Bromley residents could be sharing an electoral constituency with people living in Greenwich at the next general election under new plans.

The Boundary Commission for England (BCE) today published its initial proposals for new constituency boundaries, which involve redrawing seats.

The aim of the review, launched in January this year, is to ensure the number of voters living in each constituency is as equal as possible, meaning each vote has similar value.

The number of constituencies in England is set to increase from 533 to 543, with the commission recommending each contains between 69,724 and 77,062 voters.

The proposed changes

The proposed changes

Under the proposals, Bromley would continue to have three constituencies, with Beckenham and Orpington retaining their current names.

Sir Bob Neill’s Bromley and Chislehurst would instead be named just Bromley.

Eltham, held by Labour MP Clive Efford, would absorb Chislehurst, with the new Bromley constituency taking on two wards from the existing Beckenham constituency and the Petts Wood and Knoll ward from the existing Orpington constituency.

The current constituencies

The current constituencies

The report reads: “When considering a constituency that would extend from Bromley borough into either Bexley or Greenwich borough, we noted that Bromley is separated from Bexley by the A20 road, which runs along the borough boundary, and by areas of woodland and open space in the north-eastern part of the Chislehurst ward.

“However, there are continuous residential development and numerous road links across the Bromley–Greenwich boundary.

“We therefore consider a crossing into Greenwich to be the more attractive option in terms of community ties.

“To that end, we propose an Eltham and Chislehurst constituency, which comprises six wards from the existing Eltham constituency, and the two Bromley borough wards of Chislehurst, and Mottingham and Chislehurst North."

The proposed changes to Bob Stewart's Beckenham constituency comprises four wards from the existing Beckenham constituency, and three wards from the existing Lewisham West and Penge constituency.

Despite these changes the report does not recommend a name change, given the constituency would still include the centre of Beckenham and its surrounding areas.

The only changes to Orpington would be the loss of the Petts Wood and Knoll wards, as previously mentioned.

The public are invited to provide feedback on the proposals as part of an eight-week consultation, to close on August 2.

You can view them here