Boundaries of New Wimbledon Constituency Announced

---

Existing seat remains intact with two new wards added

The new boundaries for the Wimbledon parliamentary constituency have been announced this Monday (10 September). The area has avoided a major shake up with the boundaries being as proposed in October of last year.

A Wimbledon constituency that includes all wards from the existing constituency, Colliers Wood ward from the existing Mitcham and Morden constituency, and Roehampton and Putney Heath ward from the
existing Putney constituency to bring it into the permitted electorate range is being proposed.

The Boundary Commission for England had originally planned a new Merton and Wimbledon Central constituency and a new Wimbledon Common and Putney seat but these faced very strong opposition. The commission received more representations on this matter than any other in the region, including several letter-writing campaigns and petitions.

The main objection to their proposed Merton and Wimbledon Central constituency was that it did not include the Borough of Merton wards of Wimbledon Park and Village which, under the initial proposals, had been included in the Wimbledon Common and Putney constituency. Residents of these wards considered that the initial proposals divided Wimbledon between constituencies and that they relied on the centre of Wimbledon for many of their services including transport.

The commissioners visited the Roehampton and Putney Heath, and Village wards and travelled to the centre of Wimbledon. In their view, they considered that both the Village and Wimbledon Park wards were an integral part of the Wimbledon constituency. They also noted that the open space of Wimbledon Common was used by residents in the boroughs of Merton and Wandsworth, on both sides of the common, and that the Roehampton and Putney Heath ward in particular had links to the common and Village ward.

The latest plan is part of proposals to reduce the number of constituencies in England from 533 to 501, with each having an electorate no smaller than 71,031 and no bigger than 78,507. The number of constituencies in London must be reduced from 73 to 68.

The plan will be put to parliament and if MPs accept it, the new boundaries will be used at the next election which is due to take place in May 2022..

Secretary to the commission, Sam Hartley, said, "We're confident that the new map of constituencies best reflects the rules set for us by Parliament and we're especially pleased that our recommendations are based heavily on what members of the public have told us about their local areas.

"It is now up to the government to present our report to Parliament, and we look forward to being able to publish our recommendations once that has happened."

At the time these changes were originally proposed Stephen Hammond MP said, "I am delighted to say that the Boundary Commission have listened to the many Wimbledon residents who objected to their plans to cut our community in two, by keeping Wimbledon together in their latest proposals.

"This was a spectacular effort from the people of Wimbledon who made it very clear for the second time how cohesive our community is. The strength of our submissions led to the Boundary Commission actually visiting Wimbledon and concluding that Wimbledon Park and Wimbledon Village are integral parts of the community."

The proposed Wimbledon electorate is made up of the following wards (with their electorate figures):

Colliers Wood	6,511
Roehampton and Putney Heath	8,269
Abbey	6,376
Cannon Hill	6,559
Dundonald	6,046
Hillside	5,666
Merton Park	6,329
Raynes Park	6,607
Trinity	6,424
Village	5,633
West Barnes	6,831
Wimbledon Park	7,034

At the last election, Conservative MP Mr Hammond secured 23,946 votes to win the seat with a 5,622 majority.

What do you think? Why not comment on our forum?