Residents of Penrith will be voting in a new constituency at the next general election, as will much of the electorate throughout Eden.
It was confirmed this week in Parliament that the traditional Penrith and the Border seat, created in 1950, is being scrapped.
And the boundaries of the neighbouring Westmorland and Lonsdale are also expanding far into Eden and the Ullswater area.
The changes were among those put before Parliament this week for approval following a review by the Boundary Commission for England.
The process has lasted for two years and means changes to the parliamentary seats as Cumbria’s MPs will be cut from six to five.
The Penrith and Solway seat now includes Keswick and Borrowdale too. Keswick and Borrowdale voted for a Copeland MP at the last general election in 2019. The newly-configured Westmorland and Lonsdale seat includes Threlkeld, Greystoke and Penruddock.
The vast Penrith and Solway constituency spans from Alston in the east and includes Maryport in the west, but stops short of the fringes of Carlisle.
The new constituency includes voters in Alston Moor, Hartside, Hesket, Kirkoswald, Langwathby, Lazonby, Penrith Carleton, Penrith East, Penrith North; Penrith Pategill, Penrith South and Penrith West. It will have an electorate of 76,720.
The newly redrawn Westmorland and Lonsdale constituency now includes towns and villages in a large part of Eden. Voting in Westmorland and Lonsdale next time will be people in Appleby, Askham, Brough, Crosby Ravensworth, Dufton, Dacre, Eamont, Greystoke, Kirkby Stephen, Kirkby Thore, Tebay, Glenridding, Patterdale, Stainton, Newbiggin, Lowther, Hackthorpe and Shap, among others.
In Penrith and the Solway, the Conservatives have selected as their candidate a current Conservative MP, Mark Jenkinson, who represents Workington. Other parties have yet to announce their candidates.
Mr Jenkinson said: “The Boundary Commission heard that Keswick has stronger links to Penrith than it does to either Workington or Whitehaven.
“There were objections that the earlier forms of the Penrith and Solway constituency did not take proper account of the impact of physical geography, for example, on connectivity for rural constituents.
“When I was deputy leader of Allerdale Borough Council, Keswick was part of the borough council’s remit and it was a town I was proud to serve.
“I am pleased that Maryport, Cockermouth, Silloth and many of the villages which are part of my present constituency will be included in the Penrith and Solway constituency for which I have been selected to stand as the Conservative candidate.”
Long-standing Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron will fight for election as the Liberal Democrat representative in Westmorland and Lonsdale.
Mr Farron welcomed the confirmed boundary changes which sees the lines move much further northwards with communities such as Kirkby Stephen, Appleby, and Greystoke being moved into Westmorland and Lonsdale.
He said: “It’s really good to finally have clarity on the boundary changes for the next election.
“I am obviously devastated to see the removal of some of our communities from Westmorland and Lonsdale.
“However, I will absolutely continue to fight for them until the new seat takes effect. Even after the election, I will continue to serve them alongside their hard working team of Liberal Democrat councillors.
“I am also excited by the prospect of fighting for those communities in north Westmorland who have been let down and ignored by the Conservatives on issues like housing, health, and sewage dumping in our beautiful lakes and rivers.”
