Comment DBCC-7961

Dear Commission, Consultants.

I am writing to support, the Initial Proposals of the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru, as a member of the Welsh public.

It is important for south Wales valleys constituency pairings to run north-south up and down the valleys, so pairing Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare with Pontypridd reflects local ties in valley communities.
In Cardiff, I support the Commission pairing Cardiff West with Cardiff South and Penarth, as they are closely linked by the A4232, but separated from the rest of Cardiff by the river Taff.
In my opinion, The Commission must pair Ynys Mon and Bangor Aberconwy, since the only road (and rail) links from Ynys Mon to the mainland are through Bangor Aberconwy, and the applicable primary legislation requires paired constituencies to be contiguous. If the Commission were instead to pair Ynys Mon with another constituency, so people needed to travel through Bangor Aberconwy to get from one part of their constituency to another, then that constituency would not be contiguous.
I believe the Commission therefore has no choice but to pair the UK Parliamentary constituencies along the coast of north Wales in the way that it has.

Once Ynys Mon is paired with Bangor Aberconwy, the Commission has to pair Clwyd North with Clwyd East, since Clwyd North is not contiguous with any other Westminster constituency except Bangor Aberconwy, which must be paired with Ynys Mon.

As Clwyd North is paired with Clwyd East, the Commission would have to pair Alyn and Deeside with Wrexham. Alyn and Deeside is not contiguous with any other UK parliamentary constituency in Wales except Clwyd East, which is already paired with Clwyd North.

The large constituency size reflects the sparse population of much of rural Wales, due to the rules applied to form UK parliamentary constituencies,
Given the above, Dwyfor Meirionnydd can only be paired with either Montgomeryshire and Glyndwr or Ceredigion Preseli.

I support the Commission’s proposal, since the only alternative is pairing Dwyfor Meirionnydd with Ceredigion Preseli. This would create a constituency running from Caernarfon to Fishguard which, while similar in total area, would require even longer travel distances and times to get around.

I also support the Commission’s other proposals for pairing constituencies affected by the sparse population of mid and west Wales.
The Commission has successfully taken into account local government boundaries and upheld local ties by proposing ‘Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire’ and ‘Carmarthenshire’ as constituencies. I strongly support these.

The Commission is right in principle in its Initial proposals. Where possible, it is better to respect the topography of the valleys, by using those valleys to link constituencies on a north-south basis, rather than forcing constituencies to pair east-west across valleys which do not share the same local ties and community links.

This is clear with the pairings of ‘Merthyr Tydfil, Aberdare and Pontypridd’ and ‘Blaenau Gwent, Rhymney and Caerphilly’, where the paired constituencies largely run north-south with the contours of the valleys, thus respecting local ties and communities, and not splitting them as alternative east-west pairings would tend to do.

Similarly, I support both the Commission’s proposed Newport and Islwyn pairing, and the natural and historically linked pairing of Monmouthshire and Torfaen.
I believe that the Commission is also correct to pair the closely tied communities of Vale of Glamorgan and Bridgend, rather than forcing an unnatural tie between the rural Vale of Glamorgan and a constituency from the Cardiff capital.
I believe the combination of the Aberafan, Maesteg, Rhondda and Ogmore areas as a constituency with a linked industrial heritage also supports local ties.

I hope this support will help in final decisions.

Best Regards,
Diolch.
[REDACTED]
27.09.2024

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