Ampersand and the Villages: How a new style of constituency names came to be
6 min read
People care about constituency names and they don’t much like change. In the first of three pieces on the latest set, David Natzler explains the thinking – and the history – behind the new nomenclature
No reader of the The House needs to be told that constituency names matter. Members are supposed to address one another in debate by reference to their constituency; they have been assisted in recent years by the annunciator showing the constituency below the name of the member speaking. Some are easier to say out loud than others, especially where they are a mouthful of teeth: North Thanet is gone but we have North Northumberland. That is of course equally true of Members’ names.
Hansard prints the constituency name in full after a Member’s name, and so does the order paper. The name of the constituency adons the map in many Members’ offices. They are the defining skeleton around which much of parliamentary life is constructed. Long-serving and retired Members and staff will recall vanished constituency names in their dreams.
People mind about them. The number of public consultation responses which refer solely to the name of a proposed constituency demonstrates that. They attract not only anoraks but also academics such as Professor Philip Cowley, who complains about the inexorably growing number of “ands” and the increasing average length of a constituency name. There are now few short names: Bath is the shortest, with four runners-up (Fylde, Poole, Rugby and Wigan). The two longest will be revealed in the third piece in this series.
Peacehaven was briefly called New Anzac-on-Sea, so we have at least dodged that bullet
Every review brings new place names – “newcomers” – to the parliamentary gazetteer, as well as reviving old ones – “returners” – some of which have not been constituencies in living memory. The main reason is that the constituency has been significantly changed.
Newcomers also arise from an existing constituency being stretched just too far for its name to be left unchanged, or because a constituency crosses local authority boundaries. I try in these three articles to effect an introduction to most, if not all, newcomers. (Already current place names are in italics.) I can mention only a few returners and silently mourn the loss of some antique names: Berwick-upon-Tweed, Ludlow, Wells…
I can affirm as a former assistant boundary commissioner that the four Boundary Commissions care about names and do their best, following their own guidelines. It is not just about names. The compass point precedes in a county and follows in a borough constituency. Order also matters. For example: it is Solihull West and Shirley – a Warwickshire town whose name long antedates Charlotte Brontë’s novel of that name, and is incidentally the childhood home of Mandy Rice-Davies – because it is a borough constituency and most of the constituency is not really Shirley; but Meriden and Solihull East because it is a county constituency, most of which comes from the former Meriden constituency, although Meriden itself is no more than a large village. The ordering of Walsall and Bloxwich is in part because Walsall borough embraces Bloxwich – a former Black Country industrial centre which specialised in the production of awls – and there were for many years two Walsall seats. Due respect.
The Commission’s convention is that a constituency is not renamed if it remains effectively unchanged; but it is not a binding rule. Wantage has become Didcot and Wantage, acknowledging the primacy of Didcot at the centre of the science triangle which includes Harwell and Culham. Hove now includes the name of Portslade to its west, and on the other side of the city Brighton, Kemptown includes Peacehaven – without the borders of either constituency having changed. Peacehaven was briefly called New Anzac-on-Sea, so we have at least dodged that bullet. The name of Leigh has been added to Southend West, where it had always lived discreetly as Leigh-on-Sea. Leigh in Lancashire has regained Atherton, a former nuts and bolts town, which is fortunate to have gained separate recognition; Leigh and Atherton has the ring of a Lancashire pair grinding out a big stand at Old Trafford. The insertion of Chadderton between Oldham West and Royton arose from local campaigning; the constituency is unchanged. Knottingley did not really need to be the new third wheel for Pontefract and Castleford once Normanton was removed; having lost the Ferrybridge cooling towers and Kellingley colliery perhaps the town deserved a break. Ilkley – yes, of On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘at – has been in Keighley for decades without needing a name-check.
At the final stage of proposals, the name of Uttoxeter – a Staffordshire racecourse and centre of JCB production – was added to the unchanged Burton constituency. It may have escaped the eagle AI of the Gambling Commission that at least four other racecourses have appeared as newcomers: names familiar to betting shop clients. In Yorkshire, Wetherby replaces Elmet, linked with Easingwold, a pleasant market town in the Howardian Hills; Fakenham, joined with Broadland in North Norfolk, has its racecourse just over the Wensum; Edinburgh East gains half of Musselburgh, a returner, although alas not the half with the racecourse. The former framework knitting towns of Oadby and Wigston, joined with Harborough, are part of outer Leicester and include Leicester racecourse at Oadby.
Not to be outdone, cricket and rugby leagues gain Headingley, attached to Leeds Central. Wansbeck is more or less replaced by Blyth and Ashington. Blyth Spartans are a famous football club but they cannot compete with Ashington, the home of the Charlton brothers. In London, Queen’s Park, linked with Maida Vale, is a park near Kensal Green where Queens Park Rangers started their footballing life. The former Cinque Ports borough of Sandwich, a famous Championship links course, is a returner, joined with Herne Bay. Stirling is followed by Strathallan, the valley running north east past Dunblane – which was of course the childhood home of Sir Andy Murray – towards Perth along the A9, embracing the golf courses at Gleneagles. And Maesteg, joined with Aberafan (Aberavon), has many rugby connections, above all with JJ Williams, the speediest winger of the 1970s Welsh team.
In the next article I will continue looking at newcomer names, starting with several newcomers intended to clarify the actual whereabouts of a constituency.
Sir David Natzler KCB, clerk of the House of Commons 2015-19, an assistant boundary commissioner for the 2023 review. The views expressed do not represent the views of the Commission
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