What future voting boundaries could look like in Suffolk, Cambridgeshire, Essex and Norfolk if Boundary Commission plans are approved

Voting boundaries are in for a shake-up as part of a national review to rebalance the number of people each MP represents.

Many major towns and villages across the East of England face a reshuffle should the proposals – which will be decided following a four-week consultation – go through as planned.

North-east Suffolk and South-east Norfolk could see the biggest changes in the region.

A new constituency, known as Waveney Valley, could be introduced, absorbing much of the constituency currently represented by Peter Aldous.

Its largest town would be Diss, currently in South Norfolk (Richard Bacon) but Bungay, Halesworth and in Suffolk Coastal (Thérèse Coffey MP), Eye and Wickham Market in Central Suffolk, as well as Harleston in Norfolk are also planned to join it.

Lowestoft would become its own constituency, and include Beccles and Pakefield.

Jo Churchill's Bury St Edmunds would shrink with to the creation of Waveney Valley.

It could lose Stowupland, Walsham-le-Willows and the other parts of the constituency absorbed by the new region.

It would also lose Needham Market, Battisford and Ringshall to Central Suffolk and North Ipswich.

Horringer would be lost to Matt Hancock's West Suffolk, but it could claim Bardwell, Barningham and Stanton, Euston and their surrounding villages from it.

West Suffolk would still contain Haverhill, after plans to merge Haverhill with nearby Essex authorities were overturned, and Newmarket.

Clare, Stansfield, Denston, Hawkedon and Poslingford would also shift to South Suffolk.

Central Suffolk and North Ipswich (Dan Poulter) would still retain Kesgrave, as well as Castle Hill and Whitton in Ipswich, although the constituency would shrink with the loss of Eye.

Thetford would remain part of South West Norfolk, currently represented by former Prime Minister Liz Truss.

South West Norfolk loses a large portion of land to Mid Norfolk (George Freeman MP), including Banham, Great Hockham, Pockthorpe and Caston.

South East Cambridgeshire (Lucy Frazer MP) would become East Cambridgeshire, as part of a boundary change that would see its southern tip, including Linton, Balsham, Castle Camps, Weston Colville, West Wickham and Horseheath moved to South Cambridgeshire.

The existing South Cambridgeshire (Anthony Brown MP) constituency would retain its name, but would not extend as far north in the west of the county and would spread east in the south of the county.

Braintree, the constituency of current Foreign Secretary James Cleverly MP, would have its boundary extended further west to take in some villages presently part of the Saffron Walden constituency, including Hempstead and Radwinter, but the villages near Haverhill would be unaffected and would remain part of the same parliamentary seat.

North West Norfolk (James Wild MP) would retain the same borders.

Broadland would be renamed Broadland and Fakenham and lose Drayton to Norwich North (Chloe Smith MP).

The changes made by the Boundary Commission in its consultation, which ends on December 5, will come into effect next year.

Each constituency in the country, bar five, needs to have between 69,724 and 77,062 electors.

Because of this, the number of constituencies in England is proposed to increase from 533 to 543.

In the Eastern region they would rise from 58 to 61.

Initial proposals for the new constituencies were published on June 8, 2021.

A public consultation on the plans was then held and the Boundary Commission for England has this week published its revised proposals.

People will get one last chance to have their say on the plans before the commission presents its final recommendation for the new constituencies to Parliament by July 1, 2023.

A website has been set up with the new constituency map where people can view and leave comments.

Tim Bowden, secretary to the Boundary Commission for England, said: “Today’s publication is the culmination of months of analysis and we have revised nearly half of our initial proposals based on what people have told us.

“We now believe we are close to the best map of constituencies that can be achieved under the rules that we are working to.

“However, we still want people to tell us what they think of the latest map before we submit our final recommendations to Parliament next year.

“This is our final consultation and I encourage you to participate in the 2023 boundary review.”

A full list of changes in the East of England can be found here.