Thank you to everyone who either responded to my survey on the Boundary Commission's revised proposals for constituency boundaries in West Sussex, or directly made a comment on the Commission's website.
In the very short space of time allowed in the Commission's consultation window I received 625 survey responses, which was a very impressive response before the consultation closed on 5 December. Responses were still being sent in after the deadline, so I am confident had there been a longer consultation period I would have received many more comments.
Drawing on the information and comments made in the responses to my survey I have now made my final submission, which you can access at the bottom of this page. The image above shows the borders of my proposed Adur Valley constituency.
You can also see a summary of the survey responses I received below:
Survey Responses
I carried out my own survey of West Sussex residents, facilitated by the mailing list for my own monthly e-newsletter and dissemination through various local social media sites. As a result in a very short space of time permitted in the latest consultation at the time of writing I had received no fewer than 625 responses. Responses are still coming in so I envisage this number will continue to grow past the submission deadline of 5 December.
The questions I asked were as follows:
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How important to you is it that Sussex constituencies should reflect the rural, Downland and coastal community mix that reflects the heritage of Sussex?
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Which of the following issues are important to you?
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Planning/overdevelopment
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Access to GPs and dentists
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Crime and policing
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High streets and the local economy
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Countryside issues
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Broadband speed
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Transport links
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Anti-social road use
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Noise or light pollution
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Schools and education
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None of the above
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How important to you is it that MPs should have a broad understanding of urban, rural and coastal issues in representing their constituents’ interests?
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Do you feel closer to communities like Shoreham or Lancing in the east of the county or Petworth and Midhurst in the west?
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When is the last time you caught a bus or train to Amberley or Pulborough?
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Do you support the creation of an Adur Valley constituency to include a mix of Sussex Downland towns and villages and coastal towns and villages?
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What other issues concern you?
1. How important to you is it that Sussex constituencies should reflect the rural, Downland and coastal community mix that reflects the heritage of Sussex?
In my survey of constituents, when asked to rate “How important to you is it that Sussex constituencies should reflect the rural, Downland and coastal community mix that reflects the heritage of Sussex?” 486 respondents rated it as either important or very important, meaning that almost 80% of respondents favour a Sussex constituency that reflects the mix of the rural, Downland and coastal features that characterise our county, as opposed to a purely rural or coastal constituency.
Answer Number of Responses Percentage
Very important 345 55%
Important 141 23%
Neither important or 29 4%
unimportant
Unimportant 22 4%
No answer 88 14%
2. Which of the following issues are important to you?
To find out which issues most affect my constituents, and to test the strength of the case for a rural only constituency, my second survey question asked people to list the top issues that they care about locally.
The issues most commonly raised revealed that, despite claims to the contrary, the issues that worry people across Sussex do not change suddenly just because people live in a rural area. There is incredible similarity in the issues that people care about in East Worthing and Shoreham and those that people care about in Arundel and South Downs.
The top three issues – access to GPs and dentists, planning/overdevelopment and crime and policing – raised by respondents to my survey were the same as those raised by respondents to Andrew Griffith’s survey (which we have reproduced below for reference).
Issues Number of Responses Percentage
Access to GPs and dentists 545 87%
Planning / Overdevelopment 531 85%
Crime and policing 516 83%
High streets and the 447 71%
local economy
Transport links 391 62%
Countryside issues 350 56%
Anti-social road usage 321 51%
Schools and education 314 50%
Noise or light pollution 271 43%
Broadband speed 223 36%
None of the above 5 <1%
3. How important to you is it that MPs should have a broad understanding of urban, rural and coastal issues in representing their constituents’ interests?
To find out what my constituents thinks matters in who represents them, I asked respondents to rate on a scale of 5 responses (from not important to very important) “how important to you is it that MPs should have a broad understanding of urban, rural and coastal issues in representing their constituents’ interests?”
The overwhelming majority of responses (97%) said it was either important or very important than their MP should be able to understand a mix of urban, rural and coastal issues. This response shows an incredibly clear preference for their MP to have a broad understanding of the different areas that make up West Sussex rather than simply focussing on one area, such as rural areas.
Answer Number of Responses Percentage
Very important 487 78%
Important 122 19%
Neither important 5 1%
or unimportant
Not very important 2 <1%
Not important 3 <1%
4. Do you feel closer to communities like Shoreham or Lancing in the east of the county or Petworth and Midhurst in the west?
To understand better which parts of West Sussex my constituents feel closer to, or identify with, I asked “do you feel closer to communities like Shoreham or Lancing in the east of the county or Petworth and Midhurst in the west?”
There was a very clear answer that most constituents feel more closely aligned to communities in the east of the county, with more than 89% saying they felt closer to communities like Shoreham or Lancing. Tellingly, more people said they felt closer to “other” communities than people who said they felt closer to communities in the west of the county.
19 respondents did not answer this question.
Answer Number of responses Percentage
East of the county 555 89%
West of the county 26 4%
Other 25 4%
No answer 19 3%
5. When is the last time you caught a bus or train to Amberley or Pulborough?
To get an idea of how important public transport links are between Shoreham and communities in the latest proposals for the new Arundel and South Downs constituency I asked “when is the last time you caught a bus or train to Amberley or Pulborough?” My question reflects how this was specifically raised in an earlier survey of Arundel and South Downs residents. I have included this aspect of the survey below.
The vast majority of responses make it clear that for most people there is no real connection to these settlements, with 74% saying they had never taken the bus or train to Amberley or Pulborough. Others made it clear that the last time they had been was many years ago. Only 3% said that they had made the journey within the last year.
Using public transport links as a measure of affiliation with random towns and villages across the South Downs is therefore irrelevant and they are notoriously inadequate in any case. Most people must rely on private transport or more established routes.
Answer Number of responses Percentage
Never 464 74%
Within the last year 17 3%
Within the last five years 20 3%
Within the last decade 5 <1%
Longer ago than 10 years 25 4%
No answer 94 15%
6. Do you support the creation of an Adur Valley constituency to include a mix of Sussex Downland towns and villages and coastal towns and villages?
Based on the Boundary Commission’s original proposals, I asked my constituents “do you support the creation of an Adur Valley constituency to include a mix of Sussex Downland towns and villages and coastal towns and villages?”
There was a strong preference in favour of the original proposals, with 64% supporting the idea of an Adur Valley constituency – as previously proposed by the Boundary Commission.
Answer Number of responses Percentage
Yes 402 64%
No 176 28%
No answer 47 8%
7. What other issues concern you?
At the end of the survey I asked respondents to say if there are any other issues that are important to them at the moment. Frequent responses included:
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Traffic on the A27
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Cost of living
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Climate change and the environment
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Anti-social behaviour
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Immigration
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Local concerns eg closure of public toilets