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Post by greenhert on Mar 29, 2016 23:29:41 GMT
My proposals for Essex (the largest and most psephologically awkward area of the East of England).
1. Harlow & Epping. As the current Harlow constituency plus Broadley Common, Epping Upland & Lower Nazeing, Epping Lindsey & Thornwood Common, and Epping Hemnall. Electorate: 77,929.
2. Loughton. All Epping Forest wards not covered in Harlow & Epping. This constituency includes Ongar from the current Brentwood & Ongar constituency. Electorate: 77,500.
3. Brentwood. The entire Brentwood district and also the Chelmsford wards of Writtle, Chelmsford Rural West, Broomfield & the Walthams, and Boreham & the Leighs. Electorate: 73,835.
4. Chelmsford. As the current Chelmsford constituency minus Galleywood ward. Electorate: 73,716.
5. Saffron Walden. The entire Uttlesford district and also the Braintree wards of Bumpstead, Three Fields, Yeldham, Hedingham, and Stour Valley North. Electorate: 76,957.
6. Braintree & Witham. The Braintree wards of Hatfield Peverel & Terling, Witham Central/North/South/West, Silver End & Cressing, Kelvedon & Feering, Coggeshall, Great Notley & Black Notley, Braintree Central & Beckers Green, Braintree South/West, Bocking Blackwater/North/South, and Rayne Electorate: 75,753.
7. Maldon. The entire Maldon district except Burnham-on-Crouch North/South wards and Southminster ward, plus the Chelmsford wards of Little Baddow, Danbury & Sandon, Bicknacre & East and West Hanningfield, Galleywood, plus also the Colchester wards of Birch & Winstree, Pyefleet, West Mersea, and Tiptree. Electorate: 71,196.
8. Colchester. Unchanged from current boundaries. Electorate: 74,140.
9. Clacton. As the current Clacton constituency plus the Brightlingsea and Great Bentley wards. Electorate: 76,358.
10. Harwich & North Essex. All remaining Braintree, Colchester, and Tendring wards. Main towns are Harwich, Halstead, and Wivenhoe. Electorate: 78,250.
11. Grays Thurrock. Same boundaries as Thurrock constituency with name change. Electorate: 75,935.
12. Billericay & Wickford. The Chelmsford wards of South Hanningfield, Stock & Margaretting, Rettendon & Runwell, South Woodham-Elmwood & Woodville, and South Woodham-Cheetwood & Collingwood, and the Basildon wards of Billericay East/West, Burstead, Crouch, and Wickham Castledon/North/Park. Electorate: 76,401.
13. Basildon & Stanford-le-Hope. The Basildon wards of St Martin's, Fryerns, Nethermayne, Langdon Hills, Lee Chapel North, and Laindon Park, plus the Thurrock wards of East Tilbury, Orsett, The Homesteads, Stanford-le-Hope West, and Stanford le-Hope East & Corringham Town. Electorate: 74,175.
14. Canvey Island & Benfleet. The Basildon wards of Pitsea North West/South East and Grange, plus the Castle Point wards of Boyce, Appleton, St Mary's and all Canvey Island wards. Electorate: 71,837.
15. Hadleigh & Southend West. The Castle Point wards of St George's, St Peter's, Cedar Hall, St James, and Victoria, plus the Southend wards of West Leigh, Leigh, Belfairs, Eastwood Park, Chalkwell, Westborough, and Blenheim Park. Electorate: 74,151.
16. Southend East. All Southend wards not included in Hadleigh & Southend West. Electorate: 72,845.
17. Rochford. The entire Rochford district plus the Maldon wards of Burnham-on-Crouch North/South and Southminster. Electorate: 73,619.
The Witham constituency disappears just as it did in the 'zombie review'. Braintree, Rayleigh & Wickford and Basildon & Billericay also disappear. The 'new' constituency is Rochford. |
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Post by islington on Apr 18, 2016 7:36:31 GMT
Uniting a few thoughts from other threads: An early attempt with minimal changes  Welwyn Hatfield is a little undersized so picks up Northaw & Cuffley to become coterminous with the LA - electorate 73,296 Broxbourne gains Hertford Heath, Stanstead Abbots and Great Amwell - electorate 72,664 Hertford & Stortford is pushed below quota by losing the above wards so gains Hertford Rural South - electorate 72,620 NE Hertfordshire likewise pushed below by loss of that ward so has to gain Cadwell (Datchworth would be better but this creates insurmountable problems for Stevenage) electorate 72,533 Stevenage gains Chesfield - electorate 72,564 Hitchin & Harpenden is undersized from loss of Cadwell and Chesfield so gains Ashridge & Watling from Dacorum - electorate 72,932 St Albans loses Bedmond (which has been split) and instead takes the Three Rivers ward of Leavesden - electorate 72,210 Hemel Hempstead takes GAde Valley and Abbots Langley & Bedmond while losing Ashridge and Watling - electorate 74,363 SW Herts loses South Oxhey (inclusing those parts now in other wards) electorate 70,309 * Watford loses the Three Rivers wards North of the town and gains South Oxhey - electorate 72,878 Hertsmere gains Carpenders PArk - electorate 74,831 * SW Herts here is just below quota so we would have to split a ward to resolve that. The best bet would be to take the DAF pollng district from Gade Valley (Hunton Bridge & Langleybury) which from memory contains about 1000 voters Not an ideal solution at all but its difficult with the average being somewhat close to the lower limit. Ward boundary changes in Three Rivers have caused particular problems. I might attempt a complete redrawing I've gone right back in time to 'like' Pete Whitehead's 'minimal change' plan for Hertfordshire (a county with which, like him, I have strong ties). A couple of small tweaks, however: I don't like Cadwell ward in NE Herts so I'd keep that in Hitch & Harp. NE Herts also takes Chesfield from Hitch & Harp, which means it can lose Watton-at-Stone and Hertford Rural N to get Stevenage just above the minimum. (It will also get the pitchforks out in Watton-at-Stone but that's life. A certain quota of leafy Herts villages will have to be included in Stevenage whatever you do.) Keeping Cadwell in Hitch & Harp means that Ashwell can be released to go into W Herts (Pete calls it 'SW Herts' above), thus getting it up to quota without ward splits. That's it. All other boundaries are as Pete had them back on 24 Feb. The numbers for the seats altered from his plan are: Hitchin and Harpenden - 72609 North East Hertfordshire - 72116 Stevenage - 71209 West Hertfordshire - 72404 And a note on names - I don't like 'Broxbourne' and I wish it were called 'SE Herts' or even 'Cheshunt'; but I'm also aiming to avoid unnecessary changes and 'Broxbourne', although relatively obscure, is at least a proper place. (It's a former village and parish south of Hoddesdon, now part of the anonymous suburban sprawl covering this whole area.) I'd extend the same grudging tolerance to, say, 'Gedling' in Notts; it's an unhelpfully obscure name for a district and constituency, but there is a distinct village (and parish) of that name. But 'Hertsmere' is a completely invented name - there's no such place and never has been. I suppose the LA is entitled to call itself by whatever silly name it likes, but I'd call the constituency 'South Hertfordshire'. ('Castle Point' in Essex is another horse from the same stable, except that the derivation of 'Castle Point' (look it up on 'wikipedia') is, if anything, even more fatuous and jejune than that of 'Hertsmere'.) |
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Apr 18, 2016 8:54:24 GMT
Those same amendments were already advanced by Greatkingrat and I had adopted them (I might possibly go for the minor amendment of keeping Walkern in NE Herts and putting Hertford Rural North in Stevenage, just to give NE Herts a more regular shape.)
I agree that Hertsmere is a silly name but it is what it is and is well established now. Given the meaning of the name, there is no reason why adding Carpenders Park necessitates a change. I always prefer the name of significant settlements where possible and as someone from 'Hertsmere' originally (specifically Bushey), I would have had no objection at all if the seat had been known as 'Elstree' after what is (when including Borehamwood) both the largest settlement and both the geographical and administrative centre of the borough and also somewhere which, through its film industry associations, has some resonance beyond the area.
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Post by islington on Apr 18, 2016 14:43:49 GMT
Sorry if others had got to the same place before me. Great minds, &c.
It will be interesting to see what the BCE comes up with.
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Adrian
Co-operative Party
Posts: 1,742 
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Post by Adrian on Apr 18, 2016 17:04:08 GMT
Pete and I are honorary members of the Letchworth and Hitchin Reunification Society (LAHRS), I see. Here's my attempt.
Hertsmere 75219
Watford 71882
Three Rivers 73862
Hemel 73862
Harpenden 72026
Broxbourne 72664
St Albans 73012
Welwyn 72614
Stevenage 72367
North Herts 73020
East Herts 73203
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Apr 18, 2016 19:29:01 GMT
I like Hertford and Welwyn, and I really like St Albans and Hatfield. But, um, Stevenage and Kimpton?
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Post by East Anglian Lefty on Apr 18, 2016 21:45:47 GMT
I'm all for uniting Hitchin and Letchworth, but I'm not sure a map that splits Bushey in two is really an improvement.
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Apr 18, 2016 22:19:36 GMT
It certainly isn't and I'm not even sure the Hitchin & Letchworth seat is an improvement when it stretches to include Buntingford. Regarding St Albans and Hatfield, there are good links between the two towns, but it doesn't make sense to detach St Albans from so much of it's natural hinterland to force that link. I did show my non-minimum change plan earlier in the thread, before the boundary assistant site was updated and I've made a couple of changes (which presumably Adrian was alluding to).  Hemel is just under quota and I'd suggest adding Sarratt parish to make up the numbers (I think just the PD covering Sarratt itself, ie just the area north of the M25 would be enough actually) Hatfield Villages being detached is a change from my previous plan, which enables me to keep Marshalswick North in St Albans instead of Elstree. Most of that ward is fairly separate from Hatfield proper and the A1 is a logical boundary so while it's not ideal, I reckon it to be an improvement on my earlier plan. There's no need for the Hitchin seat to extend further East than Baldock |
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Adrian
Co-operative Party
Posts: 1,742
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Post by Adrian on Apr 18, 2016 22:40:54 GMT
Hertfordshire is a fun puzzle. It's like two interlocking east and west circles that you can turn clockwise or anticlockwise. The problem, of course, is to find solutions where all 11 seats are in range and all the many towns are kept in one piece. (Plus, ideally, some respect is shown to the district boundaries.)
I did fail with Bushey, sorry, though it is fair to say that the people of North Bushey don't have very far to travel to get to Watford. And as for Kimpton (and Buntingford and London Colney, for that matter): numbers, boy, the numbers. I do like ward-splitting, but I don't think I can get aay with it in Herts' case.
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Post by islington on Apr 19, 2016 12:07:15 GMT
I've just 'liked' Pete Whitehead's Essex plan (2 Mar) and also East Anglian Lefty's (version 3)(27 Feb).
In offering my own suggestion, I acknowledge my debt to these two plans.
HARWICH AND CLACTON - As per Pete. 77200
COLCHESTER - Unchanged. 72295
NORTH EAST ESSEX - The remainder of Tendring and Colchester districts except for Tiptree. 73462
MALDON AND WITHAM - The whole of Maldon district plus (from Colchester district) Tiptree and (from Braintree district) the four Witham wards and Hatfield Peverel. 75832
SAFFRON WALDEN - The whole of Uttlesford district and (from Braintree district) Rayne, Three Fields, Yeldham, Bumpstead. 72780
BRAINTREE - The rest of Braintree district. 75132
HARLOW - The current Harlow seat minus Lwr Nazeing but plus Moreton, N Weald, Shelley, Chipping Ongar, High Ongar, Passingford. 77102
EPPING - The rest of Epping Forest district. 78327
THURROCK - Unchanged. 75935
BRENTWOOD - The rest of Thurrock UA and Brentwood district except for Brizes, Tipps Cross, Ingatestone. 74863
BASILDON - As per Pete. 71441
BENFLEET - Castle Point district plus West Leigh. This is as per Pete, but I've changed the name because (a) it's no longer coterminous with the Castle Point LA and (b) 'Castle Point' is, with the possible exception of 'Three Rivers' (Herts), the most absurd, meaningless and jejune LA name in the country. 74488
SOUTHEND WEST - As per Pete, although I think this is probably a better name for it. You could call it simply 'Southend' at a push. 78267
SOUTHEND EAST AND ROCHFORD - The rest of Southend and Rochford district up to and including Rochford itself and the Hockley wards, but not Hullbridge. If the previous seat is 'Southend' this is simply 'Rochford'. 71423
RAYLEIGH AND WICKFORD - The rest of Rochford district; the three Wickford wards and Crouch from Basildon; and the two S Woodham wards and Rettendon from Chelmsford. 76183
CHELMSFORD - Unchanged. 78107
MID ESSEX - Everything else: i.e. acres and acres of central Essex, mostly in Chelmsford distrct plus the off-cuts of Brentwood (three wards); but also including the Billericay wards and Burstead from Basildon. I humbly offer this creation for the delectation of supporters of the proposition that 'Mid' in a seat name is code for 'everything left over'. You could call it 'Billericay' if you prefer. 71760
That's it. I like to think I've captured the best of Pete's and Lefty's schemes (they may disagree, of course). I'm pleased that three seats (Chelmsford, Colchester, Thurrock) remain unchanged; I agree with Lefty that the troublesome East Thurrock area goes better with Brentwood than with anywhere else; and I'm particularly pleased to have achieved such a neat and compact Rayleigh & Wickford seat.
Comments are of course welcome.
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Post by islington on Apr 19, 2016 13:13:28 GMT
And another afterthought - You could put Kursaal ward in the Southend East seat, thus increasing its Southend element and getting it a lot nearer to the town centre.
SOUTHEND EAST AND ROCHFORD - 78335
SOUTHEND WEST - 71355
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Post by islington on Apr 19, 2016 16:05:02 GMT
Ah, well, this is embarrassing....
On closer examination of Lefty's version 3, I find I've replicated it virtually ward-for-ward. Sorry. I must have been looking at the wrong map I think. Lefty has got there ahead of me on pretty well every key point, including the very compact Rayleigh & Wickford that I was so pleased with.
We have different plans for the Epping / Harlow area but these have no knock-on implications for the rest of the county because Epping Forest and Harlow can be treated as a self-contained unit with two whole seats. Other than that, it's just the odd ward here and there. Maldon & Witham needs an orphan ward to get it up to quota, and I'm taking this from Colchester (Tiptree) whereas Lefty takes a Chelmsford ward. This allows Chelmsford to retain Galleywood - but we really are talking about marginal differences.
Apologies to all, especially Lefty.
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Post by East Anglian Lefty on Apr 19, 2016 17:03:37 GMT
It's worth pointing out that the Tiptree ward the BCE will be using (i. e. the old one) splits Tiptree village. So on those grounds Galleywood might be the better option, or you could put another Colchester ward (probably Marks Tey) into a Braintree seat.
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Post by islington on Apr 23, 2016 10:36:15 GMT
It's worth pointing out that the Tiptree ward the BCE will be using (i. e. the old one) splits Tiptree village. So on those grounds Galleywood might be the better option, or you could put another Colchester ward (probably Marks Tey) into a Braintree seat. Lefty - I'm not sure about this... If a Colchester ward is needed, and I think it is, Tiptree is prime candidate because of its location, and the great majority of this village, including its central area, is in the ward. It's only a couple of peripheral housing estates that are excluded, and to my mind this is much less of an issue than putting a boundary right through the middle of a town or village. And in this case, I think it's worth giving Tiptree a light trim for the benefits of keeping Chelmsford unaltered and keeping Braintree all within one district. But these are minor points. The exact placement of these marginal wards does not detract from the excellence of your overall Essex plan. (Incidentally, I've also adopted your suggested changes to my proposed Norwich North. I still don't agree about Wisbech, though ...) |
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Post by East Anglian Lefty on Apr 23, 2016 13:06:27 GMT
It's worth pointing out that the Tiptree ward the BCE will be using (i. e. the old one) splits Tiptree village. So on those grounds Galleywood might be the better option, or you could put another Colchester ward (probably Marks Tey) into a Braintree seat. Lefty - I'm not sure about this... If a Colchester ward is needed, and I think it is, Tiptree is prime candidate because of its location, and the great majority of this village, including its central area, is in the ward. It's only a couple of peripheral housing estates that are excluded, and to my mind this is much less of an issue than putting a boundary right through the middle of a town or village. And in this case, I think it's worth giving Tiptree a light trim for the benefits of keeping Chelmsford unaltered and keeping Braintree all within one district. But these are minor points. The exact placement of these marginal wards does not detract from the excellence of your overall Essex plan. (Incidentally, I've also adopted your suggested changes to my proposed Norwich North. I still don't agree about Wisbech, though ...) They aren't that peripheral on the ground and it's about 15% of the village. It wouldn't be the end of the world, but I'd tend to suggest that avoiding splitting a village (on lines that are not particularly strong) is worse than a minor alteration to a constituency. Similarly, I'm not sure that having the Maldon seat take in three districts and Braintree only one is better than having both take in two districts. For what it's worth, I'm not entirely sure I agree about Wisbech. I've had a rethink about quite a lot of the arrangements in Cambridgeshire and Norfolk and at some point I'll probably post my new ideas. |
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Post by greenhert on May 18, 2016 15:14:36 GMT
Revised plan for Cambridgeshire, Huntingdonshire, and Norfolk:
1. Cambridge (72,757). Entire district of the city of Cambridge.
2. Isle of Ely (76,767). All East Cambridgeshire wards except for Soham and the surrounding villages, and all Fenland wards not in Wisbech & Downham Market. Drawn to reflect the old Isle of Ely area as much as possible.
3. South East Cambridgeshire (77,657). All East Cambridgeshire wards not in the Isle of Ely and all South Cambridgeshire wards eastwards and northeastwards of Cambridge.
4. South West Cambridgeshire & St Ives (76,142). All South Cambridgeshire wards westwards of Cambridge, and St Ives in Huntingdon.
5. Huntingdon & St Neots (71,538). The southern part of Huntingdon(shire).
6. North Huntingdonshire (75,862). All Peterborough wards not in the Peterborough constituency and all Huntingdon wards not in Huntingdon & St Neots.
7. Peterborough (77,607). Adds Fletton ward to its boundaries.
8. Wisbech & Downham Market (72,316). Wisbech and the surrounding villages within Fenland, and Downham Market and surrounding villages within the King's Lynn & West Norfolk district.
9. North West Norfolk (74,870). Loses Spellowfields to Wisbech & Downham Market, gains the North Norfolk wards of the current Broadland constituency.
10. North East Norfolk (71,238). Also adds Astley and Wensum wards from the current Broadland constituency.
11. Thetford & Diss (73,399). Most of Breckland district except for Dereham and the surrounding villages, and the South Norfolk wards of Bressingham & Burston, Diss, Roydon, and Scole.
12. Wymondham (76,656). All of South Norfolk district except for the wards of Bressingham & Burston, Diss, Roydon, Scole, Old Costessey and New Costessey.
13. Dereham (77,603). All Breckland wards not in Thetford & Diss, and all Broadland wards not in Norwich North or Yarmouth.
14. Norwich South (71,780). All city of Norwich wards except for Catton Grove, Mile Cross, and Sewell.
15 Norwich North (78,229). The Norwich wards of Catton Grove, Mile Cross, and Sewell, the South Norfolk wards of Old Costessey and New Costessey, and all wards covering the towns of Drayton, Hellesdon, Sprowston, and Thorpe St Andrew.
16. Yarmouth (76,227). The entire Great Yarmouth district and the Broadland wards of Acle, Burlingham, and Marshes.
Abolished constituencies: North East Cambridgeshire, South West Norfolk, Broadland, Mid Norfolk. |
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Post by East Anglian Lefty on May 18, 2016 18:07:03 GMT
Your descriptions of the seats aren't entirely clear. In most cases I can work it out with the electorate figures, but I have no idea what boundaries you're talking about in South Cambridgeshire. You need to name some wards or provide a map.
I've said it before, but you still can't put St Ives in a South Cambridgeshire seat unless you're going to include Fenstanton too - there are no links via Earith and no other road crossing of the Great Ouse between Earith and St Ives.
I can't see any good reason to put Costessey in Norwich North, but if you must do that (though again, why?) then it should be Mile Cross that goes into South, not Crome - otherwise Thorpe St Andrew is very isolated.
Your approach in South Norfolk is not minimum change, nor is it an improvement on the present arrangements. Look where the major road and rail connections are and swap Diss for Wymondham.
Some of the names are fairly silly. There's no point trying to pretend Huntingdonshire isn't part of Cambridgeshire; you can't call a seat Dereham when it extends east of Norwich and most of the other name changes are completely unnecessary.
Otherwise it's a reasonably good map.
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Post by krollo on May 19, 2016 20:47:07 GMT
 A first-draft attempt at East Anglia. (Minimum change? Pah) It certainly looks odd, but I think Peterborough is one of the cities where an Outer/Central split makes sense, as with York. It does mean the Huntingdon urban area is split, but the contorted seat that all but draws itself never appealed much to me anyway... |
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Post by East Anglian Lefty on May 19, 2016 21:01:25 GMT
I'm not convinced that'll fly (Whittlesey would kick up a fuss and you've split Werrington into the bargain), but it produces a surprisingly good map in the rest of Cambridgeshire. I'm not sure what you're talking about when you mention the 'Huntingdon urban area', because it's all very clearly in the same seat. The only other complaint I'd make (passing over Suffolk entirely) is that Shipdham-with-Scarning appears to include an area that's basically Dereham and hence ought to be in the same seat as it.
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Post by greenhert on May 19, 2016 21:02:26 GMT
East Anglian Lefty, with the modifications you have suggested plus a bit more (e.g. making sure the village of Hethersett is connected in Thetford & Wymondham, and moving the Harston & Hauxton ward into SW Cambridgeshire), this means: Thetford & Diss is changed to Thetford & Wymondham (electorate of 73,548). The old South Norfolk, having lost some wards to Thetford & Wymondham and a few to an expanded Yarmouth constituency, gains some Broadland wards to compensate and becomes South East Norfolk (electorate of 77,598) Yarmouth's electorate is 76,350 in this scenario. Mid Norfolk's new electorate is 76,839 (largest town is still Dereham); Norwich North's new electorate is 78,223, and Norwich South's new electorate is 71,776. Costessey is really to the north of the city of Norwich hence its inclusion in Norwich North. SE Cambridgeshire's electorate is 75,794; SW Cambridgeshire & St Ives's electorate is 75,620; Huntingdon & St Neots' electorate is 76,762; North Huntingdonshire's new electorate is 73,023; other seats are as my revised proposals. NB: A seat still bears the name Westmorland as part of its name (Westmorland & Lonsdale) even though it does not contain the traditional county town and contains parts of what is really Lancashire. North Huntingdonshire's name is actually more justified as what is contained in it was entirely in Huntingdonshire, not Cambridgeshire (and is still either in the Huntingdon district, which has preserved the old county, or the outskirts of Peterborough which were also part of Huntingdonshire before they became absorbed into Peterborough) before the reforms of the 1972 Local Government Act.
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