Park Collection Planning , Development and WDCO Forum
Emma Reavey on Facebook has pointed me to the Boundary Commission review of parliamentary constituencies. Many Thanks.
How does everyone in Woodberry Down feel about becomng part of Tottenham? You can see from the diagram, where the red lines represent the proposed boundaries, thet Tottenham is drooping southwards, a feeling that many of us beyond middle age are familiar with.
What the Boundary Commission is trying to do is to keep all the constituencies of roughly equal size, as measured by the number of voters.
It is also trying to keep parliamentary boundaries aligned with borough boundaries, something this proposal fails to do, lumping our Hackney wards in with a chunk of Haringey.
If you have an opinion on this proposed change then do by all means add it here as a comment, but do also go to the Boundary Commission site and add it there as well. They do pay attention and many proposals are overturned. Further down the page I've pasted in a few comments that have already been made.
The timetable is "The secondary consultation will run from 22 February to 4 April 2022 inclusive."
Cllr Clare Potter of Brownswood has written about us poor orphans:
As a local Councillor in Brownswood ward I am strongly against Brownswood moving out of Hackney North and Stoke Newington Constituency. Brownswood has a long history of being represented by the Hackney North MP where the issues are strongly identified and followed through effectively within a Hackney context. Brownswood residents identify strongly with Hackney and Stoke Newington and will be more likely to view themselves disenfranchised if we are orphaned to another constituency!
Robert Lindsay-Smith echoes this view
Lesley Benson, who lives on the estate, has submitted a comment and concludes "I live in Hackney, and want to continue to vote for a Hackney MP."
Sonny Elton's comments run to metaphor, democratic rights and a love of Arsenal Football Club as reasons not to make this change.
Originally Posted by Adrian Essex on March 25, 2022 at 7:36am in Planning
You need to be a member of Woodberry Down Residents' Associations to add comments!
Replies
It's more than moving into Tottenham BC, isn't it. It would involve moving from Hackney into Haringey. A bit like the Brexit fiasco, people's opinions are being sought without anyone (including the proposers of the change) having an understanding of the real long-term consequences of this change. Haringey is, at least, more politically diverse than Hackney. Political diversity is needed to avoid 'group think'.
What would such a change mean for Council support for Woodberry Down-related initiatives etc?
Is the threat of losing WD a reason why Hackney is now rushing through changes at the West reservoir?
What impact does this have on us financially? (directly - council tax, insurance premia etc - and indirectly - funding for services etc) What cuts/improvements to services would Haringey make?
It will all come down to people's emotional reaction, like Brexit. We have little else on which to base a decision.
I think it is quite unlike Brexit. Then the vassals of a huge and largely unaccountable bureaucracy were offered the opportunity to escape, into a much smaller, and still to some extent unaccountable bureaucracy. Everything I have seen since relating to the pettiness and ineptitude of the EU convinces me I was right to vote Leave. But that's the way psychology works, is it not?
Here the Boundary Commission is somewhat accountable. I have seen it change its proposals in relation to the comments we are now being asked to make. But Brexit was up to us to decide, this is not, it is a rule driven exercise based on maintaining roughly equal constituency sizes.
We would not move to Haringey. This is a proposed Parliamentary Constituency change. It means that whoever gets elected to parliament in Tottenham (David Lammy again?) has constituents living in both Haringey and Hackney and would represent residents in Woodberry Down. Which is a bit awkward. But we would still pay our council tax to Hackney, and be assessed for insurance on a post code which would still be in Hackney.
What does the BC in Tottenham BC stand for? Is it simply Boundary Commission?
BC = Borough Council isn't it?
If it's simply an MP change and we remain in Hackney Council then it's a different issue, I agree. However, without a clear understanding of the implications for voters, it becomes an emotive decision. If we are moving from 'secure seat' to a 'swing seat', this is likely to affect people's views of the proposed change, for example. If the MP candidates have particularly strong views about this area, this may also be a factor. etc.
BC = Borough Council isn't it? - Hackney and Haringey are the Borough Councils, so I think not.
This comment on HoL reproduces the guidelines the Boundary Commission should follow, which include local government boundaries.