Southport to lose Ainsdale from Parliamentary seat as ‘Southport and Douglas’ plan rejected

Southport will lose Ainsdale from its Parliamentary constituency and gain four new wards from West Lancashire as The Boundary Commission for England today published its final recommendations for new constituency boundaries. 

Proposals to rename the seat as ‘Southport and Douglas’ have been rejected. 

Ainsdale will now join the Sefton Central constituency, despite “a large number of representations in opposition”, while Southport will gain four new wards from the District of West Lancashire in Banks, Hesketh Bank, Tarleton and Rufford. 

A final report published today by The Hon. Mr Justice Lane said: “On Merseyside we do not consider that there has been a significant level of opposition to our revised proposals, nor any significant or new evidence. 

“We note the calls for the cross-county boundary constituency of Southport to be renamed Southport and Douglas, but do not consider that this change of name is either suitable or required, as we considered that reference to Douglas would mean little to anyone other than to those living in the immediate area.

“As a consequence of our proposals for the Southport constituency, the existing Sefton Central constituency, which could be left wholly unchanged, was subject to minor change in our initial proposals. The proposed Sefton Central constituency included the Ainsdale ward from the existing Southport constituency, and no longer included the Molyneux ward, which we included in our proposed Liverpool Norris Green constituency. The Bootle constituency was wholly unchanged.”

The proposals will see Southport increased to 10 wards, with the addition of: North Meols, Hesketh-Becconsall, Tarleton and Rufford Wards. They would add to: Birkdale, Cambridge, Dukes, Kew, Meols and Norwood Wards.

In Sefton Central, the new wards will be: 

Ainsdale, Blundellsands, Harington, Manor, Park, Ravenmeols and Sudell. 

Proposals to change the Southport constituency by the Boundary Commission have been published

The Hon. Mr Justice Lane recognised the opposition to losing Ainsdale from the Southport constituency but pressed ahead with the original recommendation. 

He said: “We received a large number of representations in opposition to the inclusion of the Ainsdale ward in the Sefton Central constituency, with detailed evidence provided that this ward should be included with Southport. 

“Some of these representations highlighted that both the Southport and Sefton Central constituencies are within the permitted electorate range and therefore do not need to change.

“However, crossing the county boundary between Southport and Lancashire was supported and it was generally acknowledged that this county boundary crossing would enable a pattern of constituencies across much of the North West that would result in less disruption overall and better reflect the statutory factors than a pattern based on no such crossing.

“There was continued opposition to the Southport and Sefton Central configurations, on both the grounds of the extension across the county boundary, and the fact Ainsdale remained outside the constituency. 

“However, no new compelling evidence, or viable counter proposals were received. 

“There were further calls to rename Southport as Southport and Douglas.”

Secretary to the Commission, Tim Bowden, said, ‘The recommendations we have published today mark the end of a thorough and consultative process to build the new map of Parliamentary constituencies. 

“We have taken into account over 60,000 public comments, travelled the country, and heard many passionate views about how best to reflect local community ties in our recommendations. We are confident that our final recommendations are the best reflection of the statutory rules Parliament has set us. We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has participated in the 2023 Boundary Review.”
The Government now has four months to bring forward an Order to give effect to the final recommendations.

The Report that follows is the culmination of over two years of hard work since the review commenced in January 2021. 

The Hon. Mr Justice Lane said: “The English constituencies that we propose must be within 5% of the electoral quota. This means that the number of registered Parliamentary electors on the electoral roll for each constituency in England must be between 69,724 and 77,062. In England there are two exceptions: the Isle of Wight by law must have two (whole) constituencies. Otherwise, our recommended constituencies must satisfy this requirement across England.

In formulating patterns of constituencies across England, we inevitably have to make choices.” 

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