As Preston’s political boundaries look to be redrawn the views of Prestonians have been voiced ahead of any potential change.
AdvertisementThe Boundary Commission has published comments received since publishing the proposal to create a new enlarged Preston constituency and scrap the Wyre and Preston North constituency seat.
A new Preston seat would include Fulwood and follow the ward boundaries for the majority of Preston City Council wards.
In South Ribble there would also be major changes, with the constituency made shorter and pulled in from the both west and east.
Patricia Wilson made her feelings known about Fulwood being move into a main Preston constituency.
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She said: “I was very disappointed when I saw that Preston was to extend its boundary to include Fulwood which until relatively recently was an Urban District Council in its own right and boasted high quality homes and schools.
“Now a district of Preston it has become an area which appears to fund other more deprived areas of Preston; we receive very little from Preston City Council by way of services and even our bus service actually comes from Morecambe! However, at least we had access to an MP in whom we had confidence, Mr Ben Wallace. With the changing boundary this would not be the case and because most of central Preston is Labour controlled with a labour MP this will no longer be the case. We will no longer have a voice because we will be subsumed in a sea of deprivation under a Labour controlled council and MP. ”
This contrasts with the views of another Fulwood resident Irene Garth who states: “I am delighted with this boundary change and I think it is fairer and better for the constituents than previously. The area that I live in is part of Preston and as such I require an MP who will totally represent the City of Preston. With this boundary change I feel that my vote will at last count, something I have not felt since moving to Fulwood, 22 years ago.
“The area that I live in has been in Ribble Valley and is presently in Preston North and Wyre. I always felt in the past that the areas of Ribble Valley and Wyre, which are mainly rural areas, were not representative of the constituents that live in my part of Fulwood, which is more of an urban area, and therefore our MPs could not represent us in the way I wished, which is to improve the City of Preston and the lives of the people that live there.”
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Another Fulwood resident thinks the proposal makes a lot of sense.
Pauline Wood writes: “I think this proposal makes perfect sense – each area having similar number of constituents is a logical approach – reducing number of constituency areas = reducing number of MPs which SHOULD result in cost saving for taxpayers overall.”
South Ribble sees a major change, with parts of Bamber Bridge moving out of the Ribble Valley and into South Ribble. There has been a strong reaction, broadly in support of the proposal.
You can see all comments in relation to the boundary changes on the Boundary Commission’s website.
How do you feel about the proposals? Let us know in the comments below