Electoral boundaries - unitary

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Electoral boundaries define the area that each councillor represents. They have to be organised so that the number of electors represented by each councillor in each area is as equal as possible.

The Electoral Commission has recently carried out a review of the electoral boundaries in Wiltshire, in light of the transition to one council. This involved an extensive period of public consultation.

The final recommendations of the Commission and the maps of the new electoral divisions are available on the Electoral Commission website.

The final order, which puts the Commission's recommendations into law, is available from the Office of Public Sector Information website.

Electoral boundaries - Parliamentary

There is currently a review taking place of all UK Parliamentary Boundaries.  The outcome of which will be implemented on/before the next Parliamentary Election in 2015.

The Boundary Commission for England (BCE) is carrying out a review of parliamentary constituencies, with a view to

• concluding in 2013
• reducing the total number of constituencies in England from 533 to 502
• having a similar number of electors in each constituency

The timeline for the review is as follows.

Timeline for the 2013 review

March 2011

1. Develop the initial proposals

The BCE will publish breakdowns of the electorate for each ward, local authority area and existing constituency.

The BCE will draw up their initial proposals for each of England’s nine regions and publish them for consultation.

2. Initial consultation period

The BCE will consult on the initial proposals for 12 weeks. During this time, public hearings take place. They will then collate all responses received, including transcripts of the public hearings.

2012

3. Secondary consultation period

The BCE will publish all the representations received on their initial proposals on the BCE website. During a four week period, the public can make further written representations with respect to the representations received and published.

Once all representations from both consultation periods are received, the BCE will analyse those representations and decide whether changes should be made to the initial proposals.

4. Publish revised proposals

If the BCE decide that the evidence presented is such that it is appropriate to change the initial proposals, they will publish revised proposals for the areas concerned, and consult on them for a further period of eight weeks. During that consultation period, there are no further public hearings, and no opportunity to comment on the representations of others.

October 2013

5. Final recommendations and report

Following the consultation on revised proposals, the BCE will consider all evidence received throughout the review, before making final recommendations to the government. They must do this by 1 October 2013.

After the government has received the final report, government must lay it before parliament.

If you would like to find out more about the process and proposals please go to the Boundary Commission for England website. You can see what is proposed for the south west including mapping

A guide to the 2013 review is also available on the website.

Under the proposals the south west of the county will form a new constituency with part of the current North Dorset constituency, to be called Warminster and Shaftesbury. The rest of the county (excluding Swindon) will consist of four constituencies, all different from the 2010 boundaries.

Information is to be held at all libraries and hubs within the county, and is also on the council’s website.

The BCE invites comments on their initial proposals over a 12 week period from 13 September to 5 December 2011. The council has appointed a working party to consider a response.

Last updated: 26 September 2011