This is a special news item about your opportunity to help the Boundary Commission (BC). Local residents have the best sense of community. Please help the public consultation. Their review in three stages recommends constituency boundaries that are fair, recognise community interests and give names that are appropriate.
Worthing Constituency might include 11 of 13 Worthing Borough wards, with two wards from Adur District.
The current proposal is for Arun wards – including Ferring, Rustington, and East Preston - to be moved from Worthing West to the Arundel and Littlehampton constituency - the Arun Valley, mainly. MPs are elected to serve people and constituency interests, not the other way around. My preference for no change would have worked with the earlier proposal to cut the costs of national political representation by reducing the number of MPs from 650 to 600.
Due to the size of the population, Worthing cannot quite be one constituency. One ward at least must be excluded and there is also the possibility of split wards. The first draft is likely to be modified. At present, the BC propose excluding Salvington and Offington while including two Adur wards. The objective can be met without displacing a second Worthing ward and without including two Adur wards. Adur can be united; most of Worthing can too. This way the numbers can be met and constituencies become more coherent.
To keep things more straightforward, the BC could consider keeping all Salvington in the Worthing Borough constituency, together with either Offington or Broadwater. The numbers work. Consequential adjustments can create Arun Valley and Adur Valley constituencies together with the right numbers in Horsham.
If you believe Salvington and High Salvington should remain in Worthing, please take the time to advise the BC: the link is here. If you have a preference on Offington or Broadwater, you can give it too. The BC are not interested in party political advantage. At the second stage, I expect to have talks with other parties. Perhaps we might agree boundaries proposals before the final decision?
If you can write about your own ward or community interest, please do so. Please also consider raising this consultation with community groups or associations you may be involved in.
The consultation closes on Monday 2nd August. Please ensure you have submitted your response ahead of this date.
Sir Peter Bottomley MP
