All change for Westbury-On-Trym, Henleaze and Stoke Bishop as General Election fevers mounts

People living in Westbury-On-Trym, Henleaze and Stoke Bishop will find themselves in a different constituency at the next General Election.

Parliamentary boundaries are changing so residents in these three wards will no longer be in Bristol West but part of Bristol North West.

And with the General Election just a few weeks away, candidates vying for the seat are busy on the campaign trail - and we'll be keeping you up to date here at Westbury-On-Trym People.

With five years being the maximum period for a Parliament, the election must be held by no later than Thursday, June 3.

The current Bristol North West MP is Labour's Doug Naysmith, who was elected in 1997 and will be standing down.

According to the website ukpollingreport.co.uk, the seat is a "classic marginal" one: "Bristol North-West has regularly swapped hands between Labour and the Conservatives, though became heavily Labour after 1997 through a combination of the Blair landslide and unfavourable boundary changes.

"The new boundaries rob it the parts of South Gloucestershire that it used to contain, but return some of the richer Conservative suburbs of Bristol, most notable Westbury-On-Trym, which had been lost to Bristol West in the previous round of boundary changes.

"The more affluent areas like Westbury and Stoke Bishop are balanced out by council estates like Southmead and Lockleaze and the heavy industry and manufacturing out at the Avonmouth Docks, making this a classic marginal."

Hoping to hold the seat for Labour is Sam Townend, who divides his time between his home in Henleaze and his London property, where his current work is based.  He is a practising barrister specialising in building and engineering law.

Having joined the Labour Party in 1996 he stood as a parliamentary candidate for Reigate in 2005. He was elected as a councillor of Lambeth in 2006 until his resignation to concentrate his political activities in Bristol.

Find out more about him at www.samtownend.com

The Conservative candidate is Charlotte Leslie, who has lived in Bristol for more than 27 years.

She has been campaigning locally to improve children’s education, improve public transport and get young people engaged in constructive activities like boxing clubs, other sport, drama and music so they not causing trouble.

She has pledged a positive campaign, "free from personal attacks on other candidates, in a bid to clean up politics".  Find out more at http://charlotteleslie.com/contact/

The prospective Lib Dem MP is Paul Harrod. He has lived locally for most of his life and founded the charity Aspire to create full-time employment for homeless people. He now leads the external relations team at the University of Bristol and chairs the Bristol Enterprise Network.

He said: "Bristol has been badly let down by Labour over the years and I believe it's time for a change."

Find out more information about Paul at http://www.paulharrod.org.uk

Both Charlotte and Paul are already members of Westbury on Trym People so if you have any questions for them, post them here.

The other candidates are Alex Dunn (Green), Philippa Jones (UKIP) and Raymond Carr (English Democrat).

Lib Dem MP Stephen Williams is hoping to hold on to his Bristol West seat  which he won at the last election.

If you were the MP for Bristol North West, what would be the top five things you would fix first? Let us know!