New Westminster boundaries:
Earlier this month the Boundary Commission for Wales announced the final boundaries for Welsh constituencies for the next UK Parliament General Election. It means the Aberavon constituency in its current form will no longer exist and will be replace with a new constituency called Aberafan Maesteg.
What is the boundary review?
The current constituency boundaries are based on electorates that date back to the year 2000, and which have been used since the 2010 General Election. The 2023 Boundary Review looked at the boundaries of all constituencies across the UK, aside from 5 specified exceptions (including Ynys Môn in Wales).
In an effort to make all Westminster constituencies roughly the same size in terms of the number of voters per constituency, the Review requires all seats to fall within the ‘statutory electoral range’, meaning that the new constituencies must have no fewer than 69,724 electors and no more than 77,062 electors.
For Wales, this re-drawing of the electoral map means that we will lose of 8 seats, so whilst Wales currently has 40 MPs representing Welsh constituencies in our Westminster Parliament, when the new boundaries come into force Wales we will drop to just 32 MPs.
The new boundaries will be up for review every 8 years, as opposed to the current 5 years. The next Welsh review is therefore due by October 2031.
What does this mean for Aberavon?
As a result of this process the existing Aberavon constituency will be replaced with the new Aberafan Maesteg constituency at the next General Election.
The communities of Aberavon, Briton Ferry, Baglan, Bryn, Cwmavon, Cymmer, Glyncorrwg, Gwynfi, Margam, Port Talbot, Sandfields and Taibach will be in the new Aberafan Maesteg constituency.
Pontrhydyfen and Tonmawr, (Pelenna from Neath) along with Cornelly and Pyle (from Bridgend), and Caerau, Nantyfyllon, Maesteg, Cwmfelin, Llangynwyd (Caerau, Maesteg and Llyngynwyd from Ogmore) will form the new Aberafan Maesteg constituency.
Finally, Skewen, Llandarcy, Jersey Marine and Crymlyn Burrows will join the new Neath and Swansea East constituency.
The lines have been drawn and the next General Election, whenever it is called, will be fought on these new boundaries.
This does not impact County Borough Council boundaries, which remain unchanged.
Commenting on the results of the boundary review, Stephen Kinnock MP said:
“For those communities that will make up the new Aberafan Maesteg constituency, I hugely look forward to being your Welsh Labour candidate at the next General Election and to knocking on doors across all your communities.
“I’m very sorry to be losing the communities of Skewen, Llandarcy, Jersey Marine and Crymlyn Burrow, but you will have a wonderful Welsh Labour candidate fighting your corner in Carolyn Harris.
“In the meantime, I want to reassure all the residents in the current Aberavon constituency that I remain you MP until the next General Election is called. So please do continue to get in touch with me via email, phone or letter, or by booking in to one of my regular advice surgeries. As always my team and I stand ready to assist and support residents.”
For more information on the 2023 Boundary Review Wales visit – https://bcomm-wales.gov.uk/reviews/06-23/2023-parliamentary-review-final-recommendations