South Derbyshire: Constituency boundary change is ‘ludicrous’

Voters in a Derbyshire village have questioned why they are being moved into a new parliamentary constituency with other communities more than 40 miles away.

People in Hilton and Hatton, which are served by South Derbyshire District Council, will now be voting for an MP for Derbyshire Dales.

It is due to changes made by the Boundary Commission in 2023, which reviews constituencies and their voter numbers.

A council spokesman said they are working to keep disruption to a minimum.

Leanne Broomhead is a small business owner in Hilton.

She said: “I just feel like it’s too far away – [Derbyshire Dales] has got nothing to do with this area – I had heard nothing about this.

“I do care [about the change] because it would be more beneficial if [representation] was all in this area.

“I feel like we’ll get a lot less support with it being so far away, and if there is any issues, it might be a massive problem for us and our business – it’s too big of an area, and we may not get specialised support.”

One man from the village said it felt like MPs “only turned up when it was election time” but added putting Hilton into the new constituency was “odd”.

Alan Dennis said he’s voted in every election since the early 1970s. But he said it didn’t matter what constituency Hilton was in.

“I vote on who I think I want to run the country – I don’t get into the rest of the politics.

“I suppose if you don’t vote, then you can’t moan.”

Dave Gibson and Paula Laird were against the boundary changes to the villages.

“I don’t understand why Hilton should move, this area is governed by the district council in Swadlincote, which is in South Derbyshire,” Mr Gibson said.

“To call it Derbyshire Dales is ludicrous – the demographics and the geography are quite different.”

Ms Laird added: “It’s pretty disgraceful because [the MP] won’t have the local knowledge and issues in mind – it’s too remote, and you need to keep it local.”

The Boundary Commission, which published the final changes in 2023, said all recommended constituencies had to have no less than 69,724 parliamentary electors and no more than 77,062.

They said the new constituencies are available on their website, but it is “now the responsibility of local authorities” to inform their residents.

A spokesperson for South Derbyshire District Council, said it published information about the changes in December 2023 after the Boundary Commission’s final proposals were confirmed.

“The boundary changes only affect the parliamentary constituency and no other elections, and therefore the council did not extensively promote the news before the police and crime commissioner and mayoral elections as the boundaries remained unchanged.

“The council is working closely with Derbyshire Dales District Council to minimise any disruption to voters in Hatton and Hilton. The venues of the polling stations will remain the same.”