Boundary Commission proposes small changes for Sleaford and North Hykeham constituency

The review seeks to ensure that the number of electors in each constituency is more equal so that each Member of Parliament is representing between 69,724 and 77,062 electors.

In doing so, the number of constituencies in England will increase from 533 to 543. The Sleaford and North Hykeham constituency currently has approximately 95,000 electors and so the proposal with an electorate of 73,380 will make this a fairer number.

In the south of the district, it is proposed that the Heckington Rural and Osbournby Wards form part of the Grantham constituency and leave the Sleaford and North Hykeham constituency - despite Heckington being located between Sleaford and Boston.

Some parts of the north of the district council area already fall into the Lincoln constituency; namely Skellingthore and Bracebridge and Waddington East Wards so this remains unchanged.

The Boundary Commission for England can only include use of boundaries ‘legally made’ by December 1, 2020, therefore the current North Kesteven wards have been used for this Parliamentary review.

However, there has recently been an Electoral Review of North Kesteven by The Local Government Boundary Commission for England and the final recommendations have been published awaiting parliamentary approval within the next few weeks. These ward changes are due to take effect in 2023 and as part of the Parliamentary Boundary review could mean that some district wards are split across two constituencies. 

As far as possible, the BCE try to have regard to local ties, geographic factors, local government boundaries (as they were known at December 1, 2020), existing constituencies, and minimising disruption caused by proposed change. Local government wards are used as the building blocks for proposed constituencies, but they will consider splitting a ward where there is a strong case for keeping within the legal parameters of the review.

You can view the proposals for the North Kesteven district at the Boundary Commission website - BCE website 2023 Review page. Under the proposals, the district would be covered by three constituencies namely: Sleaford and North Hykeham, Grantham and Lincoln.

Within the East Midlands region it is proposed to increase the number of constituencies by one, bringing it from 46 to 47 and information on how the constituencies could be drawn up with the legal parameters can be found at East Midlands BCE Consultation Portal (bcereviews.org.uk).

The initial proposals have been released and the consultation stage is open for comments until August 2, 2021. An information page for the 2023 Review has been set up on the council’s website to provide more information at www.n-kesteven.gov.uk/parliamentaryreview2023