Middleton’s name still stands to be wiped off the parliamentary map under a revised shake up of constituency boundaries. The Boundary Commission (BCE) is continuing a review of all constituencies in England in order to ‘rebalance the number of voters each MP represents’ - resulting in ‘significant changes’ to the current arrangements.
There was an outcry when the ‘crazy’ plan to split Middleton between new Manchester Blackley and Heywood constituencies was unveiled last summer. Prior to the creation of the Heywood and Middleton constituency in 1983, the historic town had come under Middleton and Prestwich for 65 years and the old Middleton county constituency between 1885 and 1918.
And there has been widespread dismay this week, after it emerged that the commission was sticking with its plans - which would see the name of Middleton disappear from parliament for the first time in 147 years. Among those to slam the proposal - which forms part of the commission’s final consultation - is Rochdale council leader Neil Emmott.
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"These proposals are extremely disappointing,” Coun Emmott told the Local Democracy Reporting Service. “It will be the first time the name of Middleton does not appear in the name of a parliamentary constituency since 1885, that's 147 years.
"Secondly, it's the first time ever that Middleton will be split in two for parliamentary purposes since it became part of the South Lancashire Constituency in the Great Reform Act of 1832, which is even before Queen Victoria came to the throne.”
However he called on Middleton folk not to give up hope of forcing a U-turn. “There is still time to write in opposing these proposals and I urge all Middleton residents to do so to keep our town whole and to keep the name of Middleton on the parliamentary map,” he said.
It’s a view shared by Middleton Independents Party, which has four members on the council following this year’s local elections.
Coun Peter Allonby, who represents North Middleton, said: “Middleton Independents Party are dismayed to see that it is still proposed to remove the name Middleton from the revised parliamentary constituencies and, indeed, to split the town in two under the plans.
“The history of Middleton pre-dates the Norman Conquest by some way and,until the mid 19th century, it was by far the most important town in the area. Far more so than Rochdale, Oldham or even Manchester. We lost our identity once in 1974 when we became part of Rochdale MBC.”
He added: “Now we are to have our name wiped off the parliamentary map and, worse still, have two MP’s for the different parts of town. This proposal is totally unacceptable.”
Coun Dylan Williams, Labour councillor East Middleton, said he was ‘gutted’ when he discovered the commission had not changed its mind, describing the news as ‘terrible’.
“It’s such a shame that Middleton is losing its name on the parliamentary map,” he said. “At the end of the day, Middleton is bigger than Heywood and it’s bigger than Blackley and it’s one of the bigger towns.
“It even splits Middleton town centre into two separate constituencies, because Middleton town centre comes under North ward and South ward. It’s really sad.”
A new BCE report says that assistant commissioners ‘noted the considerable body of objections – and the quality of the evidence – from Middleton residents opposed to the division of their town, and the calls to have their town’s name included in that of the constituency’.
But while they ‘acknowledged that the division of the town would not be an ideal outcome’ they considered the alternatives ‘would cause extensive disruption to neighbouring constituencies and therefore fail to provide a better overall pattern of constituencies for this wider area'.
The report adds: “They considered carefully whether the name of Middleton should be referenced in the name of either proposed constituency, but were ultimately not persuaded that it should be.”
It continues: “They therefore recommended no revisions to the initially proposed constituencies of Heywood, Rochdale, and Manchester Blackley. We agree with their recommendations.”
A third and final consultation on the new map of revised constituency proposals is open now until 5 December. The public are invited to view and comment on the new map at bcereviews.org.uk.
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