Chester will have two MPs after city is cut in two

Chester is to be divided into two parliamentary constituencies

Chester's Roman walls were built to keep its citizens together and protect them from marauding enemies.

But the city is about to be divided in a way it has never been before.

A boundary review means areas south of the River Dee will have a different MP from the rest of the city.

When the city was founded as the settlement Deva, land south of the river was integral to the development of the area.

A site in Handbridge was a quarry used to build the imposing City Walls. And to this day, there is still a shrine to Minerva - the goddess of wisdom.

But the wisdom of splitting the city into two constituencies - Chester North and Neston and Chester South and Eddisbury - has been questioned by residents and politicians alike since the Boundary Commission recommended the change last year.

The River Dee will become the boundary between the two Chester constituencies

The change comes after the Boundary Commission reviewed of all of the country's constituencies with the aim of ensuring each had a similar-sized population.

Some wards such as Handbridge Park, Lache and Christleton and Huntington have become part of the much more rural Chester South and Eddisbury constituency, which borders Shropshire and Newcastle-under-Lyme at its southern part.

The Commission admitted it was a controversial move and that there had been "very significant opposition".

"There was also an acceptance, albeit reluctant, that there was no other solution that did not either cause serious disruption across the whole area or require splitting multiple wards," it said.