Birmingham Hodge Hill & Solihull North
Aug 7, 2023 10:02:11 GMT
Pete Whitehead, Robert Waller, and 2 more like this
Post by John Chanin on Aug 7, 2023 10:02:11 GMT
The old Hodge Hill had several records, most of them unwanted. It had the lowest proportion of people in professional and managerial jobs in the whole country, and the lowest proportion of people with degrees, and concomitantly the highest proportion with few or no educational qualifications. It also had, in partial explanation, the highest muslim population in the country. This is the most changed of the Birmingham seats, and these levels of deprivation have been mitigated by these changes, although remaining high. The core area of working class muslim settlement in Saltley, Alum Rock, and Bordesley Green, 17,500 voters, have been moved to Ladywood, and 11,000 voters in the more middle-class but equally muslim Small Heath have been moved to Yardley. In exchange an area of mainly council housing is brought in from Yardley, plus 2 wards from ‘North Solihull’ (something of a misnomer) which are different in character. Despite the extremes the seat was never very homogenous, and is now even less so.
The seat forms a long thin strip between the Tame valley in the north and the west coast mainline in the south. The Tame valley contains the M6 and a railway as well as the river, making a major barrier cutting the area off from north Birmingham - there are only two road crossings. The west coast mainline is rather more porous, and the new seat contains a polyp to the south of it where the railway runs in a cutting. This is Heartlands ward, named after the giant general hospital that covers half its area. It contains the southern part of Alum Rock, and is similar to Ward End north of the railway, which now forms the west edge of the constituency. These areas are solidly muslim - over 80% - but not as poor and deprived as the lost territory to the west. They consist mostly of two-storey terraced houses, quite a lot post-war, and mixed council and private, with pleasant semis in the east. Also now predominantly muslim is Hodge Hill itself, further east. This is a pleasant middle-class owner-occupied area of semi-detached housing on the north side of the river Cole, the equivalent in east Birmingham of Hall Green in south Birmingham as a destination for muslim families made good, and fleeing the inner city. These muslim areas amount to around a third of the seat.
Half the seat is dominated by council estates. Alongside the river Tame in the north, the large and isolated Bromford council estate spreads, with its tower blocks overlooked by the M6, climbing up the steep side of the river valley to Hodge Hill. South of the river Cole sit Glebe Farm, Kitts Green and Tile Cross, and the north side of Stechford where there is a retail park and some private housing. Glebe Farm mostly consists of low-rise modern council housing. Next comes Kitts Green, to the immediate north of Lea Hall station, an area of low-rise council housing with some flats. South of the Meadway is Tile Cross, with its council tower blocks, adjoining the Fordbridge part of the giant Birmingham overspill estate of Chelmsley Wood. As always there has been considerable right to buy, and there are some private developments, but owner-occupation is less than 50%. Very similar, and coming in from Yardley, is Garretts Green on the other side of the railway line, although this blends into Sheldon, with its ubiquitous owner-occupied semis at the southern end. Shard End is north of the river Cole and consists almost entirely of post-war terraced council housing, generally a little older vintage than in Tile Cross to the south, with more owner-occupiers than council tenants as a result of extensive right to buy, although still with 40% social renting. It is one of the nicest of Birmingham’s peripheral estates, if like most a bit isolated, and has a higher white population. Coming in from the Meriden seat and Solihull borough is the northern third of the giant Chelmsley Wood estate. This was built by Birmingham council in the 1960s to rehouse people being cleared from the central city slums. The Smiths Wood section of the estate is entirely low-rise houses, with much right to buy, and is now less than 40% council rented. Being in Solihull since the estate was forcibly transferred in 1980 means that it has remained predominantly white, like the rest of Solihull.
Lastly, also coming in from Meriden, are the 9000 voters of Castle Bromwich, which is an entirely different world. Everyone has heard of West Bromwich, and this is the place it is west of. It was an important mediaeval settlement, with its castle strategically placed on a hill overlooking a ford on the river Tame. The castle has long gone, and these days it is an owner-occupied suburb, not as up market as Solihull but still definitely middle-class, with more managerial than routine jobs, and relatively few ethnic minority residents, even if surrounded on all sides by council estates. Somehow it has avoided absorption into the city of Birmingham, of which it is an integral part, and being “not Birmingham” has become part of its identity and made it more Conservative than other similar Birmingham suburbs. This was therefore a sensible addition to a Birmingham seat, although no doubt the residents will hate it, unlike Smiths Wood. Normally the Boundary Commission seeks to keep closely related areas together, and it is hard to know what they were thinking of, splitting the estate, and transferring part of it into a Birmingham seat, when there were several better options available.
Politically the Birmingham wards are all solidly Labour, although UKIP came close to winning in Shard End in the last decade, and there is a Liberal Democrat history in Garratts Green, south of the railway. Smiths Wood has become a Green stronghold at local level over the last decade and a half, succeeding unenthusiastic Labour support. It isn’t clear how residents have voted at national elections in Conservative Meriden. Castle Bromwich is solidly Conservative, although at local level there was a revolution here in 2018, when the Greens launched an ambush from the neighbouring estate, winning the ward, and holding it comfortably in 2019, before the Conservatives woke up and won it back. Historically, under its old name of Stechford, this was the constituency of Roy Jenkins, senior Labour figure, and founder of the SDP. Nationally there has been no contest in Hodge Hill since Liam Byrne won the seat at a by-election in 2004. He is still the MP, and may remain so following his loss of the election for West Midlands mayor in 2021. He is probably most famous (or infamous) for his 2010 joke on leaving the Treasury, that “I’m afraid there is no money”. This was the 10th safest Labour seat in the country in 2019, and the much revised seat, with its ludicrously long name, will still be safely Labour, even if a bit less so.
Census data: Owner-occupied 55% (457/575 in England & Wales), private rented 16% (372nd), social rented 29% (38th).
: White 50%(535th), Black 8%(84th), South Asian 30%(25th), Mixed 5%(79th), Other 7%(101st)
: Managerial & professional 24% (567th), Routine & Semi-routine 42% (17th)
: Degree 20% (566th), Minimal qualifications 42% (4th)
: Students 10% (92nd), Over 65: 13% (499th)
: Muslim 37% (12th)
Boundaries: The new seat is made up of 63% from Hodge Hill, 23% from Meriden, and 13% from Yardley
63% of the old Hodge Hill seat is in the new one, with 23% going to Ladywood, and 14% to Yardley
The seat forms a long thin strip between the Tame valley in the north and the west coast mainline in the south. The Tame valley contains the M6 and a railway as well as the river, making a major barrier cutting the area off from north Birmingham - there are only two road crossings. The west coast mainline is rather more porous, and the new seat contains a polyp to the south of it where the railway runs in a cutting. This is Heartlands ward, named after the giant general hospital that covers half its area. It contains the southern part of Alum Rock, and is similar to Ward End north of the railway, which now forms the west edge of the constituency. These areas are solidly muslim - over 80% - but not as poor and deprived as the lost territory to the west. They consist mostly of two-storey terraced houses, quite a lot post-war, and mixed council and private, with pleasant semis in the east. Also now predominantly muslim is Hodge Hill itself, further east. This is a pleasant middle-class owner-occupied area of semi-detached housing on the north side of the river Cole, the equivalent in east Birmingham of Hall Green in south Birmingham as a destination for muslim families made good, and fleeing the inner city. These muslim areas amount to around a third of the seat.
Half the seat is dominated by council estates. Alongside the river Tame in the north, the large and isolated Bromford council estate spreads, with its tower blocks overlooked by the M6, climbing up the steep side of the river valley to Hodge Hill. South of the river Cole sit Glebe Farm, Kitts Green and Tile Cross, and the north side of Stechford where there is a retail park and some private housing. Glebe Farm mostly consists of low-rise modern council housing. Next comes Kitts Green, to the immediate north of Lea Hall station, an area of low-rise council housing with some flats. South of the Meadway is Tile Cross, with its council tower blocks, adjoining the Fordbridge part of the giant Birmingham overspill estate of Chelmsley Wood. As always there has been considerable right to buy, and there are some private developments, but owner-occupation is less than 50%. Very similar, and coming in from Yardley, is Garretts Green on the other side of the railway line, although this blends into Sheldon, with its ubiquitous owner-occupied semis at the southern end. Shard End is north of the river Cole and consists almost entirely of post-war terraced council housing, generally a little older vintage than in Tile Cross to the south, with more owner-occupiers than council tenants as a result of extensive right to buy, although still with 40% social renting. It is one of the nicest of Birmingham’s peripheral estates, if like most a bit isolated, and has a higher white population. Coming in from the Meriden seat and Solihull borough is the northern third of the giant Chelmsley Wood estate. This was built by Birmingham council in the 1960s to rehouse people being cleared from the central city slums. The Smiths Wood section of the estate is entirely low-rise houses, with much right to buy, and is now less than 40% council rented. Being in Solihull since the estate was forcibly transferred in 1980 means that it has remained predominantly white, like the rest of Solihull.
Lastly, also coming in from Meriden, are the 9000 voters of Castle Bromwich, which is an entirely different world. Everyone has heard of West Bromwich, and this is the place it is west of. It was an important mediaeval settlement, with its castle strategically placed on a hill overlooking a ford on the river Tame. The castle has long gone, and these days it is an owner-occupied suburb, not as up market as Solihull but still definitely middle-class, with more managerial than routine jobs, and relatively few ethnic minority residents, even if surrounded on all sides by council estates. Somehow it has avoided absorption into the city of Birmingham, of which it is an integral part, and being “not Birmingham” has become part of its identity and made it more Conservative than other similar Birmingham suburbs. This was therefore a sensible addition to a Birmingham seat, although no doubt the residents will hate it, unlike Smiths Wood. Normally the Boundary Commission seeks to keep closely related areas together, and it is hard to know what they were thinking of, splitting the estate, and transferring part of it into a Birmingham seat, when there were several better options available.
Politically the Birmingham wards are all solidly Labour, although UKIP came close to winning in Shard End in the last decade, and there is a Liberal Democrat history in Garratts Green, south of the railway. Smiths Wood has become a Green stronghold at local level over the last decade and a half, succeeding unenthusiastic Labour support. It isn’t clear how residents have voted at national elections in Conservative Meriden. Castle Bromwich is solidly Conservative, although at local level there was a revolution here in 2018, when the Greens launched an ambush from the neighbouring estate, winning the ward, and holding it comfortably in 2019, before the Conservatives woke up and won it back. Historically, under its old name of Stechford, this was the constituency of Roy Jenkins, senior Labour figure, and founder of the SDP. Nationally there has been no contest in Hodge Hill since Liam Byrne won the seat at a by-election in 2004. He is still the MP, and may remain so following his loss of the election for West Midlands mayor in 2021. He is probably most famous (or infamous) for his 2010 joke on leaving the Treasury, that “I’m afraid there is no money”. This was the 10th safest Labour seat in the country in 2019, and the much revised seat, with its ludicrously long name, will still be safely Labour, even if a bit less so.
Census data: Owner-occupied 55% (457/575 in England & Wales), private rented 16% (372nd), social rented 29% (38th).
: White 50%(535th), Black 8%(84th), South Asian 30%(25th), Mixed 5%(79th), Other 7%(101st)
: Managerial & professional 24% (567th), Routine & Semi-routine 42% (17th)
: Degree 20% (566th), Minimal qualifications 42% (4th)
: Students 10% (92nd), Over 65: 13% (499th)
: Muslim 37% (12th)
Boundaries: The new seat is made up of 63% from Hodge Hill, 23% from Meriden, and 13% from Yardley
63% of the old Hodge Hill seat is in the new one, with 23% going to Ladywood, and 14% to Yardley
2017 | % | 2019 | % | Notional | % | |
Labour | 37,606 | 81.1 | 35,397 | 78.7 | 24,744 | 59.9 |
Conservative | 6,580 | 14.2 | 6,742 | 15.0 | 11,793 | 28.6 |
Liberal Democrat | 805 | 1.7 | 760 | 1.7 | 1,788 | 4.3 |
UKIP/Brexit | 1,016 | 2.2 | 1,519 | 3.4 | 1,271 | 3.1 |
Green | 387 | 0.8 | 328 | 0.7 | 1,441 | 3.5 |
Other | 257 | 0.6 | 257 | 0.6 | ||
| Majority | 31,026 | 66.9 | 28,655 | 63.7 | 12,951 | 31.4 |