Main MP constituencies to remain unchanged

The boundaries of two parliamentary constituencies in Oldham will not be changed as part of a national review.

The Boundary Commission has recommended continuing with the status quo for the Oldham West and Royton and Oldham East and Saddleworth seats, after previously putting forward an alternative which it said had ‘merit’.

The news was welcomed by the Oldham West and Royton MP Jim McMahon.

“Previous proposals to remove the Royton North and South Wards showed no understanding of the community connections in the area and I am glad they have been shelved,” he said.

However, he added that he was ‘disappointed’ the Commission had not followed up a suggestion to change his constituency name to include Chadderton to make it more reflective of its electorate.

The commission had recommended that the two main existing constituencies would remain ‘wholly unchanged’.

But it had also ‘proactively identified’ an alternativewhereby the Alexandra and St Mary’s wards, which sit within the existing Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency – represented by Debbie Abrahams – could be exchanged with the Royton North and Royton South wards, both currently within the existing Oldham West and Royton constituency.

“Despite the numerical support for the alternative configuration of two Oldham constituencies laid out in the initial proposals report, the Assistant Commissioners were persuaded by the quality of the evidence presented that maintaining both of the Oldham constituencies entirely unchanged would be the solution most in keeping with the statutory factors,” the latest report states.

While the town main Oldham seats will continue unchanged, those residents living in Failsworth who are currently represented by Ashton-under-Lyne, Droylsden and Failsworth MP Angela Rayner will see a change.

The Commission states that the electorate in the Ashton-under-Lyne constituency is ‘below the permitted range’.

Therefore it had proposed to add in the wards of Mossley, Stalybridge North, Dukinfield Stalybridge and Dukinfield ward.

This would have no longer included the Failsworth East or Failsworth West wards, or the Droylsden East and Droylsden West wards.

The draft proposals suggested that a new constituency could be created called the Failsworth and Droylsden constituency to take on these four wards.

It would also include the Clayton and Openshaw, and Gorton and Abbey Hey wards which are in Manchester.

The Miles Platting and Newton Heath ward would have been divided between the new Failsworth and Droylsden constituency and the Manchester Central constituency.

The proposals had been opposed by MPs, including the current Ashton MP Angela Rayner.

Consequently in its revised proposals, the Commission states that Failsworth would be included in a ‘Manchester Central’ constituency which would include the Ancoats and Beswick, Cheetham, Clayton and Openshaw, Deansgate, Miles Platting and Newton Heath, Piccadilly, and the two Failsworth wards. 

“The Assistant Commissioners were persuaded by evidence that Failsworth is closely linked to east Manchester, and site visits to the area confirmed this,” the review states.

The final consultation on this review ends on December 5, 2022.

After that a final report would be sent to parliament and published by July 1, 2023 with the findings and recommendations.

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