Review of Parliamentary constituencies

2023 Review of Parliamentary constituencies

The Boundary Commission for England (BCE) has published it's initial proposals for future parliamentary constituencies in England.

Some general information on the review:

1. The Commission is due to report with its final recommendations by 1 July 2023. Once approved, the revised constituencies will come into effect at the next following parliamentary general election.

2. There will be 543 constituencies in England, of which 91 will be in the South East, with seven in Oxfordshire. All recommended constituencies must have between 69,724 and 77,062 electors, based on the electorate as at 2 March 2020. The Witney Constituency currently covers exactly the same areas as the District of West Oxfordshire, and the electorate at 2 March 2020 was 83,613 meaning that it is inevitable that the constituency boundary will change at the conclusion of the review.

3. The consultation period on the initial proposals ran until Tuesday 2 August 2021.

4. Early in 2022 the BCE will publish responses to its initial proposals and conduct a six-week ‘secondary consultation’, which will include between two and five public hearings in each region. Late in 2022 BCE will publish revised proposals and conduct a four-week written consultation, and in June 2023 it will publish its final report and recommendations.

5. Information, data and documentation is available at the Boundary Commission for England website along with a more detailed guide to the review. The guide includes more information on the statutory requirements and processes for the review.

Proposals for Oxfordshire:

1. The initial proposals for Oxfordshire recommend seven constituencies: Banbury; Bicester; Didcot and Wantage; Henley; Oxford East; Oxford West and Abingdon; and Witney. Currently there are six constituencies: Banbury; Henley; Oxford East; Oxford West and Abingdon; Wantage; and Witney.

2. The initial proposals for the Witney Constituency would see the District of West Oxfordshire split between three constituencies, as follows: The five district wards of Chadlington and Churchill, Charlbury and Finstock; Chipping Norton; Kingham, Rollright and Enstone; and The Bartons would be in the proposed Banbury constituency.

The five district wards of Eynsham and Cassington; Freeland and Hanborough; North Leigh; Stonesfield and Tackley; and Woodstock and Bladon would be in the proposed Bicester constituency.

The remaining 17 district wards would continue to be within the Witney constituency, which would also include five wards from the Vale of White Horse District, namely Faringdon; Kingston Bagpuize; Stanford; Thames; and Watchfield and Shrivenham.

3. Maps showing all the proposals for the county are accessible via Boundary Commission of England website.