Sunday 20 January 2013
Commissioners' concern with proposals for new Tynwald constituencies
The Commissioners are somewhat surprised by the proposal of the Boundary Review Committee to include residents of Maughold in the north constituency, thus splitting the ancient Sheading of Garff and the two wards in Maughold from any linkage with the wards of Laxey and Lonan. Follow this link for a map of the proposals and read about the proposals here.
This is troubling because if Maughold were left with Laxey and Lonan the resulting constituency would be very close to the ideal constituency size, as identified by the BRC, of 7,041. This option is a better fit against the Committee's own criteria and clearly demonstrates that there is no reason to split the Sheading as a Tynwald constituency.
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The Commissioners are somewhat surprised by the proposal of the Boundary Review Committee to include residents of Maughold in the north constituency, thus splitting the ancient Sheading of Garff and the two wards in Maughold from any linkage with the wards of Laxey and Lonan. Follow this link for a map of the proposals and read about the proposals here.This is troubling because if Maughold were left with Laxey and Lonan the resulting constituency would be very close to the ideal constituency size, as identified by the BRC, of 7,041. This option is a better fit against the Committee's own criteria and clearly demonstrates that there is no reason to split the Sheading as a Tynwald constituency.
The constituency of Garff includes, Maughold, Laxey and Lonan. At the moment this is one constituency for MHK and the three authorities within it work closely together on a local authority level to provide services at an extremely cost effective level. The proposals to split the constituency of
Garff take no account of the current effectiveness of the
constituency and or the overwhelming wishes of constituents.
It is also the view of the Commissioners that the
geographical size of the proposed North constituency is far too large,
encompassing as it does almost 40% of the
land mass of the Island. This factor would greatly increase the diffulty
of representing the area for its elected MHKs. In addition, Maughold is geographically separated from the northern constituencies by the long ridge running from Clagh Ouyr to North Barrule and sits more naturally with the other Garff areas.
Feedback to the Commissioners over the years has always
indicated the population is highly satisfied with the way the Garff
constituency boundary works and serves them. No resident has asked for Garff to
be split and when an option to keep Garff together meets the BRCs own criteria they question why it
has been ignored.
The Commissioners will be seeking an urgent meeting with the
Boundary Review Committee and will be liaising closely with their partners in
Laxey and Lonan, as well as the Steve Rodan SHK, the current representative in
the Keys for Garff. They encourage all residents to read and respond to the
consultation on the proposes changes which can be accessed on gov.im. Further
information and details can be obtained from the clerk via maughold@manx.net or on 422148.
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