Southend East & Rochford
Apr 1, 2020 12:55:37 GMT
andrewp and Disgusted Of Tunbridge Wells like this
Post by John Chanin on Apr 1, 2020 12:55:37 GMT
Southend is the traditional Cockney seaside playground, with its tacky amusement arcades, and muddy beaches, but has escaped the worst of seaside resort decline. While not as successful at reinvention as Brighton and Bournemouth, it shares their size which enables a more diverse economy, and its proximity to London and fast trains make it well within commuter range.
The east side of Southend is its more working class section. It is a very varied area. The town centre is like every other pedestrianised town centre with the same shops, but is surrounded by small terraced housing with high levels of private renting, and relatively high ethnic minorities. To the north is the bulk of Southend’s council housing, including some of the worst tower blocks in the country full of drugs and deprivation. Further out there are extensive council estates on the ring road, mostly low-rise, and as elsewhere mostly sold under right-to-buy. Along the Thames estuary, east of the holiday area, with its famous mile long pier, its amusement park, and its old pleasue palace, the Kursaal, is middle-class owner-occupied housing of Southchurch and Thorpe Bay. The latter, up market and full of retirees and yachts, is a conservative stronghold. Further east is Shoeburyness. The old naval base where the Thames meets the North Sea has been decommissioned, the old barracks converted into up market housing, and luxury flats built along the shore, facing the full weight of winter gales. Inland there is an extensive area of modern private housing estates built in the 1990s and full of young families.
While dominating national elections, politically at local level the Conservatives have been on a long slide in this constituency, and hold just 5 of the 24 council seats. The town centre has consolidated as a Labour stronghold, containing most of the modern demographic groups that tend to Labour. Elsewhere there is a plague of independents, in Thorpe Bay ultra-conservatives who quite like the genteel decline of the town, in Shoeburyness a protest against remoteness, and out on the ring road a general disillusion with politics. UKIP made substantial inroads in this constituency during the last decade in alliance with the independents.
In 1997 the undersized constituency had 3 wards added to it from Rochford District. These are also very varied but did not change the political balance of the constituency significantly. Rochford town is an old settlement with many old dwellings, and a mixed population. The north side of the town contains the only substantial council estate in the District (albeit mostly sold off). The modern west part of the town is not in this constituency. The old Rochford ward was the only ward in the District where Labour were competitive. Between Rochford, at the lowest bridging point of the Roach, and the sea there are extensive marshes, plus the overgrown village of Great & Little Wakering. This is a pleasant place to live with a prosperous population, with commuting more to Southend than to London. Further east out on the marshes is Foulness Island - while having a population of several hundred it is also privately owned (by the defence contractor Qinetiq) and access is barred to the public unless they have an invitation from a resident. Teddy Taylor when MP for the seat famously kicked up a huge fuss about his right to visit his constituents without restriction, and Qinetiq had reluctantly to give way. Public access is allowed once a month (although you can walk along the beach at low tide). This would have been a very different world if the Heath government had proceeded with the proposed London airport on the island.
This seat is exactly the sort of seat elsewhere in England that turned to Labour in 1997. But local MP Teddy Taylor was hugely popular and withstood the Labour landslide comfortably. His sizable personal vote was demonstrated when he retired in 2005, and there was a 2.4% swing to Labour against the national trend of a 3% swing to the Conservatives. Current MP is James Duddridge who is a junior minister in the present government.
The proposed boundary changes are substantial and rather curious. The 3 town centre wards, all safely Labour these days, are to be transferred to Southend West. Meanwhile the 2 north western suburban wards covering the district of Eastwood, and the residential area south of the airport, are to move the other way. The original proposals disconnected these two wards from the rest of Southend East, connecting only through Southend airport, but this has now been corrected. Eastwood is almost all modern post-war development and Eastwood ward is strongly Conservative. The area to the south of the airport has quite a bit of council housing in its quiet residential roads, and St Laurence ward which straddles the industrial area including part of Eastwood is moderately Conservative in an average year. A further small bonus comes from an extra 2700 voters from the sparsely populated villages north of Rochford, like Paglesham and Canewdon. The new seat will be 5000 voters smaller and now very safe for the Conservatives.
Census data: owner-occupied 59% (442/573 in England & Wales), private rented 24% (75th), social rented 16% (252nd).
:White 91%, Black 2%, Asian 2%, Mixed 2%, Other 2%
: Managerial & professional 32% (354th), Routine & Semi-routine 30% (281st)
: Degree 19%(471st), Minimal qualifications 43% (99th)
: Students 3%(274th), Over 65: 17%(308th)
The east side of Southend is its more working class section. It is a very varied area. The town centre is like every other pedestrianised town centre with the same shops, but is surrounded by small terraced housing with high levels of private renting, and relatively high ethnic minorities. To the north is the bulk of Southend’s council housing, including some of the worst tower blocks in the country full of drugs and deprivation. Further out there are extensive council estates on the ring road, mostly low-rise, and as elsewhere mostly sold under right-to-buy. Along the Thames estuary, east of the holiday area, with its famous mile long pier, its amusement park, and its old pleasue palace, the Kursaal, is middle-class owner-occupied housing of Southchurch and Thorpe Bay. The latter, up market and full of retirees and yachts, is a conservative stronghold. Further east is Shoeburyness. The old naval base where the Thames meets the North Sea has been decommissioned, the old barracks converted into up market housing, and luxury flats built along the shore, facing the full weight of winter gales. Inland there is an extensive area of modern private housing estates built in the 1990s and full of young families.
While dominating national elections, politically at local level the Conservatives have been on a long slide in this constituency, and hold just 5 of the 24 council seats. The town centre has consolidated as a Labour stronghold, containing most of the modern demographic groups that tend to Labour. Elsewhere there is a plague of independents, in Thorpe Bay ultra-conservatives who quite like the genteel decline of the town, in Shoeburyness a protest against remoteness, and out on the ring road a general disillusion with politics. UKIP made substantial inroads in this constituency during the last decade in alliance with the independents.
In 1997 the undersized constituency had 3 wards added to it from Rochford District. These are also very varied but did not change the political balance of the constituency significantly. Rochford town is an old settlement with many old dwellings, and a mixed population. The north side of the town contains the only substantial council estate in the District (albeit mostly sold off). The modern west part of the town is not in this constituency. The old Rochford ward was the only ward in the District where Labour were competitive. Between Rochford, at the lowest bridging point of the Roach, and the sea there are extensive marshes, plus the overgrown village of Great & Little Wakering. This is a pleasant place to live with a prosperous population, with commuting more to Southend than to London. Further east out on the marshes is Foulness Island - while having a population of several hundred it is also privately owned (by the defence contractor Qinetiq) and access is barred to the public unless they have an invitation from a resident. Teddy Taylor when MP for the seat famously kicked up a huge fuss about his right to visit his constituents without restriction, and Qinetiq had reluctantly to give way. Public access is allowed once a month (although you can walk along the beach at low tide). This would have been a very different world if the Heath government had proceeded with the proposed London airport on the island.
This seat is exactly the sort of seat elsewhere in England that turned to Labour in 1997. But local MP Teddy Taylor was hugely popular and withstood the Labour landslide comfortably. His sizable personal vote was demonstrated when he retired in 2005, and there was a 2.4% swing to Labour against the national trend of a 3% swing to the Conservatives. Current MP is James Duddridge who is a junior minister in the present government.
The proposed boundary changes are substantial and rather curious. The 3 town centre wards, all safely Labour these days, are to be transferred to Southend West. Meanwhile the 2 north western suburban wards covering the district of Eastwood, and the residential area south of the airport, are to move the other way. The original proposals disconnected these two wards from the rest of Southend East, connecting only through Southend airport, but this has now been corrected. Eastwood is almost all modern post-war development and Eastwood ward is strongly Conservative. The area to the south of the airport has quite a bit of council housing in its quiet residential roads, and St Laurence ward which straddles the industrial area including part of Eastwood is moderately Conservative in an average year. A further small bonus comes from an extra 2700 voters from the sparsely populated villages north of Rochford, like Paglesham and Canewdon. The new seat will be 5000 voters smaller and now very safe for the Conservatives.
Census data: owner-occupied 59% (442/573 in England & Wales), private rented 24% (75th), social rented 16% (252nd).
:White 91%, Black 2%, Asian 2%, Mixed 2%, Other 2%
: Managerial & professional 32% (354th), Routine & Semi-routine 30% (281st)
: Degree 19%(471st), Minimal qualifications 43% (99th)
: Students 3%(274th), Over 65: 17%(308th)
2010 | % | 2015 | % | 2017 | % | 2019 | % | |
Conservative | 19,509 | 46.9% | 20,241 | 46.4% | 23,013 | 48.7% | 27,063 | 58.7% |
Labour | 8,459 | 20.3% | 10,765 | 24.7% | 17,465 | 37.0% | 14,777 | 32.0% |
Liberal Democrat | 8,084 | 19.4% | 1,459 | 3.3% | 1,265 | 2.7% | 2,822 | 6.1% |
UKIP | 2,405 | 5.8% | 8,948 | 20.5% | 1,777 | 3.8% | ||
Green | 707 | 1.7% | 2,195 | 5.0% | 804 | 1.7% | ||
Others | 2,467 | 6.0% | 2,924 | 6.2% | 1,474 | 3.2% | ||
Majority | 11,050 | 26.5% | 9,476 | 21.7% | 5,548 | 11.7% | 12,286 | 26.6% |
