Boundary changes: What the redrawing of the political map means for the Meridian region

WATCH: How constituency boundary changes impact the South of the Meridian region

Your polling card is likely to look a little different at this general election, and it could have big implications for how your local area is represented in Parliament.

That’s because the constituency name listed on the front may have changed entirely, due to a boundary review which has redrawn the political map of England.

The ITV Meridian region gains seven additional Members of Parliament representing the South, South East and Thames Valley – as entirely new constituencies are created.

The majority of existing Westminster constituencies in our region have also changed in some way, with tweaked borders and amended names.

The idea behind the review was to try to standardise the number of voters in each MP's seat to between 69,724 and 77,062.

It means some towns and villages will be lumped together with different neighbouring conurbations for the first time.

South

The South gains three additional Parliamentary constituencies: one in Sussex, one in Surrey and one on the Isle of Wight.

In Sussex, a new seat of East Grinstead and Uckfield is created from parts of the old Wealden, Lewes, Mid Sussex and Horsham constituencies.

In Surrey, the old South West Surrey seat is abolished and a new constituency straddling the Hampshire border has been created, called Farnham and Bordon.

An additional Surrey constituency comes in the form of Godalming and Ash, taking in parts of the old Guildford, Mole Valley and Surrey Heath seats.

The biggest change is reserved for the Isle of Wight, which has been a single constituency since 1832.

It had too many voters, so has been split in half, with new East and West seats, which become the smallest constituencies by population in the country.

Dorset keeps the same number of seats but boundaries are tweaked in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole area to better align with local government wards.

In Wiltshire, the Salisbury seat changes shape too, along with neighbouring constituencies.

In Hampshire, the number of constituencies remains the same, but many boundaries and names change.

South East

• WATCH: Kit Bradshaw explains the boundary changes in the South East of the Meridian region

There are two additional constituencies in the South East: one in Kent and one in Sussex.

The new rural Weald of Kent seat takes in parts of the former Ashford, Maidstone, and Faversham and Mid Kent constituencies.

On the Kent coast the former North and South Thanet seats are replaced by Herne Bay and Sandwich, and East Thanet.

The former Sussex constituency of Wealden becomes Sussex Weald to reflect its adjusted boundaries, following the creation of the new seat of East Grinstead and Uckfield.

Unlike Kent and Sussex, Essex keeps the same number of constituencies as before. However, Southend's two seats get new names and tweaked borders.

Thames Valley

• WATCH: Kit Bradshaw explains the boundary changes in the Thames Valley

The Thames Valley gains three additional Westminster constituencies: one in Buckinghamshire, one in Oxfordshire, and one in Berkshire.

In Buckinghamshire, the new rural seat of Mid Buckinghamshire is created, taking towns and villages from the former Buckingham, Aylesbury, and Chesham and Amersham seats.

A new Commons seat in Oxfordshire comes in the form of Bicester and Woodstock, which includes Blenheim Palace, the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill.

Berkshire’s largest town gets major changes with the Reading East and West seats abolished, replaced by Reading Central, Reading West and Mid Berkshire, and an additional constituency called Earley and Woodley.

In Wiltshire, the Swindon South constituency shrinks with the neighbouring Devizes seat morphing to become East Wiltshire.

You can find out which constituency you live in by entering your postcode on the UK Parliament website.

There is more information about the rationale behind the 2023 Boundary Review on the Boundary Commission website.

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