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proposed new southgate and east barnet constituency 700pxHow the proposed Southgate & Barnet East constituency differs from the current Enfield Southgate constituency (this map has no official status - click on the map to enlarge)

The Boundaries Commission for England has published its initial proposals for new parliamentary constituencies drawn up in the course of the "2023 Review". They are out for consultation until 2nd August this year.

In a break from previous practice where London boroughs are concerned, around half of the 75 constituencies proposed for the GLA area cross borough boundaries. This is because the relevant act of parliament specified that variation in the number of voters between constituencies should be kept within tight limits and that this should take precedence over paying attention to local government boundaries.

Under the initial proposals, Palmers Green will fall within a new Southgate & Barnet East constituency. Compared to the current Enfield Southgate constituency, its centre of gravity will be shifted slightly to the west and it will incorporate two wards in the London Borough of Barnet. Some areas in the east of the current constituency (the eastern parts of Palmers Green and Bowes wards in their current form) will move into a redrawn Edmonton constituency.

However, these new proposals are less drastic than those made by the Boundaries Commission in 2017, when it was drawing up boundaries for a House of Commons with 50 fewer members - the plan to introduce a 300-seat HoC has since been abandoned. Under the 2017 proposals the Palmers Green area would have been split between three constituencies: Edmonton; Finchley & Enfield Southgate; and Hornsey & Wood Green.

The Enfield & Barnet East constituency boundaries are based on those of the new Enfield wards that will come into force in 2022. All streets in the current Palmers Green and Winchmore Hill wards to the east of the New River will become part of a new Highfield ward and under the latest proposals Highfield ward will be in the Edmonton constituency.

Enfield & Barnet East will incorporate the following London Borough of Enfield wards:
  • Cockfosters
  • Oakwood
  • Southgate
  • Winchmore Hill
  • Palmers Green
  • Arnos Grove

Plus two wards from the London Borough of Barnet:

  • East Barnet
  • Brunswick Park

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PGC Webmaster posted a reply
09 Jun 2021 22:40


There's an interesting and very thorough article on the On London website looking at the cross-London implications of the proposed new constituencies, written by Lewis Baston. In particular, how will they affect the chances of particular political parties?

He has this to say about Enfield Southgate's transformation into Southgate & Barnet East:

Labour marginal Enfield Southgate probably gets a little bit more Tory as it becomes Southgate & Barnet East, but the territory coming in is not dramatically different from what is already there.



www.onlondon.co.uk/lewis-baston-what-do-the-parliamentary-boundary-review-proposals-mean-for-london/
Zoe Roberts posted a reply
10 Jun 2021 11:47
I am very much in favour of these changes. We are currently living in Southgate (as we and most of our neighbours see it), but just over the electoral boundary in Chipping Barnet. I now know Chipping Barnet fairly well through work, but had little to do with it before that. It is not where I shop or use services, other than the local park which would also fall into the Southgate and Barnet East catchment. We are still much more connected with Palmers Green, where we previously lived, than we are with the rest of Chipping Barnet (my work connection excluded). It just seems to accord better with the reality of our lives.
Basil Clarke posted a reply
13 Jun 2021 22:09
Zoe Roberts wrote:

I am very much in favour of these changes. We are currently living in Southgate (as we and most of our neighbours see it), but just over the electoral boundary in Chipping Barnet. I now know Chipping Barnet fairly well through work, but had little to do with it before that. It is not where I shop or use services, other than the local park which would also fall into the Southgate and Barnet East catchment. We are still much more connected with Palmers Green, where we previously lived, than we are with the rest of Chipping Barnet (my work connection excluded). It just seems to accord better with the reality of our lives.


This makes perfect sense, and I expect a lot of people living to the west of Southgate town centre think the same. But actually, what's more important than which parliamentary constituency you're in is which borough you're in. I think it would make perfect sense to transfer the whole area between Chase Side and the Pymmes Brook to Enfield, with a new boundary running from the lowest point in Waterfall Road to just west of Hampden Square.

I assume that the present-day border between Enfield and Barnet pretty much follows the centuries-old boundary between Middlesex and Hertfordshire, but for most of those centuries there would have just been fields where the boundary was, so it didn't present a problem.
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