OPPOSITION is growing in villages near Winchester to radical plans to redraw parliamentary boundaries.

The Boundary Commission is proposing to kill off scrap the Meon Valley constituency with a large chunk moving into Winchester; but several villages would be hived off into Caroline Nokes’ Romsey and Southampton North constituency.

Places with long political ties with Winchester such as Compton, Shawford, Twyford, Colden Common, Hursley and Otterbourne would be moved. The boundary is around the Bushfield Camp roundabout just outside the city edge.

The commission is attempting the equalise the number of electors in each constituency. The proposals are now the subject of a public consultation.

Richard Izard, city councillor for Colden Common and Twyford and chairman of Colden Common Parish Council, said: “The villages are near Winchester and we want to stay near Winchester. We would lose our Winchester identity.

City council leader Stephen Godfrey said: “Knowing the logic the Boundaries Commission follows this is entirely led by numbers. The second priority should be to ensure that communities stay together. These proposals do not feel quite right.”

Lucille Thompson, leader of the Liberal Democrat group on the city council, said: “Places like Twyford clearly look towards Winchester and not the Test Valley. This will destroy the historic links between Winchester and the local villages.

“They are gerrymandering the numbers to suit themselves.”

Former Winchester MP Mark Oaten, who now lives in Twyford, tweeted that the proposal was “crazy.”

George Hollingbery has been the Meon Valley’s MP since the constituency was created in 2010. He expressed his disappointment but said: “These changes to boundaries mean everyone’s vote should carry the same weight in future parliamentary elections. this is clearly in the best interests of democracy so I welcome it wholeheartedly.”

The commission’s ideas has echoes of 2012 when it was suggested that Alresford could be tacked on to the North Hampshire and Alton constituency.