A PUBLIC inquiry is to be held into planned changes to the seven parliamentary constituency boundaries in Suffolk.The Boundary Commission for England has called the inquiry for June 17 after objections were made about the proposals.

By Jonathan Barnes

A PUBLIC inquiry is to be held into planned changes to the seven parliamentary constituency boundaries in Suffolk.

The Boundary Commission for England has called the inquiry for June 17 after objections were made about the proposals.

The only major change in the provisional recommendations, which were made in January, is in the borough of Ipswich, where the town division is set to take 3,000 voters from the Suffolk Central and Ipswich North constituency.

In the west of the county, the only major change being recommended is the switching of the 900 electors in Whelnetham from Bury St Edmunds to West Suffolk.

Boundary reviews take place every 10 to 15 years to ensure MPs represent, as far as possible, the same number of electors. The changes will not come into effect until the General Election at the end of the decade.

A spokesman for the Boundary Commission said: "The inquiry will be held in public and any interested person, whether a supporter or objector to the commission's proposals, may attend and be heard.

"The commission would urge all interested parties to attend and make their views known. It should not be assumed that the inquiry will only discuss those matters raised in representations submitted during the representation period allowed nor that the commission's provisional recommendations will remain unchanged."

The inquiry will take place at the council chamber in Ipswich Town Hall, starting at 10am on Tuesday, June 17.