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Post by 🏴☠️ Neath West 🏴☠️ on Jun 22, 2021 9:12:35 GMT
The Commission seems to have gone generally for the several good seats plus one disastrous bits left over, rather than many suboptimal seats. Always an interesting choice. Disasters here include Stone & Great Wyrley, West Pennine Moors, Wetherby & Easingwold, “ City of Durham”, Fallsworth & Droylsden, and of course the continuing Central Devon. In London they have done the opposite, and avoided any dreadful seats at the cost of large numbers of suboptimal ones. Wow, the retention of an age-old name I thought meant there wasn't much change there - yet it now incorporates a town which currently leads the name of another constituency (...and Sunderland South!). That is quite impressive. I think the 'City of' prefixes need to be abolished anyway, at least 'City of' Chester has, even if suboptimal, 'City of Durham' could simply be Durham Central or Durham (Central) and Houghton. I was hoping Barnard Castle would make it on to the constituency map... 'Bishop Auckland and Barnard Castle'? I find City of Chester more objectionable than City of Durham: the county there is not called County Chester. |
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Post by bjornhattan on Jun 22, 2021 10:07:21 GMT
Some of the papers describing the preparation of the initial proposals are now on the BCE website, linked from the meetings page under 22 and 23 March 2021. Some of them contain vague descriptions of alternative options which were considered. It's interesting to see where small tweaks were made between the preparation of the proposals and their actual release. Most of these are changes to constituency names. Some were good, such as "Exmouth" being used instead of "Exmouth and Cranbrook", but it's disappointing "Berkshire Downs" became the rather dull "Mid-Berkshire", even if the latter is more geographically accurate. |
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Post by islington on Jun 22, 2021 10:21:27 GMT
Some of the papers describing the preparation of the initial proposals are now on the BCE website, linked from the meetings page under 22 and 23 March 2021. Some of them contain vague descriptions of alternative options which were considered. It's interesting to see where small tweaks were made between the preparation of the proposals and their actual release. Most of these are changes to constituency names. Some were good, such as "Exmouth" being used instead of "Exmouth and Cranbrook", but it's disappointing "Berkshire Downs" became the rather dull "Mid-Berkshire", even if the latter is more geographically accurate. I disagree. Dulness is a virtue in this context. |
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Post by gerrardwinstanley on Jun 22, 2021 10:29:13 GMT
Some of the papers describing the preparation of the initial proposals are now on the BCE website, linked from the meetings page under 22 and 23 March 2021. Some of them contain vague descriptions of alternative options which were considered. It's interesting to see where small tweaks were made between the preparation of the proposals and their actual release. Most of these are changes to constituency names. Some were good, such as "Exmouth" being used instead of "Exmouth and Cranbrook", but it's disappointing "Berkshire Downs" became the rather dull "Mid-Berkshire", even if the latter is more geographically accurate. It's also disappointing that no maps are included. I'm interested, for instance, in the scheme that "introduces a new triple authority constituency of Bicester and Oxford North and sees the Oxford West and Abingdon constituency stretching along the A420 as far as Littleworth." Would this have meant that Oxford would be split three ways? |
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Post by bjornhattan on Jun 22, 2021 10:30:14 GMT
It's interesting to see where small tweaks were made between the preparation of the proposals and their actual release. Most of these are changes to constituency names. Some were good, such as "Exmouth" being used instead of "Exmouth and Cranbrook", but it's disappointing "Berkshire Downs" became the rather dull "Mid-Berkshire", even if the latter is more geographically accurate. I disagree. Dulness is a virtue in this context. That's true to an extent, but not if it makes identification of the seat difficult. Under the new boundaries, there are several constituencies which could easily be described as "Mid-Berkshire" (Earley and Woodley, in particular).
A name such as Tilehurst or Theale would be much more sensible.
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YL
Non-Aligned
Either Labour leaning or Lib Dem leaning but not sure which
Posts: 4,915
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Post by YL on Jun 22, 2021 10:43:16 GMT
I disagree. Dulness is a virtue in this context. That's true to an extent, but not if it makes identification of the seat difficult. Under the new boundaries, there are several constituencies which could easily be described as "Mid-Berkshire" (Earley and Woodley, in particular).
A name such as Tilehurst or Theale would be much more sensible.
I've proposed "Tilehurst". |
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Post by 🏴☠️ Neath West 🏴☠️ on Jun 22, 2021 10:46:04 GMT
I don't know if it's just me, but I see Theale and expand it to Theale to Robeston Oil Empties, trundling along the Main Line at about 40mph, making everyone late.
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Post by islington on Jun 22, 2021 10:49:07 GMT
I disagree. Dulness is a virtue in this context. That's true to an extent, but not if it makes identification of the seat difficult. Under the new boundaries, there are several constituencies which could easily be described as "Mid-Berkshire" (Earley and Woodley, in particular).
A name such as Tilehurst or Theale would be much more sensible.
Either of those would be fine. |
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ilerda
Conservative
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Post by ilerda on Jun 22, 2021 11:24:00 GMT
The West Midlands alternative option 1 for Warwickshire is interesting- realigning the three northern seats to reflect more sensible boundaries (including Rugby being coterminous with the district), having the Stratford seat include Southam rather than Alcester, and then splitting Bishop's Tatchbrook ward between Stratford and Kenilworth.
Although it could be argued it's an unnecessary ward split (albeit one that very accurately reflects local geography) I think it's a very sensible idea personally, and leads to a much better Warwickshire than the minimal change alternative.
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Post by minionofmidas on Jun 22, 2021 13:22:20 GMT
That's true to an extent, but not if it makes identification of the seat difficult. Under the new boundaries, there are several constituencies which could easily be described as "Mid-Berkshire" (Earley and Woodley, in particular).
A name such as Tilehurst or Theale would be much more sensible.
Either of those would be fine. Be dull. Be accurate. "West Berkshire East & Reading West". (Looking at the ward map "Tilehurst" would be a very clever shorthand for that, so I approve.) The only other way I could find the seat right away is if you called it Aldermaston. |
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Post by islington on Jun 22, 2021 14:22:27 GMT
Either of those would be fine. "West Berkshire East & Reading West". (Looking at the ward map "Tilehurst" would be a very clever shorthand for that, so I approve.) The only other way I could find the seat right away is if you called it Aldermaston. Yes. And I'd add: Be brief. Be unique. (The last one should go without saying but historically we've had two seats at the same time called Newport, and two called Wellington.) |
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Post by carlton43 on Jun 22, 2021 15:18:14 GMT
I disagree. Dulness is a virtue in this context. That's true to an extent, but not if it makes identification of the seat difficult. Under the new boundaries, there are several constituencies which could easily be described as "Mid-Berkshire" (Earley and Woodley, in particular).
A name such as Tilehurst or Theale would be much more sensible.
No! No!! It really wouldn't. Most informed people interested in this subject can immediately place a new Mid-Berkshire, but very few will ever have heard of either Tilehurst or Theale, thus making such a named seat difficult to place and another minor irritation for them. |
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Jun 22, 2021 15:22:30 GMT
Most people have heard of Tilehurst and it has the advantage of spanning the boundary between the two relevant local authorities. Personally I would go for Bradfield as this constituency closely corresponds to the boundaries of the old Bradfield Rural District
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Post by minionofmidas on Jun 22, 2021 15:27:54 GMT
Be dull. Be accurate. "West Berkshire East & Reading West". (Looking at the ward map "Tilehurst" would be a very clever shorthand for that, so I approve.) The only other way I could find the seat right away is if you called it Aldermaston. Yes. And I'd add: Be brief. Be unique. (The last one should go without saying but historically we've had two seats at the same time called Newport, and two called Wellington.) and two 2010-created seats called x & Rainham. |
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Post by Wisconsin on Jun 22, 2021 15:40:03 GMT
And two seats called Paisley and Renfrewshire X.
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Jun 22, 2021 15:41:47 GMT
I object to the fact that there is a constituency called Richmond Park which doesn't specify whether it refers to Ronaldshay Park or The Batts.
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Post by carlton43 on Jun 22, 2021 16:22:51 GMT
Most people have heard of Tilehurst and it has the advantage of spanning the boundary between the two relevant local authorities. Personally I would go for Bradfield as this constituency closely corresponds to the boundaries of the old Bradfield Rural District I disagree. I doubt if 80% of the British electorate has ever heard of Tilehurst or that 10% could find it on a map where all place names had been omitted. |
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Post by greatkingrat on Jun 22, 2021 16:39:12 GMT
How about "Reading Rural West"?
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Post by yellowperil on Jun 22, 2021 17:11:57 GMT
Most people have heard of Tilehurst and it has the advantage of spanning the boundary between the two relevant local authorities. Personally I would go for Bradfield as this constituency closely corresponds to the boundaries of the old Bradfield Rural District I disagree. I doubt if 80% of the British electorate has ever heard of Tilehurst or that 10% could find it on a map where all place names had been omitted. If you had to have a name that excluded ones that 80% of the electorate hadn't heard of and less than 10% could find on a map, we would have to resort to giving them just numbers. Now let's go over to constituency number 357. Actually , I like Tilehust as a name and I know exactly where it is. I am of couse helped just a bit by the fact that two members of my family (one son, one granddaughter) happen to live there. And the fact it straddles both Reading and Berkshire is a definite bonus in this context. |
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bsjmcr
Non-Aligned
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Post by bsjmcr on Jun 22, 2021 20:49:25 GMT
That's true to an extent, but not if it makes identification of the seat difficult. Under the new boundaries, there are several constituencies which could easily be described as "Mid-Berkshire" (Earley and Woodley, in particular).
A name such as Tilehurst or Theale would be much more sensible.
No! No!! It really wouldn't. Most informed people interested in this subject can immediately place a new Mid-Berkshire, but very few will ever have heard of either Tilehurst or Theale, thus making such a named seat difficult to place and another minor irritation for them. Thank you! Berkshire has already got an unrecognisable, unplaceable name forthcoming - 'Early and Woodley', and as said before, giving the illusion that the population of Reading has somehow shrunk to be only deserving of one seat. It must have Reading in the name, surely, and I hope a Reading resident puts in a strong suggestion to have their town name represented in that new seat. I assume most of those saying they have heard of Tilehurst are from the area/the south generally, which is why. I wonder how many of those who know Tilehurst (and aren't election boffins) have heard of Denton, Reddish, Failsworth or Droylsden, so perhaps we can call it even. I'm not a fan of the latter at all, which ought to be Manchester East. However for Denton & Reddish (which is to be abolished anyway) - Stockport North East and Tameside South West probably wouldn't have gone down well either. |
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