Post by andrewp on Oct 10, 2023 10:46:19 GMT
The Newton Abbot constituency, in its present form, was formed in 2010 and largely succeeded the Teignbridge constituency. In the boundary change of that year some inland territory on the edges of Dartmoor, including the towns of Ashburton and Buckfastleigh was lost to the new Central Devon seat. The seat is now quite a compact constituency broadly covering the coastal area between Exeter and Torquay and this time around the boundary changes are extremely minimal, merely involving a tidying up to match local government ward boundaries and resulting in the removal of about 150 voters near Ashburton into the Central Devon constituency.
The 3 towns of the seat are Newton Abbot itself (electorate 21000) along with the coastal towns of Dawlish (11,000) and Teignmouth. (12,000) and the surprisingly big, expanded village of Kingsteignton (8000), situated directly over the river North of Newton Abbot
Newton Abbot is the largest town, and sits at the head of the Teign Estuary. It’s an old railway town and is surprisingly gritty in parts . It grew rapidly in the mid 19th Century around a major South Devon Railway Company works. It’s also home to the most South Westerly racecourse in the UK. It has a hilly pleasant western side but Newton Abbot’s East division was the last place outside of Exeter and Plymouth to elect a Labour County councillor to Devon County Council, in 1989 and the East of the town in Buckland ward is still quite deprived. In 2023 its four wards elected 4 Lib Dems, 4 localist South Devon alliance councillors and 1 Conservative to the District council.
The two coastal resorts are smaller, but both grew from small fishing villages when the railway arrived. Both are faded Victorian grandeur. Dawlish has the unique feature of the main South West railway line running along the seafront between the Beach and the promenade. In 2014, a heavy storm washed away the railway line, leaving the track dangling in mid air and closing the main line to Cornwall. Neighbouring Dawlish Warren is home to many caravan and holiday parks and a golf links course on a spit at the mouth of the Exe estuary. Dawlish has tended to vote Conservative in general elections but the Liberal Democrats won all 5 local council seats in the town in 2023 whilst regaining control of Teignbridge District council, which they had also won in 2019, but subsequently lost through by election losses and defections.
Teignmouth sits at the mouth of the river Teign. It has a small fishing port, and a sandy beach with rows of seaside B and B’s. Teignmouth has generally been slightly better for the Liberal Democrats than Dawlish. In 2023, the Liberal Democrats won both seats in the Towns East and West wards whilst Central split and elected 1 Conservative and 1 Liberal Democrat.
The seaside towns in this seat are slightly downmarket of, and not quite as genteel and elderly as, those across the estuary in East Devon but they still have an elderly age profile. This constituency is not quite as elderly as say Honiton and Sidmouth or South Devon but it is well within the top 50 of constituencies with the highest percentage of the population being aged over 65 with 26.9% of people in that age group. It’s also well within the top 50 constituencies for the percentage of residents who are white British. The towns are not the centres of large industry or significant employers, and this constituency is within the top 100 nationally of the percentage of people who work for small employers. This is small town conservative Devon.
The predecessor seat of Teignbridge was a new creation in the boundary changes that came into force for the 1983 general election, formed from parts of the old Tiverton and Totnes constituencies. It had a notional Conservative majority of 9800 but attracted attention due to the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, John Alderson, resigning to fight the seat for the Liberal/SDP Alliance. In the end new Conservative candidate Patrick Nicholls won comfortably by 8000. Nicholls held on in the 1997 landslide by 281 votes but lost to Liberal Democrat Richard Younger Ross in 2001. Younger Ross then went onto to double his majority in 2005 against one Stanley Johnson. The 2010 boundary changes were fairly politically neutral but Anne Marie- Morris beat Richard Younger- Ross by 523 votes in 2010. Morris has increased her majority in every subsequent election. Newton Abbot is estimated to have voted 56% leave. Labour actually came second in 2017, but the Lib Dems at least retook that position in 2019, but Morris won by 17,500 and that looks like a big cushion even in the current environment.
The 3 towns of the seat are Newton Abbot itself (electorate 21000) along with the coastal towns of Dawlish (11,000) and Teignmouth. (12,000) and the surprisingly big, expanded village of Kingsteignton (8000), situated directly over the river North of Newton Abbot
Newton Abbot is the largest town, and sits at the head of the Teign Estuary. It’s an old railway town and is surprisingly gritty in parts . It grew rapidly in the mid 19th Century around a major South Devon Railway Company works. It’s also home to the most South Westerly racecourse in the UK. It has a hilly pleasant western side but Newton Abbot’s East division was the last place outside of Exeter and Plymouth to elect a Labour County councillor to Devon County Council, in 1989 and the East of the town in Buckland ward is still quite deprived. In 2023 its four wards elected 4 Lib Dems, 4 localist South Devon alliance councillors and 1 Conservative to the District council.
The two coastal resorts are smaller, but both grew from small fishing villages when the railway arrived. Both are faded Victorian grandeur. Dawlish has the unique feature of the main South West railway line running along the seafront between the Beach and the promenade. In 2014, a heavy storm washed away the railway line, leaving the track dangling in mid air and closing the main line to Cornwall. Neighbouring Dawlish Warren is home to many caravan and holiday parks and a golf links course on a spit at the mouth of the Exe estuary. Dawlish has tended to vote Conservative in general elections but the Liberal Democrats won all 5 local council seats in the town in 2023 whilst regaining control of Teignbridge District council, which they had also won in 2019, but subsequently lost through by election losses and defections.
Teignmouth sits at the mouth of the river Teign. It has a small fishing port, and a sandy beach with rows of seaside B and B’s. Teignmouth has generally been slightly better for the Liberal Democrats than Dawlish. In 2023, the Liberal Democrats won both seats in the Towns East and West wards whilst Central split and elected 1 Conservative and 1 Liberal Democrat.
The seaside towns in this seat are slightly downmarket of, and not quite as genteel and elderly as, those across the estuary in East Devon but they still have an elderly age profile. This constituency is not quite as elderly as say Honiton and Sidmouth or South Devon but it is well within the top 50 of constituencies with the highest percentage of the population being aged over 65 with 26.9% of people in that age group. It’s also well within the top 50 constituencies for the percentage of residents who are white British. The towns are not the centres of large industry or significant employers, and this constituency is within the top 100 nationally of the percentage of people who work for small employers. This is small town conservative Devon.
The predecessor seat of Teignbridge was a new creation in the boundary changes that came into force for the 1983 general election, formed from parts of the old Tiverton and Totnes constituencies. It had a notional Conservative majority of 9800 but attracted attention due to the Chief Constable of Devon and Cornwall Police, John Alderson, resigning to fight the seat for the Liberal/SDP Alliance. In the end new Conservative candidate Patrick Nicholls won comfortably by 8000. Nicholls held on in the 1997 landslide by 281 votes but lost to Liberal Democrat Richard Younger Ross in 2001. Younger Ross then went onto to double his majority in 2005 against one Stanley Johnson. The 2010 boundary changes were fairly politically neutral but Anne Marie- Morris beat Richard Younger- Ross by 523 votes in 2010. Morris has increased her majority in every subsequent election. Newton Abbot is estimated to have voted 56% leave. Labour actually came second in 2017, but the Lib Dems at least retook that position in 2019, but Morris won by 17,500 and that looks like a big cushion even in the current environment.
