This Commission is the independent public body that reviews all Parliamentary constituency boundaries in England every five years. The latest plans are for potentially substantial changes – reducing the total number of constituencies from 533 to 502 (and from 73 to 68 in London). This will ensure that each constituency has similar numbers of registered electors and to do this, existing boundaries are to be redrawn.

Proposed “Teddington and Hanworth” constituency

Locals have been feeding-back that the new name for constituency that will include Teddington (which will actually straddle Richmond and Hounslow boroughs) isn’t titled very clearly “Teddington & Hanworth”.

Written feedback is open until the 5th December so if you have any thoughts on local proposals then you can still have your say.

Some constituencies don’t quite correspond to exact London boroughs so these are grouped into sub-regions – where possible using practical groupings of geography and other associations.

Electorates by ward for proposed constituency

A short prayer was said before the first broadcast meeting re-iterating the council’s aims, aspirations and duty to serve the borough’s residents. Despite some audio issues it’s an interesting insight into how council meetings work and particularly if you are involved in a specific issue up for discussion.

Text titles have been added to the video to name each councillor speaking and also which agenda item is being discussed or debated.

One issue discussed was a petition on behalf of concerned residents of Park Lane, Teddington who wish for the road to have a 20mph limit introduced. Since the central parking zone was introduced the road is heavily used for parking and those crossing the road (particular children visiting Park Lane Stables) find the area dangerous considering the speed that cars drive through it – several near-misses have been reported.

Planning meetings will soon also be available where applications are discussed and decisions made. Decisions such as the recent refusal of the amended Park House/Travelodge plans where flats had taken the place of office space above the new restaurant. The reason for this refusal has not yet been stated in the online documentation.

Vince Cable is leading a backlash against plans to redraw London’s parliamentary boundaries in order to standardise constituency numbers.

His constituency of Twickenham in particular is being broken up to create a new Richmond and Twickenham voting area crossing the Thames – setting up a potential showdown with Zac Goldsmith. He could instead however run for the newly created Teddington and Hanworth constituency which would include 67% of his existing voters.

The traditional “first-past-the-post” system may be replaced with the alternative vote (AV) electoral system as a result of this historic legally binding referendum.

This was agreed as part of the current government coalition after the 2010 election and will be only the second time such a referendum has taken place in the UK (the first being in 1975) but the first where the results are not just consultative.

For those yet undecided or not quite understanding the differences between both methods, the Electoral Commission has created this short video featuring vote counter Victor to help explain (press play again when prompted to press a button).

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Before you leave don’t forget your polling card as this speeds up the registration process, but if misplaced you can provide personal details to register your vote. Polling stations will be open from 7am – 10pm.

Polling in London is just for this referendum because unlike the rest of the UK it already voted for local elections last year.

Labours candidates have been whittled down to two: ex-Mayor Ken Livingstone and former Bethnal Green and Bow MP Oona King – she will be in the area tonight to speak to members of the Twickenham Labour Party.

Oona has promised that if elected she will be an “advocate for children” – working with residents, companies, youth groups and organisations who would represent views on politics and business. ‘Comeback kid’ Ken has been critical of Boris Johnson’s transport policy and has pledged to protect Londoners from the recessions and “the effects of the government’s policies“

Greater London’s first mayor, Ken is keen to have the last word and will also be visiting Teddington on Monday to try to secure back his post and continue the work he started in areas such as updating London’s ageing transport system.

The party ballot to decide their candidate will open on the same day that members will also start voting for their new leader. The labour candidate will be announced on September 24th and Labour leader a day later. The mayoral election itself will take place just months before London hosts the Olympic games.

Richmond United Group is a non-political informal community organisation committed to better consultation with residents. A similar consultation has taken place in St Margarets, and others will take place as sponsors are found.

Although RUG was heavily involved in the campaign to save 52% of the old Twickenham Riverside Bath site from being sold by the LibDem Council for luxury housing, it will now concentrate on ensuring better consultation over a range of issues across the borough. This and other questionnaires will inform its future policies.

If you want a say on the future of Teddington then you can register for the Teddington Residents survey – the first step in achieving the towns own Community Action Plan (CAP). This will help you to shape the economic, social and environmental well-being of our local area, by collecting your views on what you think is important to your life within the community. This first stage sets out to find what the general priorities are for the Teddington community including categories such as:

• Parks/open spaces/riverside
• Energy issues
• Shops
• Waste/recycling
• Wildlife
• Consultation with council
• Teddington hospital
• Schools/education
• Increased housing
• Local businesses
• Public services
• Youth facilities
• Planning
• Recreation
• Streets/public areas
• Transport

Richmond Upon Thames Recycle is a great way of both finding a home for items you no longer have a use for or if you’re after some cheap wares yourself. Don’t forget local charity shops though which rely on smaller items that are of saleable quality – recycle schemes such as this however are a good way of finding a home for electrical items and large furniture which aren’t accepted by most charity shops.

You can also sign up for companion site Richmond Cafe which is used more for general advice and info.

If you’re still an undecided voter, perhaps the guide at whoshouldyouvotefor.com which assesses your concerns about political hot topics vs. each parties manifestos might help guide you.

Before you leave don’t forget your polling cards (for both local and parliamentary general elections). Why not make turn the experience into a more enjoyable trip by stopping at your local (or indeed somewhere you often just walk past) for some refreshment but probably best to do this on the way back – polling stations close at 10pm!

Regular Thursday night events that might entice you are two for one pizzas at the Hogarth, weekly pub quiz at the Dowager, banquet night at Bilas Tandoori and ladies night at the Kings Head.

If you’ve ever wondered what rules are in place in and around polling stations then this BBC guide is for you. Amongst the answers to questions posed are:

• Yes you can bring your dog into the polling station but not if it may get in the way of the voting process.
• No you can’t wear rosettes (only candidates can) or dress in party t-shirts, hats or wear party insignias/emblems but if you’re supporting a pirate party, feel free to dress as a pirate!
• Staff cannot refuse a voter simply because they are drunk, but they can question them to ascertain their ability to vote

[Update] Full local election results can be found here.

Churches Together in Teddington and Hampton have organised a local hustings for Twickenham candidates at Teddington Baptist Church on this evening (7:30pm).

Also Richmond Environmental Information Centre (REIC) is holding a public meeting on 21st April in Richmond where the public can question all the Richmond and Twickenham candidates and leaders of local political parties. This meeting is to be chaired by Bamber Gascoigne.

See here for full listing of candidates nominated for each ward.

Not sure what Electoral ward you’re in? Type your postcode into the MyRichmond info service for this and other useful info.

Not to be confused with the General Election (still to be announced) this could occur on any date up to the deadline of June 3rd and may actually end up being combined with the local elections.

See Richmond Council site for further info. www.richmond.gov.uk/elections.

Instead a motion to ‘rethink’ the fees was introduced – an outcome seen as a disappointment by campaigners such as Friends of Bushy and Home Parks.

The hour-long sitting saw Lib Dems and Conservative peers argue against the scheme to keep parks free for drivers to visit, but in the end neither party could agree on any alternative to this.

The motion to scrap the charges was finally voted down by 48 votes to 71 – viewed as a defeat by campaigners who now find it difficult to see any other outcome other than the introduction of the charges now despite promises to rethink a solution.

Friends of Bushy and Home Parks chairman Pieter Morpurgo has promised to “fight on” against the proposals regardless.

Photo: OFadero

Local press are reporting on the political wrangling between parties that affected the vote outcome.

British Olympic athlete Jo Pavey has added her voice to the protests – explaining that she may be forced out of her training ground if the carges are introduced.

The Twickenham constituency session will take place on Monday 15th March (6-8pm) at Teddington Baptist Church where you will be able to discuss these matters with Lib Dem Vince Cable, Labours Brian Tomlinson and Deborah Thomas for the Conservatives. Residents are encouraged to talk to their future MPs – “tell them what really matters to you and ask about their plans for your local services”.

Please register here if you wish to attend this event which opens for refreshments at 5:30pm.