The Boundary Commission for England (BCE) is currently reviewing all parliamentary boundaries in England. Its initial recommendation is that the Easington constituency boundary remains largely unaltered. So far, so good.
However, the three main political parties have all made submissions to the BCE recommending that the Blackhall county division is transferred into the Hartlepool constituency. In my opinion this represents a clear threat to the identity, heritage and culture of the villages and settlements within the Blackhall county division (including Blackhall Colliery, Blackhall Rocks, Crimdon, the Hesledens, Station Town, Hutton Henry, Sheraton, Nesbitt and Hulam).
I wrote to the BCE in December 2011 to make them aware of my position on these proposals. I pointed out that there were clear historical ties and community links between the villages within the Blackhall area and also that the dene at Crimdon represented a clear physical boundary between the collieries on one side and the town of Hartlepool on the other.
Later this year the BCE will publish all the submissions it has received as part of its ongoing public consultation exercise. This will be our opportunity to contact them and let them know of our contempt for the proposal submitted by the regional Labour Party and the ConDems and to insist that the villages of the Blackhall division remain in the Easington constituency.
In the meantime we must make it a priority to raise the profile of this shadowy political scheme to manipulate the boundaries (and the people) of Blackhall for cheap electoral gain.