The public consultation for our initial proposals has closed: What happens now?
Wotey Tannoh, Head of Corporate Services
Eight weeks ago, we published our initial proposals for new constituencies in England and invited you, the public, to send us your views via our consultation website bcereviews.org.uk. Our public consultation has now closed and we would like to say a big thank you to everyone who participated via our website, email or letter.
During our consultation, which ran between 8 June and 2 August, we received over 33,000 responses. We’re pleased that so many people took the time to respond. We asked you to tell us whether our suggested boundary lines and constituency names reflected your local community, and it’s your feedback which helps us to improve our initial proposals.
So, what happens next?
Our team members are now pouring over the thousands of responses we received. We’re working hard to prepare them for publication in early 2022, where there will be a further opportunity to have your say. At this time, we will hold a second consultation, including holding a number of public hearings across the country, and invite you to comment on the responses sent in by the public during our first consultation. This is a chance for you to look at the representations made by other members of the public, and to tell us whether or not you support them – and why.
After both these consultation stages have finished, our team will take each and every piece of feedback into consideration in order to decide on any changes to our proposals. Any changes will be published as revised proposals later in 2022. Then, at the end of the consultation process, we will present our final recommendations to Parliament by 1 July 2023.
For a more detailed look at the process and policies we follow, read our Guide to the Review here. To make sure that you’re keeping up to date with any 2023 Boundary Review developments, follow us (@BCEReviews) on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
This blog is part of a series which aims to illuminate the work going on behind the scenes at the Commission. Keep an eye out on this page to hear from members of the review and corporate teams about their role in the 2023 Boundary Review.