Residents living in Ealing’s Walpole ward, which includes Walpole Park, may soon find at the next election that instead of voting for an MP to represent them in Ealing Central and Acton, that they will be voting for an MP to represent them in the Ealing Southall constituency.
Currently, Dr Rupa Huq is MP for Ealing Central and Acton while Virendra Sharma represents Ealing Southall.
Under a proposal by the Boundary Commission for England, which will see changes across London and elsewhere in the country, Walpole ward residents would be joining neighbour Northfield which is already in Ealing Southall.
Roads inside the ward include Mattock Lane and Churchfield Road and parks include Walpole Park and Lammas Park.
The Commission is inviting residents to review its proposals.
It said: “We are consulting on our revised proposals for a four-week period, from 8 November 2022 to 5 December 2022. We encourage everyone to use this final opportunity to contribute to the design of the new constituencies – the more views we hear, the more informed our decisions will be when we make our final recommendations and report to Parliament.”
Tim Bowden, secretary to the Boundary Commission for England, said: “Last year we published our initial proposals for new constituency boundaries – our first go at what the map should look like. We are delighted with the huge number of comments from members of the public on our initial proposals, many which included valuable evidence about local communities. Today’s (8 November 2022) publication is the culmination of months of analysis and we have revised nearly half of our initial proposals based on what people have told us. We now believe we are close to the best map of constituencies that can be achieved under the rules we are working to.”
He added: “However, we still want people to tell us what they think of this latest map before we submit our final recommendations to Parliament next year. This is our final consultation and I encourage you to participate in the 2023 Boundary Review.”
Ealing Central and Acton MP, Dr Rupa Huq provided her written submission comments to the initial consultation. Dr Huq said: “Walpole ward has many continuities with Northfield ward so grouping the two together in the same seat makes sense (Northfield Avenue literally joins the two making them quite indistinct in catchments such as eg Little Ealing, Fielding and Ealing Fields schools). If they cannot both be in Ealing Central and Acton then uniting them in one to the west is justifiable, although I would change the name from “Southall” which is a satellite of Ealing lying in Middlesex rather than in W5 and W13 postcodes as these wards entirely are. Individuals in these two wards are more likely to use West Middlesex Hospital in Brentford to my mind because of their southerly positioning.”
Earlier this year at a public consultation about the proposed changes, Dr Huq said: “I would’ve rather kept my former neighbours in Walpole in the seat, but you know, if it’s that or nothing, then I’m prepared to accept this– but with the name changes please. It is completely a misnomer to call that new seat Southall when it has W5 within striking distance of Ealing Broadway roads. You can see them there, Questors Theatre, all that stuff, and there is scope for renaming it because it’s not just Acton, this will be a whole new big thing, then we’ll need another redraw, but that will be for another occasion when 26,000 or 24,000 people move in.”
As well as Dr Huq, others also took part in person at the two day consultation at Ealing Town Hall.
Dozens of locals also previously commented on the proposals.
Among the previous submitted comments were:
“I felt the original proposal to include the Northfield ward in the Brentford and Chiswick seat was much better than the current proposal. The Northfield ward shares many more characteristics with Brentford and Chiswick than it does with Southall.”
“The areas of West Ealing and Northfields are Ealing and not Southall. Hence the W postcode instead of UB. Do not make this senseless change.”
“I see that Northfields has been put in Southall BC. I do not feel in the slightest bit connected to Southall. I have never even been to Southall in the 6 years I’ve lived here as Central Ealing is a short walk away and is the natural pull for our ward. I doubt that I will be well represented or that Northfields will even be remembered by anyone elected for Southall.”
“Objection to moving my boundary into the constituency of Southall. We are nowhere near Southall and this is another “consultation” being done behind the scenes. I also believe it devalues the properties in this area which is grossly unfair on the residents.”
Residents can view the proposals and comment on the final consultation by clicking here.
The closing date for comments is 5 December 2022.
