The independent Boundary Commission for England (BCE) has published its revised proposals for new Parliamentary constituencies which include transferring part of Thirsk & Malton to Scarborough & Whitby.

The publication marks the start of 12 weeks of consultation, during which time the Commission needs to hear from the public to help shape the proposed new constituency boundaries.

Following a decision by Parliament to reduce the number of constituencies in the UK to 600 from 650, and to ensure that the number of electors in each constituency is more equal, the BCE has been asked to make independent recommendations about where the boundaries of English constituencies should be.

The BCE must report to Parliament in 2018 and, if agreed by Parliament, the new constituencies will be in use at the next scheduled General Election in 2022.

In Yorkshire and The Humber, the proposals are to reduce the number of constituencies from 54 to 50. In Thirsk and Malton it would mean that part of the Hambleton ward of Morton on Swale will pass to Richmond (Yorks) and would gain some polling districts from the Richmond part of the Bagby & Thorntons ward.

In addition the whole of the Ryedale ward of Thornton Dale would go in to Scarborough and Whitby constituency.

An initial 12-week consultation was held in the autumn last year, giving the public the first chance to view and comment on BCE’s plans, followed by a second consultation in the Spring of this year.

Over 25,000 public responses were received during these consultations. Based on what the public have said about their local communities, the BCE has decided to revise over half of their initial proposals.

Sam Hartley, Secretary to the Boundary Commission for England, said: “We’re delighted with the huge number of comments on our initial proposals that we’ve received from members of the public, many of which contain valuable evidence about people’s local communities.

"Based on what people have said to us, we have revised more than half of our initial proposals.

"The new map of the country we publish today is, we think, close to the best set of Parliamentary constituencies we can achieve, based on the rules to which we work and the evidence given to us by local citizens.

"But we still want people to tell us what they think of this latest map before we make our final recommendations to Parliament next year. It’s so important to have your say in this fundamental democratic exercise.”

People can go to the BCE’s website to view the new plans. All the public comments received during the first two consultations are also published on the website.

People have until December 11 to have their say.