Mid Suffolk: will I be in a different District ward for 2019?

I have suspected for some time that, with Stowmarket growing like Topsy, the distribution of Mid Suffolk District Council's forty council seats was becoming increasing distorted. And today, there is news that someone who matters agrees with me, as I see that there will indeed be boundary proposals to take effect for the 2019 elections.

It turns out that Stowmarket North has about 31% more voters than it should (might building the Cedars Park estate have something to do with that?), and so a redistribution is needed.

Assuming that Stowmarket gets an extra councillor, which I think is likely, a ripple effect will mean shuffling the host of small villages across the District (and some of us are pretty small) to form viable units. And, as Creeting St Peter is one of the smaller parishes, and currently forms a small fraction of the Stowupland ward, I would guess that we're vulnerable in that sense. Indeed, we were part of The Stonhams ward until 2007, with Creeting St Mary, Earl Stonham and Stonham Aspal - held by Tony Fowler for the Liberal Democrats.

What I've learned is that, to get elected, it helps to live in the ward around here. It also helps to either live in the dominant village by population in that ward, or to live in a ward made up of a number of villages so that you have a reasonable shot at building support across them all.

In 2011, I lost my campaign in Stowupland ward for a number of reasons. Having the election on the same day as the AV referendum wasn't helpful, as a high vote against favoured the Conservatives. Being a Liberal Democrat didn't help, as we were about as popular as anthrax amongst some Labour and Green voters and I needed their support. And, whilst I did very well in my own village, where people knew me, I had a bit of a hill to climb in Stowupland.

I might have had a better chance in The Stonhams, as I'm a small village sort of person, and it requires commitment, organisation and discipline to run a campaign across a number of locations. Luckily, I have Ros to supply the organisation and discipline. And, once engaged, I have a surprising amount of enthusiasm.

As a Liberal Democrat with a sense of geography, I will doubtless offer some thoughts on how best the new boundaries might be drawn. And we do need to engage with the process, as we have seats to defend in 2019 and should be seeking to add to that number from a relatively low base.

So, watch this space. It could be unexpectedly interesting...