Our campaign to save Hyndburn’s parliamentary seat has triumphed – after MPs voted against a redrawing of historic boundaries.

MPs defeated the controversial boundary review earlier this week with Liberal Democrat ministers voting against their Conservative coalition colleagues.

The Observer has called for the House of Commons to reject Boundary Commission proposals to scatter the borough among three new parliamentary seats.

Council leader Miles Parkinson is delighted at the result of the Commons vote.

He said: “I’m pleased that the decision has been finally made. We were looking at the council having to deal with three MPs with totally different constituencies.

“The history of the area is that we have had an Accrington and later Hyndburn seat representing our population in Parliament.”

The Boundary Commission originally proposed wiping Hyndburn off the parliamentary map and splitting its electorate between two Burnley and Darwen seats.

The plans were opposed by Hyndburn representatives at a public consultation hearing.

But despite the opposition the Commission’s revised plans proposed even greater fragmentation with Great Harwood and Rishton joining the Ribble Valley, a change welcomed by some campaigners in Great Harwood.

Conservative ministers had called for the changes which would standardise the size of parliamentary seats and cut the number of MPs by 50.

But they lost the vote by 334 votes to 292, meaning the constituency shake-up has been put back until at least 2018.

Hyndburn Conservative leader Peter Britcliffe had mixed feelings about the vote, and said the Liberal Democrats had broken their coalition agreement.

He said: “I have to say that in a way I’m pleased that Hyndburn remains intact.

“In general it fits in with the council boundary and I think that’s important.

“I was never particularly happy about the boundary proposals.

“On the other hand I’m sorry that the number of MPs is not being reduced by 50, as was in the Conservative manifesto, which would have of course saved millions of pounds to the taxpayer.

 “I’m also sorry that we still have an inequitable system.”