The Wells and Mendip Hills Executive Committee has selected James Heappey MP to run as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for the newly delineated Wells and Mendip Hills constituency in the upcoming elections.

However, due to boundary changes, no matter how the voting goes in the next Generation Election, he will no longer be representing Street and Glastonbury.

Currently serving as the MP for Wells, Heappey's new constituency will include Yatton, Blagdon, and Cheddar. In a statement on the Wells Conservatives Facebook page, a spokesperson congratulated Heappey on his selection, saying, "Well done James, many congratulations."

James Heappey has held the Wells seat since 2015 - but the new Wells constituency will bear little resemblance to the current one. While it still includes Axbridge, Cheddar, Shepton Mallet and Wells itself, the new constituency loses the coastal towns of Burnham-on-Sea and Highbridge to the new Bridgwater seat. The new constituency also includes Yatton and other settlements which currently form the eastern part of the Weston-super-Mare seat held by John Penrose since 2005.

Meanwhile, Street and Glastonbury will move into the new Glastonbury and Somerton constituency. This is being created out of most of the existing Somerton and Frome seats, including the towns of Castle Cary, Langport, Somerton and Wincanton (but not Bruton). It will also include the town of Glastonbury, the neighbouring village of Street, and the Ham Hill tourist attraction

Regarding the boundary changes, Heappey expressed his gratitude for the opportunity to serve the new seat of Wells and Mendip Hills, but lamented the exclusion of Glastonbury, Street, and the surrounding villages from his area of representation.

Heappey - who will be going up against Lib Dem Tessa Munt for the Wells and Mendip Hills seat - emphasised that he would continue to serve these communities until the next election and boundary changes take effect, stating, "It remains my privilege to do so."

To date, none of the parties have announced their candidates for the Glastonbury and Somerton constituency.

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