Which constituency for Audlem?

As many will be aware, the Boundary Commission is changing many parliamentary constituency boundaries as they try to establish more equal populations for each seat and also reduce the number of parliamentary seats nationally from 650 to 600.

The proposals are due to come into effect in 2018.

Changes are being proposed to the Eddisbury ward where Audlem and much of the surrounding area sits at present. The constituency will, if the proposals are accepted, become Eddisbury and Northwich with new areas around Northwich being added. This pushes the constituency northwards.

Audlem, therefore, as the most southern tip of the proposed constituency could, some feel, become even further from the heart of the constituency. Would it not be more sensible to move Audlem into the Crewe & Nantwich ward where the area was until 1997.

This would have a number of possible advantages – it would mean Audlem was only ten miles away from the main population area of the constituency, rather than over twenty miles.

It would also mean that Audlem was in a constituency that is entirely within Cheshire East rather than Eddisbury which is in both Cheshire West & Chester and Cheshire East with the bulk of the population in the former area rather than Cheshire East, our borough council.

On the other hand, Eddisbury is a more rural constituency than Crewe & Nantwich and Audlem and district is fundamentally a rural area even though many locally work in Crewe & Nantwich.

What do you think? Is Audlem better off staying where it is or moving to Crewe & Nantwich? The current proposals – see below for an excerpt from the Boundary Commission's initial proposals. You can also access more information by clicking on the North West England section of the Boundary Commission's map and description by click here.

Boundary Commission proposals for Cheshire

We noted that the electorates of both the existing Crewe and Nantwich, and Congleton constituencies – at 72,239 and 71,102 respectively – were within the permitted electoral range. We therefore propose that both constituencies should remain unchanged, subject to some realignment to ensure they reflect changes to local government ward boundaries, which has resulted in some wards being divided between existing constituencies.

However, we considered that there would need to be a considerable degree of change to the existing Weaver Vale constituency as a result of the changes elsewhere in Cheshire. We propose that the Halton Borough ward of Halton Lea should be transferred and included in the Halton constituency, and that the wards containing the town of Northwich should no longer be in the Weaver Vale constituency.

Our proposed Weaver Vale constituency would include the Marbury ward from the existing Tatton constituency and wards from the existing Eddisbury constituency (including the Farndon and Gowy wards, which had been modified following changes to local government wards). These changes would result in our proposed constituency extending considerably further south, to the border with Wales. We considered whether the name Weaver Vale remains appropriate, but we consider that alternatives may not reflect the areas covered by the constituency. We welcome feedback on whether an alternative name would be more appropriate.

The existing Eddisbury constituency would be significantly altered in our proposals, and should now be called Eddisbury and Northwich in view of the addition of the town of Northwich. As described above, our proposed constituency loses a number of its western wards to our proposed Weaver Vale constituency and extends northwards to include, not just the town of Northwich, but also the Witton and Rudheath ward and the Shakerley ward from the existing Tatton constituency.

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