Watford constituency redrawn - is your road still in it?

On June 28, the Boundary Commission for England published its final recommendations for the alteration of boundaries of electoral constituencies across the country.

The aim is to rebalance the eligible voting populations within constituencies to between 69,724 and 77,062 people.

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Watford had a 83,359 strong electorate in 2019 but the new constituency would have just 70,576.

It is the result of a review and consultation with members of the public, all MPs, and all political parties that has been ongoing since 2021.

The Watford constituency is currently made up of the 12 wards that make up Watford Borough Council, along with Abbots Langley, Leavesden, parts of Gade Valley, Oxhey Hall and Carpenders Park.

Under the new boundaries the Watford Borough Council wards will stay part of Watford but the extra areas Three Rivers District Council areas will move into South West Hertfordshire.

Instead, Watford’s voting population will be bolstered by the addition of Bushey North, currently part of the Hertsmere parliamentary constituency and the only addition to Watford.

The commission apparently hadn’t wanted to create an “orphan ward” in Bushey North, but it was needed to bring Watford within the right electoral range.

Proposed (green) and existing (blue) constituency boundaries (Image: Boundary Commission)

South West Hertfordshire will then be made up of the Three Rivers District Council area plus Kings Langley instead of containing several Dacorum districts, including Bovingdon and Chipperfield, which will become part of Hemel Hempstead.

Hertsmere would remain mostly the same but would gain Northaw & Cuffley from Welwyn & Hatfield while losing Bushey North.

According to the Boundary Commission the changes for Watford were “largely uncontentious and supported”, however an initial proposal to rename South West Hertfordshire “Three Rivers” was shot down.

The final report said: “It was claimed that, even in the local area, let alone across the country, people do not know what area Three Rivers refers to, or indeed which three rivers it references.

“A number of representations therefore proposed that the existing South West Hertfordshire name remained appropriate and should be retained.”

The government now has four months to put the recommendations into place.