CONTROVERSIAL plans to include Conservative leaning areas in a new Worcester constituency have been retained in the latest proposed boundary changes.
The Boundary Commission has revealed its latest plan to cut the number of MPs from 650 to 600 through redrawing constituency boundaries.
Earlier proposals which would have seen the Worcester constituency, unchanged since its formation in 1992, take on Conservative voting areas of Norton, Whittington and Drakes Broughton were amended in revised plans released yesterday.
Under the new plans, Drakes Broughton will be included in the proposed new Evesham constituency while Norton and Whittington will remain in the new constituency.
Proposals for Norton and Whittington to be added sparked controversy last year with Labour and the Green Party claiming the inclusion would mean Worcester would no longer be classed as a marginal seat.
The areas are Conservative leaning meaning current Worcester MP Robin Walker could see his majority bolstered by as much as the 2,370 electors who live in the ward.
In their report, the Boundary Commission noted the objections to the inclusion of Drakes Broughton in the proposed new constituency.
Local resident Pat Davis said: “As a large, rural area which looks to the local market town of Pershore for its services, Drakes Broughton Ward has little affinity with Worcester.
“Most people living in the Drakes Broughton Ward would say they live in or near Pershore.”
A number of residents who responded to the first consultation expressed support for the inclusion of the Norton and Whittington ward in the Worcester constituency.
Robert Campbell said: “It makes sense to add Norton and Whittington. This ward is within easy reach of Worcester City Centre.
“People living in this ward use Worcester’s schools, NHS services, leisure, sport and shopping facilities and consider themselves to live in Worcester, even though they lie just outside the city council’s administrative boundary.
“The Norton and Whittington ward has a number of recently built housing estates, with more planned, that constitute urban extensions to Worcester and were designed largely to meet Worcester’s housing needs,” he added.
The proposals face an uncertain future with a number of parties already calling on Prime Minister Theresa May to scrap the changes.
Sam Hartley, Secretary to the Boundary Commission for England, said: “Based on what people have said to us, we have revised more than half of our initial proposals.
“The new map of the country we publish today is, we think, close to the best set of Parliamentary constituencies we can achieve, based on the rules to which we work and the evidence given to us by local citizens.
City residents can visit www.bce2018.org.uk to view the proposals and the comments received during the earlier consultation.
Voters have until December 11 to have their say before the Boundary Commission submits its final proposals to Parliament next September.
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