PROPOSALS have been announced to merge the constituencies of Witham and Maldon.

The Boundary Commission for England has announced the plans to split the Witham constituency between Braintree and Maldon.

The plans would mean that Witham MP Priti Patel and Maldon MP John Whittingdale would be set to fight over one seat at the 2020 General Election.

The Boundary Commission for England report, entitled Initial proposals for new Parliamentary constituency boundaries in the Eastern region, states: “We propose that the Maldon constituency transfer one ward to the constituency of Basildon and Billericay and five wards to the constituency of Rayleigh and Woodham Ferrers.

“To compensate for this transfer and the fact that the electorate is currently 68,924, we propose to include in this constituency ten wards to the north and west of Maldon.

“Much of this change to the Maldon constituency is due to the fact that we have to reduce the number of constituencies in Essex by one.

“As this constituency now includes nine wards from the former Witham constituency, we propose to call it Witham and Maldon.”

Ms Patel said: “The Boundary Commission has put forward its initial proposals on the new Parliamentary boundaries for public consultation.

"This is an independent review of the constituency boundaries and I would encourage anyone interested in the boundaries to look at the proposals and respond to the consultation.

"When boundary reviews take place people often have strong views about their communities and identities and they should have their say.”

“It is important for people to know that these are only proposals and no changes will come into effect until the next General Election in 2020.

"Local residents and businesses can be assured that I will continue to represent all parts of the current Witham constituency.”

Four wards from the current Braintree constituency would be transferred to Saffron Walden under the proposals, with three wards from the current Witham area moving over to Braintree.

The news comes as part of a plan to cut the size of the House of Commons from 650 MPs to 600.

In Essex the number of MPs would drop from 18 to 17.

Essex is the only county in the East of England that will lose a seat in the new proposals.

  • The Commission will be hosting public hearings across England.

Click here for more details.

The nearest hearing will be held at Chelmsford Civic Centre, in Duke Street, Chelmsford from October 31 to November 1.