campaign by the old Coalition Government to damage his party.
He also pointed out that Worcester has 76,290 people on its register, above average and big enough to make it "a stand alone constituency" without getting bigger.
He is trying to get the assessors to delete Drakes Broughton, saying it has "little or no affinity with Worcester".
Mr Foster also called the Conservative counter-proposal to include Ripple, which is 15 miles from Worcester, a bid to "gerrymander the boundary for best political advantage".
A whole host of Labour councillors, its former branch chair Roger Jenkins and Unison branch secretary Jim Price have cited the same concerns.
Green Councillor Louis Stephen, a former Worcester parliamentary candidate, said he was "very concerned" about the Boundary Commission using an old electoral roll from 2015.
Several of them have also travelled over to Shrewsbury or Stafford to take part in speaking sessions on the proposals, making their opposition clear.
Tory MEP Anthea McIntyre has also intervened, saying the proposal to lump Evesham with Stratford-Upon-Avon "joins Warwickshire and Worcestershire unnecessarily".
There were 17 comments on the new-look Malvern and Ledbury seat, including some critical remarks from members of the public, one of whom claiming people in Herefordshire are "different".
But the Evesham and south Warwickshire seat attracted the most comments, with 45 people responding and widespread concern over Droitwich going to Bromsgrove.
One respondent, who was anonymous, wrote: "I don't want any part of this. I live in the Worcester area, that's it.
"The values and needs of the areas are different - another area won't understand the needs of Droitwich."
The Boundary Commission is tasked with getting each seat as close to 75,000 electors as possible by 2020 under the instruction of parliament.
A new consultation on the feedback runs until Monday, March 27 - to get involved click on the Boundary Commission website here.
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