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A printed map and details are available for inspection at the Kings Hill offices of TMBC and the Gateway at Tonbridge Castle, Tonbridge until the end of the initial consultation period on the 5th December 2011.

By 28Maz28 at 10:00 on 16/09/11

Re-post

This is what the local Labour Party has to say...

Commenting on the Boundary Commission's first proposals for changes to the Tonbridge & Malling constituency, Jim Parish, Chair of Tonbridge & Malling Labour Party said:

"While our view of the political balance of the proposed Tonbridge constituency will not be significantly affected, we believe that – for the communities involved – the proposals make little sense. Why should Hildenborough, which most people regard as part of Tonbridge, be cut adrift?
"Again, while taking in random wards to the south of Maidstone, the proposals detach outlying villages from their natural focus towards the county town.
"But worse, the proposal to stretch the new constituency over twenty miles to Smarden on the edge of Ashford, makes no sense. There is no coherence in this plan; there are no east-west links, apart from the main line railway. The new constituency would be a nightmare in which to run an election campaign and to administer; voter apathy would rise and turnout fall."

DO you think the changes make 'little sense' ?

By 28Maz28 at 08:45 on 19/09/11
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Kent Green Party is concerned that new boundary proposals for Kent and Medway's parliamentary constituencies often break the link between MPs and real communities(1). Stuart Jeffery, Chair of Kent Green Party, comments:
"Some of the proposals for new parliamentary constituency boundaries in Kent make sense. However, there are some suggestions which end the idea of an MP with a real community to relate to:
"In West Kent, an MP for the proposed Weald constituency would need to relate to three different district councils and two County Councils (2). The suggested Tunbridge Wells constituency has wards from three different local councils, and arbitrarily takes Hildenborough from Tonbridge (3). The Tonbridge and Malling constituency could become a 'rail corridor' from Tonbridge to Headcorn (4).
"Maidstone does have a potentially more compact constituency under these proposals.
"These suggestions demonstrate that we need a proportional representation system for elections, so that each vote has equal value(7). Our local councils are the actual communities we live in and identify with, they need more power and resources. For many Kent residents, these new boundaries – if implemented – would be meaningless and increase disenchantment with politics." ENDS c247 words

FURTHER INFORMATION: Stuart Jeffery, Chair of Kent Green Party, on 0797 0436 029 or 01622 808370. Contact address as above. Promoted by H.Dawe for Kent Green Party, both at 27, Audley Avenue, Tonbridge, Kent TN9 1XF. KENT GREEN NEWS, monthly free ezine from Kent Green Party is available: subscribe at http://tinyurl.com/yewq39q
Notes:
1. Link to individual maps for our area:
http://tinyurl.com/6b4y3r7
This gives new constituency names and shows the proposed new wards in each constituency. Apart from the removal of Faversham-Mid Kent, some other changes are very radical and involve more cross-over of district council boundaries and even of the County boundary in West Kent;
2. The Weald constituency crosses the border between Kent and East Sussex County Councils, taking wards from Tunbridge Wells Borough Council, Rother and Wealden. This involves Rother District Council's area being split between 3 parliamentary constituencies. An MP for such a constituency could justifiably have more staff because of the administrative burden of having to relate to so many councils, bearing in mind that this list does not include Parish and Town Councils in this area;
3. The proposed Tunbridge Wells seat takes wards from Sevenoaks, Tonbridge and Malling and Tunbridge Wells councils. Taking Hildenborough from Tonbridge is a peculiar choice;
4. Tonbridge and Malling as proposed would incorporate wards from the Tonbridge and Malling, Maidstone and Ashford councils;
5. All MPs in Kent and Medway are Conservative at present, as are all local councils. But elections show considerable support for other parties. For example, in the County Elections of 2009, the Conservatives took 47% of the vote but 74 out of 84 seats. Other parties took 53% of the vote, but only 10 seats. In short, the UK has yet to become a democracy because votes do not have equal value in our non-proportional system of elections.

By stevedawe2011 at 10:57 on 21/09/11
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Just as the EU region of South East England links disparate towns like Dover and Milton Keynes so these proposals also take no account of geography, or social and historical connections.
The Labour representative is absolutely right when he says that linking towns/villages as far apart as Smarden and Tonbridge will be a nightmare ... but only for politicians and political parties; the average voter will still look to their Borough and Parish/Town Councils first and these aren't changing. In any case most voters see MPs as remote and out of touch so it won't make any real difference to them which constituency they are in. Remember the tonbridgepeople survey just before the last General Election which illustrated perfectly how few people actually know their own MP, even though in our case he is one of the longest serving members in the house and has been in continuous post for 26 years. And what about fellow Tory MP Sir Stuart Bell who has earned the accolade of Britain's laziest MP for not even bothering to hold constituency surgeries for 14 years.
Yes it is a long way from Tonbridge to Smarden and, yes the communication links are poor, but is West Malling to Edenbridge any better? We have lived with that for 26 years.
I do find some of the proposals ridiculous however, such as excluding Hildenborough from the proposed Tonbridge constituency and putting it in with Tunbridge Wells or even more so putting the Mallings in with Chatham.

David Waller, Secretary of UK Independence Party Tonbridge & Malling Constituency Association

By dwall6 at 12:38 on 30/09/11
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