For well over a year I have organised and led a campaign, with the full backing of Blackhall Labour Party, against proposals to move the communities of the Blackhall ward into the Hartlepool constituency. My campaign was focused on keeping Blackhall in the Easington constituency, thus retaining its historical and cultural ties with other villages and towns in the area (see post dated 16 October 2012 for further details).
It seemed that the campaign was doomed late last year when the Boundary Commission for England (BCE) overturned its original proposal and recommended that the Blackhall ward should be transferred into the Hartlepool constituency before the next General election expected in 2015.
However a debate took place in the House of Commons yesterday (29 January) which culminated in a vote defeating the Tory-backed proposals for boundary reform. In effect this means that the BCE proposals will not now be implemented as originally planned.
We must not be complacent and must remain vigilant as the BCE proposals are not quite dead in the water and could be revived at some point in the future. However, for now we can be confident that the villages within the Blackhall ward will not be relocated, against the wishes of its people, into another constituency simply for party political advantage.