Battersea

[Arthur Figgis]

Mar 29, 2020 21:51:19 GMT @barnabymarder said:

BATTERSEA

This seat dates back to 1983, since when it has been almost unaltered like all Wandsworth constituencies; before then, there was a North and South Battersea seat. Battersea North was a perennial Labour stronghold, with sweeping working-class and artisan terraces interspersed with council estates, some of them sizeable. When Battersea was created, it seemed natural that the Labour North would outvote the more mixed South, and so it proved. But already by then the area was changing, and in 1987 the Tories won the seat. Since then, it has had largely marginal characteristics, although there have been times when the Tories appeared to be about to put it out of Labour's reach, especially the 2015 election.

Battersea became a very desirable location for upwardly mobile, often City, professionals after the early 1980s, with its solidly-built Victorian terraces close to London and close to attractive green spaces such as Battersea Park and Clapham Common. They helped to reinforce the narrow Conservative majority on Wandsworth council, which in its turn helped with a project of attempted social engineering which frowned upon social housing but smiled upon executive homes, though it was always less direct that that seen in Westminster at the same time. These professionals have largely stayed, but there remain large council estates, particularly in Latchmere ward north of Clapham Junction station (which is the one and only safe Labour ward in the constituency), but also in other wards most notably Queenstown. While parts of the constituency have been transformed from shabby white and black working-class areas of owner-occupied and privately-rented terraced houses to expensive, restaurant-filled localities, others have resisted major social change. Some of the voters here are not unlike those found in Putney to the west, but the pockets of ultra-affluence are perhaps a little less extensive, and the constituency is also quite a bit less white-dominated than Putney too, retaining much of its old Caribbean community. As well as Battersea itself (this takes in Clapham Junction), the constituency includes parts, though not all, of the Balham, Wandsworth and Clapham communities. Again, as with almost all of the most affluent parts of London, the owner-occupied voters tend to be relatively social liberal even if they have voted Conservative at times (both of the 2 Conservative MPs who have won here are identified broadly with the left of that party), and were very pro-Remain in the 2016 referendum. This has tended to alienate even many very prosperous City workers from the Conservatives in national elections since then, and the seat, despite seeing a comfortable-looking Tory win in the 2015 election, swung heavily to Labour's Marsha De Cordova as she took it with votes to spare in 2017. The salience of Europe as an issue in the 2019 election, and De Cordova's broadly pro-Remain stance, prevented the Tories from coming all that close from retaking the seat in 2019. It is another seat where Europe has loomed large as an election issue, and the Conservatives will have to reconnect with their erstwhile pro-Remain voters if they are to retake it in the future.

We enter Balham through the verdant grasslands of Battersea Park, and at once we are aware that here is a land of happy, contented people who go about their daily tasks in truly democratic spirit.

[Arthur Figgis]

Mar 30, 2020 7:31:27 GMT @barnabymarder said:

Balham was a very different place when Peter Sellers recorded that.

Balham was a very different place when I grew up there. My parents nearly bought a house in Streatham instead, which at the time was considered more upmarket. Balham was considered somewhat down at heel.

[yellowperil]

I spent two short periods of my life living in a terrace house just in Battersea,but within sight, almost, of Clapham Common. The first was a few weeks in 1951 , for the Festival of Britain, the second a few months in 1961 (the latter while working in Streatham, so walking across Balham to work each day). It all felt very working class and really rather boring- all those identical crummy little terrace houses! I was living in those times with my aunt and uncle and two girl cousins, the younger of which, a bit older than me, was besotted with her two main interests, ice skating and ballroom dancing. She became a world class performer in both those disciplines - I was thinking these days she would be a big celebrity but in those days probably only well known within those then rather esoteric interests.

[Arthur Figgis]

Mar 30, 2020 10:07:14 GMT @barnabymarder said:

Mar 30, 2020 7:34:11 GMT Arthur Figgis said:

Balham was a very different place when I grew up there. My parents nearly bought a house in Streatham instead, which at the time was considered more upmarket. Balham was considered somewhat down at heel.

Mind you, although I imply that Balham is posher now than it was then, it had a Conservative MP at the time Peter Sellers recorded it (unless I'm very much mistaken), whereas it has Labour MPs nowadays.

I believe that in 1949, it would have been part of Wandsworth Central, which was represented by Ernest Bevin at the time.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

Balham - Gateway to the South was written in 1949 and first performed on the Third Programme - Sellers recorded it much later.

[Robert Waller]

2011 Census

Age 65+ 7.9% 637/650
Very good health 50.4% 3/650
Owner-occupied 42.0% 614/650
Private rented 31.7% 27/650
Social rented 23.5% 138 /650
White 73.5 % 559/650
Black 12.2% 33/650
Asian 7.1% 171/650
Passports held – Antarctica and Oceania 4.2% 2/650
Managerial & professional 55.4% (1/650)
Routine & Semi-routine 12.1%
Degree level 57.4% 1/650
No qualifications 10.7% 644/650
Students 7.0% 300/650


2021 Census

Owner occupied 39.9% 544/573
Private rented 38.3% 17/573
Social rented 21.8% 114/573
White 68.7%
Black 11.9%
Asian 9.0%
Managerial & professional 55.6% 1/573
Routine & Semi-routine 11.8% 568/573
Degree level 65.5% 1/573
No qualifications 9.1% 570/573





General Election 2019: Battersea

Party Candidate Votes % ±%

Labour Marsha de Cordova 27,290 45.5 -0.4
Conservative Kim Caddy 21,622 36.1 -5.5
Liberal Democrats Mark Gitsham 9,150 15.3 +7.3
Green Lois Davis 1,529 2.5 +1.0
Brexit Party Jake Thomas 386 0.6

Lab Majority 5,668 9.5 +5.1

Turnout 59,977 75.6 +4.6

Registered electors 79,309

Labour hold

Swing 2.5 C to Lab

[Deleted]

“ Passports held – Antarctica and Oceania 4.2% 2/650”

I wonder what proportion of those hold Antarctican passports 😉

[londonseal80]

Mar 30, 2020 7:34:11 GMT Arthur Figgis said:

Mar 30, 2020 7:31:27 GMT @barnabymarder said:

Balham was a very different place when Peter Sellers recorded that.

Balham was a very different place when I grew up there. My parents nearly bought a house in Streatham instead, which at the time was considered more upmarket. Balham was considered somewhat down at heel.

Balham is a part of Wandsworth that has always has a least one Conservative ward every election even from the Metropolitan borough days. Both Balham and Bedford were Tory in 1964 both and were either only narrowly won or split during the great Labour years of 1971 and 1974, and Nightingale had always been Conservative. I wonder what was the reason for the Tory strength in the area when it was less posh?

[sirbenjamin]

Feb 18, 2021 19:32:13 GMT londonseal80 said:

Mar 30, 2020 7:34:11 GMT Arthur Figgis said:

Balham was a very different place when I grew up there. My parents nearly bought a house in Streatham instead, which at the time was considered more upmarket. Balham was considered somewhat down at heel.

Balham is a part of Wandsworth that has always has a least one Conservative ward every election even from the Metropolitan borough days. Both Balham and Bedford were Tory in 1964 both and were either only narrowly won or split during the great Labour years of 1971 and 1974, and Nightingale had always been Conservative. I wonder what was the reason for the Tory strength in the area when it was less posh?

I think that would be down to the relatively large number of small shopkeepers, landlords, restaurateurs, market traders etc. and comparatively few unionised workers. That sort of 'respectable lower middle class Tory voter' wasn't uncommon in these sorts of Inner London suburbs at one time.

Of course. this sort of local community has now been largely priced out of Zones 2 and 3, with only the rich and the in-receipt-of-benefits poor realistically able to live in these kinds of areas.

[Pete Whitehead]

[pragmaticidealist]

The returning officer for Battersea/Wandsworth in 1992 had one of the poshest accents I've ever heard.

[Andrew_S]

Mar 22, 2021 11:03:13 GMT pragmaticidealist said:

The returning officer for Battersea/Wandsworth in 1992 had one of the poshest accents I've ever heard.

Not sure who the person giving the announcement was — a councillor most likely, but John Bowis mentioned Gerald Jones being the chief executive, and he was still there until 2009 according to this tweet. Are chief executives normally in post for such a long time?

[andrewp]

Mar 22, 2021 11:39:00 GMT Andrew_S said:

Mar 22, 2021 11:03:13 GMT pragmaticidealist said:

The returning officer for Battersea/Wandsworth in 1992 had one of the poshest accents I've ever heard.

Not sure who the person giving the announcement was — a councillor most likely, but John Bowis mentioned Gerald Jones being the chief executive, and he was still there until 2009 according to this tweet. Are chief executives normally in post for such a long time?

No. Quite often Council chief executives tend to have a relatively short tenure. I have worked for a council for 19 years. In that time there have been 4 chief execs + 3 interims in between. 

[Davıd Boothroyd]

There are a number of points that could be made on that. The first is that you may be taking the wrong starting point - if you look at how the seat has behaved since 1979 you get a distinctly different impression.

The other is to point out something which is often forgotten, that the 2005 general election saw Labour doing notably badly in London. The Conservatives advanced again in 2010 but not by nearly so much (and less than the national average).

[evergreenadam]

Feb 19, 2021 20:32:34 GMT sirbenjamin said:

Feb 18, 2021 19:32:13 GMT londonseal80 said:

Balham is a part of Wandsworth that has always has a least one Conservative ward every election even from the Metropolitan borough days. Both Balham and Bedford were Tory in 1964 both and were either only narrowly won or split during the great Labour years of 1971 and 1974, and Nightingale had always been Conservative. I wonder what was the reason for the Tory strength in the area when it was less posh?

I think that would be down to the relatively large number of small shopkeepers, landlords, restaurateurs, market traders etc. and comparatively few unionised workers. That sort of 'respectable lower middle class Tory voter' wasn't uncommon in these sorts of Inner London suburbs at one time.

Of course. this sort of local community has now been largely priced out of Zones 2 and 3, with only the rich and the in-receipt-of-benefits poor realistically able to live in these kinds of areas.

My mother’s memories from the 1950s/early 1960s were of Balham being a bit rough at times, whereas Streatham was much more desirable.

[evergreenadam]

Mar 30, 2020 8:12:22 GMT yellowperil said:

I spent two short periods of my life living in a terrace house just in Battersea,but within sight, almost, of Clapham Common. The first was a few weeks in 1951 , for the Festival of Britain, the second a few months in 1961 (the latter while working in Streatham, so walking across Balham to work each day). It all felt very working class and really rather boring- all those identical crummy little terrace houses! I was living in those times with my aunt and uncle and two girl cousins, the younger of which, a bit older than me, was besotted with her two main interests, ice skating and ballroom dancing. She became a world class performer in both those disciplines - I was thinking these days she would be a big celebrity but in those days probably only well known within those then rather esoteric interests.

How much do those terraced houses fetch now!!!

[sirbenjamin]

Nov 11, 2021 22:55:51 GMT evergreenadam said:

Feb 19, 2021 20:32:34 GMT sirbenjamin said:

I think that would be down to the relatively large number of small shopkeepers, landlords, restaurateurs, market traders etc. and comparatively few unionised workers. That sort of 'respectable lower middle class Tory voter' wasn't uncommon in these sorts of Inner London suburbs at one time.

Of course. this sort of local community has now been largely priced out of Zones 2 and 3, with only the rich and the in-receipt-of-benefits poor realistically able to live in these kinds of areas.

My mother’s memories from the 1950s/early 1960s were of Balham being a bit rough at times, whereas Streatham was much more desirable.

Streatham was still seen as desirable well into the 1980s. When I was a young child our family friends who were considered 'well off' generally lived in the big houses facing Tooting Bec Common or nearby. Streatham High Road was pretty much *the* place to shop and, especially, to eat out.

The way in which Streatham moved downmarket while Balham and Tooting moved up has been fascinating to observe over the past 40 years. I just don't get why. I mean, if you're going to do a gentrification thing in South London, why not just do it in the area that already had a reputation for being quite nice? Why this obsession with taking over 'edgy' and 'up and coming' places in order to turn them into something that used to exist next door...

[evergreenadam]

Nov 12, 2021 22:12:47 GMT sirbenjamin said:

Nov 11, 2021 22:55:51 GMT evergreenadam said:

My mother’s memories from the 1950s/early 1960s were of Balham being a bit rough at times, whereas Streatham was much more desirable.

Streatham was still seen as desirable well into the 1980s. When I was a young child our family friends who were considered 'well off' generally lived in the big houses facing Tooting Bec Common or nearby. Streatham High Road was pretty much *the* place to shop and, especially, to eat out.

The way in which Streatham moved downmarket while Balham and Tooting moved up has been fascinating to observe over the past 40 years. I just don't get why. I mean, if you're going to do a gentrification thing in South London, why not just do it in the area that already had a reputation for being quite nice? Why this obsession with taking over 'edgy' and 'up and coming' places in order to turn them into something that used to exist next door...

I think that by the 1980s the lack of a tube station in Streatham made it difficult to attract young upwardly mobile types and had a negative drag on property price potential especially for those renovating an older property and hoping to make some money on resale. Southern Region’s suburban services had declined in frequency too.

I’m not sure when street prostitution became a problem in the area or whether it was mostly confined to Bedford Hill on the Balham border but that didn’t help Streatham’s reputation in the 1990s.

[Arthur Figgis]

Nov 12, 2021 22:12:47 GMT sirbenjamin said:

Nov 11, 2021 22:55:51 GMT evergreenadam said:

My mother’s memories from the 1950s/early 1960s were of Balham being a bit rough at times, whereas Streatham was much more desirable.

Streatham was still seen as desirable well into the 1980s. When I was a young child our family friends who were considered 'well off' generally lived in the big houses facing Tooting Bec Common or nearby. Streatham High Road was pretty much *the* place to shop and, especially, to eat out.

The way in which Streatham moved downmarket while Balham and Tooting moved up has been fascinating to observe over the past 40 years. I just don't get why. I mean, if you're going to do a gentrification thing in South London, why not just do it in the area that already had a reputation for being quite nice? Why this obsession with taking over 'edgy' and 'up and coming' places in order to turn them into something that used to exist next door...

It all went downhill when Pratts closed.

[evergreenadam]

Nov 13, 2021 10:40:15 GMT Arthur Figgis said:

Nov 12, 2021 22:12:47 GMT sirbenjamin said:

Streatham was still seen as desirable well into the 1980s. When I was a young child our family friends who were considered 'well off' generally lived in the big houses facing Tooting Bec Common or nearby. Streatham High Road was pretty much *the* place to shop and, especially, to eat out.

The way in which Streatham moved downmarket while Balham and Tooting moved up has been fascinating to observe over the past 40 years. I just don't get why. I mean, if you're going to do a gentrification thing in South London, why not just do it in the area that already had a reputation for being quite nice? Why this obsession with taking over 'edgy' and 'up and coming' places in order to turn them into something that used to exist next door...

It all went downhill when Pratts closed.

1990.

In 1992 Labour won Streatham for the first time.