Calls to restore Bridgnorth's seat at Westminster
Bridgnorth should return as a parliamentary constituency in the forthcoming Boundary Commission shake-up, an MP has claimed.
The seat, which was abolished in 1885, could be reinstated as the Boundary Commission looks to redraw the political map in Shropshire, Philip Dunne has said.
Mr Dunne's Ludlow constituency currently covers the south east Shropshire town. But under the boundary review Ludlow is proposed to merge with part of North Herefordshire, and Bridgnorth is set to be aligned with The Wrekin instead.
But, he said, any new constituency created with Bridgnorth should take on the town's name in a nod to history.
It may also head off fears expressed by those such as Bridgnorth's mayor, Councillor Vanessa Voysey, that the needs of the largely rural town may be forgotten by being merged with more urban parts of the Telford region.
Speaking at a public hearing in Shrewsbury, organised by the Boundary Commission to receive feedback on their latest proposals, Mr Dunne said naming a new constituency Bridgnorth, Wellington and The Wrekin would be too much of a mouthful, and hard for its residents to identify with.
He said: "I think it is a great shame that Ludlow and Bridgnorth are, under the Boundary Commission's plans and in all likelihood, to be divided.
"But if it must take place, the proposal for a new constituency Bridgnorth, Wellington and The Wrekin, provides a perfect opportunity to restore Bridgnorth as the name of a parliamentary constituency.
"It is a name steeped in parliamentary tradition."
