At the county council meeting on April 18th, the Tory administration at County Hall forced through plans, which if accepted by the Boundary Committee (BC), will split up East & West Harnham for the new unitary elections in May 2009.

They have now pushed everything North of Netherhampton Rd, Harnham Rd, New Harnham Rd & Downton Rd into St Martin & Milford division.

An option for the City that would have kept West & East Harnham as two separate divisions was rejected last week, as the Tories voted for their own option for the City.

I tried in vain at the meeting to get Tory councillors to listen to the “community identity” of West Harnham, using St Georges Church, built 1115 and the Old Mill, built around 1135, as community links in West Harnham.  The pleas were disgracefully ignored and I was accused of being political!

There is going to be one heck of a fight through the BC to retain East & West Harnham identities.  Many residents are fiercely opposed to such plans.  Residents objected to plans to split Harnham in the last Boundary Review in 1998 and were listened too.  Hopefully, we will be listened to this time, as these proposals, supported by the Conservatives, are a disgrace to our community.

Affected areas in Harnham will be leafleted by myself in due course, with details on how to object to this proposal.  The Boundary Committee website is:  http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/boundary-reviews/all-reviews/south-west/wiltshire/wiltshire-electoral-review

The ‘flawed’ City proposals can be seen in the Tory administrations submission to the Boundary Committee: http://www.wiltshire.gov.uk/wiltshire-boundary-review.pdf 

This proposal will be the “Draft Recommendation” from the BC.  It is important that local residents make their comments known to the BC.  I hope then that they’ll listen to us and change the details in their “Final Recommendations”, due later this year.