THORNBURY and Yate MP Steve Webb has welcomed a Westminster decision to leave constituency boundaries unchanged in then next General Election.

Mr Webb said proposed revisions, which included creating two seats serving the east and west of South Gloucestershire and a third running between the district into Bath, did not make sense.

"I know that the majority of my constituents who responded to the consultation on the new boundaries wanted things left alone, so this is welcome news," he said.

"The constituency of Thornbury and Yate includes a mixture of market towns and villages which have many common issues, so it makes sense to have those communities represented by a single Member of Parliament.

"The alternative proposals would have grouped communities on the urban fringe of Bristol with rural South Gloucestershire villages and would not have made sense. "I welcome the fact that the uncertainty over this issue has now been removed."

A boundary review had been in progress which would have abolished the current South Gloucestershire seats of Thornbury and Yate, Filton and Bradley Stoke and Kingswood.

Instead, there would have been two seats wholly in South Gloucestershire – a South Gloucestershire West centred around the A38 and a South Gloucestershire East running between Yate and Downend, with a third seat crossing the county border into Bath and North East Somerset.

But the House of Lords voted to delay the review into the next Parliament, a decision that has now been ratified by the House of Commons. It means the boundaries will remain as they are until at least the 2015 elections.