THE SDLP has claimed that proposals to redraw the North’s electoral boundaries will “devastate” the well-established sense of community in the existing constituencies West of the Bann.
Under plans to reduce the number of the North’s MPs from 18 to 16, West Tyrone and Mid Ulster would disappear, with a large area of the Omagh district joining parts of the Strabane, Cookstown and Dungannon districts in a brand new Mid Tyrone constituency stretching from the Donegal border to the Lough Neagh shore.
While the carve up of West Tyrone would see most of the Omagh and Strabane district wards join the new all Tyrone constituency, crucially six local areas (Drumquin, Dromore, Trillick, Fintona, Newtownsaville and Sixmilecross) would join the geographically huge Fermanagh and South Tyrone constituency.
As the consultation process enters its next stage, the Boundary Commission for Northern Ireland (BCNI) has this week published a series of responses to its proposals. High on the list of local concerns is the ‘loss’ of the six Omagh district wards.
In its submission the SDLP has argued that the West Tyrone constituency should remain untouched, stating that the six wards “historically look to Omagh as their natural urban centre and have no emotional, economic or social ties with Fermanagh and South Tyrone”.
Omagh District Council has also gone on record opposing the transfer of six of its key wards.
Speaking at the Boundary Commission’s public hearing in Omagh last October, Sonya McAnulla, representing the council, warned of “a very distinct potential for voter or elector isolation”.
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