Newcastle Borough Council has voted to oppose the Boundary Commission proposals to merge part of the Newcastle Constituency with Stone and part (including this ward) merged with Tunstall and Kidsgrove.

The motion to oppose the Boundary Commission was proposed by Cllr Eddie Boden (Labour) and seconded by Cllr David Becket (Lib Dem). It received support from Lib Dem, Labour and UKIP councillors. Apart from one Tory who abstained the Tories voted to accept the Boundary Commission proposals.

The next step is to produce an alternative proposal that meets Boundary Commission criteria in respect of constituency size, and to take into account changes forced on other constituencies.

David has produced a draft proposal for the Lib Dems and Labour have produced an almost identical proposal (There is basically only one option).

Both our proposals resolve the other contentious issue, the suggestion that central Burslem should be divided across two constituencies.

We hope shortly to mount a campaign based on one proposal.