Didcot group says the town should be included in Wantage constituency

Town promotion group Didcot First has submitted a bid to to change the name of the Wantage parliamentary constituency to either Didcot or Didcot and Wantage.

• Warning that fights will break out over name change 

Chairman David Pryor, who runs a taxi firm, said: “Didcot needs to be acknowledged as the focal point for growth in the constituency.

“With thousands of new houses being built in the area it would be a nonsense if the change did not go ahead.

“Didcot is becoming an increasingly important town and is now in the heart of the Science Vale area and has become a Garden Town.

“This has been one of my targets since I joined Didcot First 10 years ago.”

A review of all parliamentary boundaries is under way across the county in a bid to make them a similar population size.

Wantage MP Ed Vaizey has backed the suggestion of adding Didcot to the name, but the proposal is opposed in the town that saw the birth of King Alfred the Great in the ninth century.

Oxfordshire county councillor for Wantage and Grove Jenny Hannaby said: “Wantage MP Ed Vaizey needs to know there will be boxing matches in the square over this.

“This is an outrageous suggestion and I cannot imagine it will be taken well at all with people in Wantage.

“Traditionally Mr Vaizey’s constituency has been Wantage but he decided to incorporate Didcot and this is an extension of that.”

Town mayor Steve Trinder (pictured) added: “I would not want the name Wantage to be lost under a Didcot banner - I don’t think Wantage and Didcot have that much in common.”

Keith Walkley-Pratt, co-owner of the Bear Hotel in Wantage, said: “The name Wantage should come first - I know my customers would think the same thing - having the name in the constituency title is a good signpost.”

In its bid to the Boundary Commission Didcot First said Didcot’s population has grown from 15,000 in 1981 to an anticipated 30,000 by the end of the year.

It also mentioned Didcot’s recent Garden Town status which will see the town will double in size.

Didcot Town Council has also submitted a bid to the boundary commission for the name change.

Town councillor Margaret Davies (pictured) said: “Didcot is almost three times the population of Wantage and our name should go first.”

Mr Vaizey has backed the group’s application and said the new constituency should include Didcot in its name.

He said: “I would be reluctant to lose Wantage from the constituency name however, so will continue to use both towns in the constituency title.”

The Boundary Commission could revise its proposals next year after consultation closed earlier this month.