The East Devon parliamentary constituency will lose Clyst St Mary to Exeter under new proposals to redraw the boundaries.

Exmouth Journal: The existing boundary for the East Devon parliamentary constituency. ©Crown copyright 2017 Ordnance Survey. Media 064/17The existing boundary for the East Devon parliamentary constituency. ©Crown copyright 2017 Ordnance Survey. Media 064/17 (Image: Archant)

The Boundary Commission for England (BCE) today (Tuesday) opens its third and final consultation after revising half of its initial suggestions based on 25,000 public comments.

The body has been tasked with making independent recommendations about where the boundaries should be in order to cut the number of MPs from 650 to 600 and ensure that the number of electors in each constituency is equal.

The initial proposal for East Devon, currently held by Sir Hugo Swire, also saw it gain Cowley, Stoke Cannon and Up Exe from Mid Devon, which remains.

Sam Hartley, secretary to the BCE, said: “We’re delighted with the huge number of comments on our initial proposals that we’ve received from members of the public, many of which contain valuable evidence about people’s local communities.

“Based on what people have said to us, we have revised more than half of our initial proposals.

“The new map of the country we publish today is, we think, close to the best set of Parliamentary constituencies we can achieve, based on the rules to which we work and the evidence given to us by local citizens.

“But we still want people to tell us what they think of this latest map before we make our final recommendations to Parliament next year. It’s so important to have your say in this fundamental democratic exercise.”

As part of the BCE’s brief. the number of constituencies in the South West must reduce from 55 to 53. By law, every constituency it proposes must contain between 71,031 and 78,507 electors, as East Devon already does, with 73,355 people registered to vote.

The constituency consists of Broadclyst, Budleigh, Clyst Valley, Exe Valley, Exmouth Brixington, Exmouth Halsdon, Exmouth Littleham, Exmouth Town, Exmouth Withycombe Raleigh, Newton Poppleford and Harpford, Ottery St. Mary Rural, Ottery St. Mary Town, Raleigh, Sidmouth Rural, Sidmouth Sidford, Sidmouth Town, Whimple, Woodbury and Lympstone, and Topsham.

People have until 11 December to comment. Visit www.bce2018.org.uk to respond to the consultation. If agreed by Parliament, the new constituencies will be in use at the next scheduled General Election in 2022.