Press Release 12th September 2011
Boundary Commission are fools –
the city centre is in Gloucester not the Forest of Dean
Liberal Democrat Leader Cllr. Jeremy Hilton has condemned the proposal by the Boundary Commission to move Westgate ward into the Forest of Dean.
The Boundary Commission has said that the people of Westgate should vote for the Forest of Dean Member of Parliament at the next General Election.
Westgate ward (the city centre), which includes the cathedral should stay in the Gloucester Constituency says Jeremy Hilton who was the Liberal Democrat candidate for Gloucester at the 2010 General Election.
He described the Boundary Commission as fools and the proposal as utter madness.
Jeremy Hilton said: “The Boundary Commission must employ more fools than any other organisation in Britain. How can anyone suggest that the historic heart of the city of Gloucester is ripped out and moved for electoral purposes to the Forest of Dean?
“It is quite clear that whoever worked up this proposal for Gloucester doesn't understand its geography.
“Gloucester's city centre and heart is on the north-west frontier! It is Westgate ward.
“Unlike other towns and cities, Gloucester's centre is not central, because of the River Severn flood plain. It is on the edge of the city.
“Some fool at the Boundary Commission doesn’t understand that the Cathedral, the Roman gate streets, the HQ of both the city and county councils, the Docks, Gloucester Quays, city centre shops, Gloucester Park, most of Gloucester's historic buildings are all in Westgate Ward. They are not in the Forest of Dean.
“I urge everyone in Gloucester to write to the Boundary Commission and oppose this madness.”
I agree, but I live in Gloucester too, and nobody fought to keep us out of Tewkesbury.
ReplyDeleteThanks Richard, when was the review that moved your ward?
ReplyDeletePeople seem to forget that the Boundary Commission are pretty constrained in what they can do, and it was a Labour supporter, Lewis Baston, who openly confessed that he drew up the proposal to highlight the absurdity of their remit. Unfortunately for him, the public have expressed a rather different majority view, dismissing the caterwailing of the political classes, jostling to be more vocal on this issue than each other, as small beer in comparison to our other woes. The Citizen doesn't exactly make the best bandwagon these days...
ReplyDelete