You can put in your own views by going to http://consultation.boundarycommissionforengland.independent.gov.uk/
We, the
councillors of the wards of Fortune Green and West Hampstead
in the London Borough of Camden, are writing to express our concerns about the
Boundary Commissions initial proposals. The suggestion that the wards of
Fortune Green and West Hampstead are split between
two different constituencies which cross two different local authorities is ill
judged. Leaving this arbitrary line on a map unaddressed will lead to confusion
and frustration for years ahead.
We
understand that administrative boundaries will always have an element
of arbitrariness about them. However, splitting Fortune Green and West Hampstead is so arbitrary to be perverse.
We
therefore wish to add our voice to others who we believe have also contacted
you about this issue - including local residents, local amenity groups, local
clergy, Camden Council and the three main political parties. All these, and
more have advanced arguments about keeping West Hampstead
and Fortune Green together.
Throughout our close interest in
this matter we have found no-one in the area who considers the current proposal
to be a good solution.
West
Hampstead is a much larger area than that covered by the Camden West Hampstead . Indeed large parts of West Hampstead and
Fortune Green used to be contained in a ward called West
End ward.
The sense
of belonging to a single community and the facilities jointly used is an
important factor and should not be lightly dismissed. Shared facilities in our area include libraries,
shopping precincts, community festivals and schools. All these are considered
by residents of West Hampstead and Fortune
Green to be central to their community life. They are also often the focus of
political controversies and most people wish their MP to have a common identification
with the same area that they have concerns about.
However, in
addition this sense of community – there are a number of organisations which
have set up links across the ward boundaries that would be hindered by
splitting the parliamentary boundary across West Hampstead
and Fortune Green:
·
The
Police Safer Neighbourhoods teams in the two wards work in tandem and share a
common Sergeant. As a united force they work well understanding the whole
community on both sides of the arbitrary ward division.
·
The
Area Action Group (a council based consultation forum) is set up on a ward by
ward basis across most of the borough. However, West Hampstead and Fortune
Green have so many issues in common it is always chosen to run their meetings
jointly.
·
One
of Fortune Green's primary schools, Emmanuel, is currently having a new
building completed across the road in West Hampstead .
They will retain the existing building so will be split across the two
constituencies. But would their MP be the one for Fortune Green or West Hampstead ?
·
West
Hampstead Business Forum is building useful links between traders in the area,
drawing active members from both West Hampstead
and Fortune Green wards.
·
The
local transport and amenity group WHAT comes together and makes representations
to political bodies about proposals affecting the area. Their work will be much more complicated if
they are looking to two MPs.
There are
many more such initiatives which aim to overcome the lines drawn across this
natural community by administrative necessity. We spend much of our time as
councillors supporting such moves. Splitting these wards would do much to
undermine this work and would be a massive retrograde step.
In addition
to the concerns about natural communities, we are very concerned about the
administrative complexity your current proposals will have.
We have
experience of parliamentary boundaries crossing borough boundaries from the
2010 General Election when Hampstead and Kilburn crossed the boroughs of Camden Camden Camden officers working
across 5 borough boundaries (Camden , Barnet,
Brent, Westminster
It is significant that a central
plank of Camden
In order to
overcome all these problems – we propose a simple solution.
The London
It is our
strong contention that this solution is much simpler administratively. The administrative
problems that would result from splitting one ward between 2 (or three)
constituencies within the same borough would be small compared to crudely appending
one ward of a different borough would do – especially considering the community
confusion caused to the greater West Hampstead area your proposals will cause.
We therefore urge you to reconsider
your self-imposed rule where you will only draw parliamentary boundaries on top
of existing ward boundaries and create three Barnet constituencies within the
borough of Barnet.
For these
cultural and administrative reasons we add our voices to the many who have
urged you not to split the West Hampstead and Fortune
Green communities, and instead keep Barnet self-contained and administratively
simple.
Yours
sincerely,
Cllr
Russell Eagling (Fortune Green)
Cllr Nancy
Jirira (Fortune Green)
Cllr Flick
Rea (Fortune Green)
Cllr John
Bryant (West Hampstead )
Cllr Keith
Moffitt (West Hampstead )
Cllr
Gillian Risso-Gill (West Hampstead )
No comments:
Post a Comment