Foggy
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Post by Foggy on Mar 22, 2017 18:08:47 GMT
Apart from 'Stockton Central' crossing the Tees, and Middlesbrough being misspelt... the way you've formatted the post by copying and pasting exported data from Boundary Assistant, quite frankly. There isn't a style guide as such, but I think most would agree that it isn't the most helpful way to present your proposals. Since that's only your 35th post on the forum I suppose it's not a big deal. However, as a piece of friendly advice I suggest you try at least one of the following instead: take a screengrab of the map and post the image here; put the data into a Google Docs spreadsheet and then link to that here; and use posts upthread by the likes of greenhert, islington and La Fontaine as a template. Duly noted. I guess I was posting what I usually want to see, which is the composition of seats as components of LAs rather than visual maps. My Stockton Central doesn't cross the Tees though, the boundary runs alongside the river from Teesmouth all the way to the regional border. The intention of posting all the wards seems fine, but you still don't need to mention the name of each constituency multiple times. Ah, that's good to know. It helps that I can visualise it now. That stretch of the Tees forms a county boundary, after all.
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sirbenjamin
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Post by sirbenjamin on Mar 23, 2017 11:38:23 GMT
Duly noted. I guess I was posting what I usually want to see, which is the composition of seats as components of LAs rather than visual maps. My Stockton Central doesn't cross the Tees though, the boundary runs alongside the river from Teesmouth all the way to the regional border. The intention of posting all the wards seems fine, but you still don't need to mention the name of each constituency multiple times. Ah, that's good to know. It helps that I can visualise it now. That stretch of the Tees forms a county boundary, after all. I like my seats to have as few county/LA crossings as possible, to be composed of wards from as few different authorities as possible, and for each LA to be split among as few seats as possible. More than anything else these are my abiding principles, far more so than deference to existing seats (which may be sub-optimal) or, God forbid, party advantage!
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Foggy
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Post by Foggy on Mar 23, 2017 23:35:09 GMT
The intention of posting all the wards seems fine, but you still don't need to mention the name of each constituency multiple times. Ah, that's good to know. It helps that I can visualise it now. That stretch of the Tees forms a county boundary, after all. I like my seats to have as few county/LA crossings as possible, to be composed of wards from as few different authorities as possible, and for each LA to be split among as few seats as possible. More than anything else these are my abiding principles, far more so than deference to existing seats (which may be sub-optimal) or, God forbid, party advantage! All those principles are sound. Obviously I don't like to see county borders crossed, but with the current rules I've actually ended up proposing more cross-county seats than some others who care less about that issue. I wouldn't like to be in a LA that's split too many ways, but there are other parts of the country where sticking too closely to that rule can sometimes cause you to "not see the wood for the trees", so to speak, as a couple of decent seats in one council area have the knock-on effect of a lot of bad ones elsewhere. I can't disagree with either of these last two points. Sadly the BCE is required by law to take current boundaries into account, and seems to choose to lend more credence to official responses from the main parties than other submissions (whether deliberately or through subconscious influence).
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jamie
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Post by jamie on Jul 13, 2017 10:16:29 GMT
Been playing around with my North East proposal for fun, now completely happy with it. Ward change in Northumberland along with sorting out the Birtley area and changes to Middlesbrough/Thornaby. If we get another review (which is looking increasingly likely but even that may not even pass), this would be my submission. Notionals based on 2017 election: Ashington and Berwick-upon-Tweed - Ultra marginal Conservative (complete unwind of tactical vote for Lib Dems and untapped Labour potential means this would in reality have marginally gone for Labour) Bishop Auckland - Ultra marginal Labour Darlington - Ultra marginal Labour Redcar - Marginal Labour Middlesbrough South and Thornaby - Somewhat marginal Labour Stockton - Close to somewhat marginal Labour Hexham and Morpeth - Safe Conservative Everything else - Safe Labour
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jamie
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Post by jamie on Sept 1, 2017 14:28:25 GMT
Few observations on electorates of 2017 general election compared to 2015 review numbers: Biggest increase was in a City of Durham with 4514 Newcastle upon Tyne East had the 4th biggest increase, while the other 2 Newcastle seats actually were the only 2 to see a decrease The Northumberland constituencies had the 2nd, 3rd, 6th and 8th largest increases, and I'm not really sure why
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Post by La Fontaine on Oct 16, 2017 23:48:41 GMT
Just had a quick look at the revisions, which are considerable. Northumberland is to have three large constituencies within its boundaries (which I think is daft) but Berwick goes with Morpeth, Ashington with Blyth and Hexham with Cramlington, which is all sensible. We have lost the argument over Tyne Bridge as an alternative to Blaydon/Newburn. The Blaydon constituency is to have Burnopfield & Dipton as an orphan ward, which is undesirable, but is a consequence of having three large Northumberland constituencies. Simonside & Rekendyke remains unsplit. The Sunderland area is revised as proposed, more or less, by myself & others. Hartlepool is now not to be divided, so a Billingham & Sedgefield is proposed as advocated by myself & others. Middlesbrough S & Thornaby plus Middlesbrough E & Eston are proposed, much more sensibly. I'll have a closer look tomorrow, but they are clearly much better proposals.
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Adrian
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Post by Adrian on Oct 17, 2017 8:05:48 GMT
Happy. A lot in the new proposals that's similar or identical to mine, but obviously I wasn't the only one to make these suggestions.
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Post by Andrew_S on Oct 17, 2017 10:44:22 GMT
What about City of Durham and Easington? Sounds a bit odd.
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jamie
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Post by jamie on Oct 17, 2017 11:34:01 GMT
Copied from main thread: My preliminary thoughts on the North East Teesside Success! I have the exact same boundaries as the commission. Redcar and East Cleveland (prefer just Redcar) makes much more sense than splitting Middlesbrough all over the place. Only real problem is the name 'Middlesbrough and Eston' which should really be 'Middlesbrough North'. My Billingham and Sedgefield is similar as well. Durham (Council) Don't even know where to start. On the positive side, Hartlepool constituency (includes Wingate in Durham) is good change. Name aside, 'North Durham and Chester-le-Street' would make sense ignoring consequences elsewhere. North West Durham excludes the most northerly part of Durham council (more on that later). 'City of Durham and Easington' is just unfathomable. The constituency excludes large sections of the city of Durham while the name 'Easington' should really be changed to 'Peterlee, especially when you miss out much of the former council area. Tyne and Wear Sunderland seats are a bit weird, but mostly work. Gateshead is split into 2. Gateshead West (and Whickham) is ok but 'Jarrow' should really be called 'Gateshead East and Jarrow'. The commission seems obsessed with screwing up Blaydon, thereby incurring my wrath. On the positive side, Winlaton and High Spen ward (Winlaton West really) is reunited with Blaydon (Winlaton East and Blaydon really) along with other Gateshead MBC ward. No Laura Pidcock for me! However, they then decided to randomly chuck in Burnopfield from Durham council, which is both an orphan ward and the other side of a major river which they otherwise used as a dividing line. Tyne Bridge West still otherwise exists in Blaydon form. 'Newcastle upon Tyne North West' is still a thing. However, just for the bantz, they have chuck in the city centre wards, lol. On the very relative positive side, Newcastle upon Tyne East looks great, largely because everything else suffers for its benefit. North Tyneside survives, despite the name being awful. Northumberland (Council) Finally, we arrive at Northumberland. Despite the fact the arrangement was pretty much perfect (realistically), they decided to upend everything and completely change the plan. We now have Hexham and Cramlington, despite this being even more awkward than Hexham and Morpeth. Berwick now stretches almost all the way to Hexham, includes Morpeth and snakes under the river Wansbeck to include a couple of wards south of Ashington, which it now excludes. Blyth and Ashington is fine if not for the knock-on elsewhere. Completely unnecessary. Conclusion Very significant improvement in Teesside, Durham in a mess, Sunderland is alright, Tyneside remains totally random, Northumberland has been screwed, and Laura Pidcock wont be my new MP. Mixed bag. Can't wait for this clusterf*ck of a review to be voted down
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Post by La Fontaine on Oct 17, 2017 22:44:18 GMT
Some more thoughts. The ring-fencing of Northumberland is explicit and a little bizarre. Prudhoe, for example, is a small town which can easily be detached, so making the size of Northumberland constituencies closer to the mean. Squeezing three seats into the county has led the Commission to propose a Choppington/Stakeford peninsula between Ashington and Bedlington, which is very strange. The decision not to cross Northumberland's boundary at all means that the Gateshead/Durham boundary has to be crossed. Why is that preferable? And the Blaydon as proposed not only has an orphan ward, but is the only constituency with wards from three LA areas. It stands out like a sore thumb. Meanwhile the arguments for Blaydon/Newburn rather than Tyne Bridge are very weak. We are told that the Commission visited the central quayside area and concluded that the river was a clear boundary between separate communities. No mention is made of a visit further upstream where they would have seen that the river is an even clearer boundary there! However, I don't think there's any chance of altering any of this. Framwellgate and Newton Hall is excluded from a Durham City constituency, when I think many people would think it a core City area. The Commission visited and thought otherwise. Finally, I have a solution to the Rekendyke problem, which I will submit (again).
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Foggy
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Post by Foggy on Oct 17, 2017 23:14:11 GMT
The decision not to cross Northumberland's boundary at all means that the Gateshead/Durham boundary has to be crossed. Why is that preferable? Because Gateshead is part of Durham.
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Post by La Fontaine on Oct 17, 2017 23:25:34 GMT
The decision not to cross Northumberland's boundary at all means that the Gateshead/Durham boundary has to be crossed. Why is that preferable? Because Gateshead is part of Durham. Just as Newcastle is part of Northumberland.
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Foggy
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Post by Foggy on Oct 17, 2017 23:28:07 GMT
Precisely!
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jamie
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Post by jamie on Oct 17, 2017 23:30:56 GMT
But what is Blaydon part of? Answer carefully.
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Post by jigger on Oct 17, 2017 23:35:59 GMT
But what is Blaydon part of? Answer carefully. England.
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jamie
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Post by jamie on Oct 17, 2017 23:42:53 GMT
La Fontaine Agree with a lot of that. I personally prefer Prudhoe being part of Blaydon constituency (it should be in Gateshead MBC tbh) with the Tyne crossing being the city centres. However, they seem obsessed with making Blaydon the crossing point, and the new Newcastle North West including the city centre wards just shows how blatantly attached to this idea they are against common sense. Agree that Blaydon is an awful place to cross, 'Blaydon and Newcastle Central' has greater links! Finally, the importance placed on rivers seems to be applied selectively, with Northumberland-Durham council crossing over Derwent not an option but a random orphan ward across Gateshead and Durham is, where the river is a pretty decent dividing line.
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Post by La Fontaine on Oct 18, 2017 8:01:43 GMT
But what is Blaydon part of? Answer carefully. England. Much of Blaydon is a car park. Most of it is Winlaton.
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jamie
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Post by jamie on Oct 18, 2017 10:44:56 GMT
Much of Blaydon is a car park. Most of it is Winlaton. Quoting to like again.
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jamie
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Post by jamie on Oct 18, 2017 13:18:39 GMT
While Berwick and Ashington obviously isn't ideal due to lack of community links, how is Berwick and Stakeford better? Stakeford is further south, the other side of a major river, and is a small place so will not have the links with Berwick that a town like Ashington does? Despite the mess elsewhere, I've come to see the commissions initial proposals for Northumberland council area as the right 3 constituency outlines, so it's a shame they seem to have binned them.
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Adrian
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Post by Adrian on Oct 18, 2017 14:50:44 GMT
While Berwick and Ashington obviously isn't ideal due to lack of community links, how is Berwick and Stakeford better? Stakeford is further south, the other side of a major river, and is a small place so will not have the links with Berwick that a town like Ashington does? Despite the mess elsewhere, I've come to see the commissions initial proposals for Northumberland council area as the right 3 constituency outlines, so it's a shame they seem to have binned them. The Stakeford thing is bizarre. My proposal swapped Stakeford for Lynemouth www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?hl=en&mid=1F2dGRzR5PioXhYfTgHKaP6B2OjE&ll=55.17377111148244%2C-1.6099366831055022&z=12
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