Rayleigh & Wickford
Apr 1, 2020 13:00:50 GMT
Robert Waller, Disgusted Of Tunbridge Wells, and 3 more like this
Post by John Chanin on Apr 1, 2020 13:00:50 GMT
This seat is where nationalist south Essex and commuterland meet. The seat is stitched together by the east coast railway line from Liverpool Street to Southend, which travels well inland from the Thames through Brentwood and Billericay to Wickford, Rayleigh, Hockley, and Rochford, before turning south to terminate in Southend.
Most of the seat is Rochford District, without the eastern end, including the eponymous town, which has been linked with Southend East. The District is essentially an urban extension of the Southend built-up area (and treated as such by the ONS). Rayleigh, the largest town, is separated from the Southend district of Eastwood only by 400 metres of scrubby woodland. Rayleigh was a village with an old church and a mediaeval history, before the great post-war building of satellite towns turned it into an area of middle class semi-detached housing with garages. There is a thriving shopping centre. Rayleigh is connected by ribbon development to Hockley to its east, which is much the same - a post-war urban sprawl added to the old village of Hawkwell. A small area of woodland separates Hockley from Ashingdon. This is the new quarter of Rochford, on the west of the town, the housing dating from the 1990s and 2000s. The District stretches north and east alongside the River Crouch and into the marshes and Wallasea Island, separating the estuaries of the Crouch and Roach. This area is sparsely populated but includes the small town of Hullbridge which has become a Green stronghold at local elections. Wickford is of a similar size and constitution to Rayleigh, but is part of Basildon District. It is separated from Rayleigh by a small patch of countryside including the village of Rawreth.
The whole seat is almost entirely developed post-war, and the increasing population has led to rapid changes in the parliamentary seats here. The census shows that this has the second highest owner-occupation figure in England & Wales, and the 4th lowest council housing. These figures, and those for ethnicity are very similar to neighbouring Castle Point, but this seat is distinctly up market, as shown by the occupational structure figures. The present constituency dates only from 2010. Previously Rayleigh was linked with parts of Chelmsford District (South Woodham) and Wickford was part of the Billericay constituency.
The area is monolithically Conservative at both local and national levels. The Liberal Democrats have won some seats in Rayleigh in the past and usually win semi-rural Rawreth. The Greens hold Hullbridge. As often the case in such areas there are local independents who challenge the Conservatives from time to time. There is no Labour representation whatsoever, and hasn’t been for many years. The current MP is Mark Francois, first elected for Rayleigh in 2001. He is one of the leading figures in the European Research Group, the anti-EU pressure group.
Boundary changes here will be very minor, just adjusting to new ward boundaries by transferring 2700 voters to Rochford & Southend East.
Census data: owner-occupied 85% (2/573 in England & Wales), private rented 8% (566th), social rented 6% (570th).
:White 97%, Black 1%, Asian 1%, Mixed 1%, Other 1%
: Managerial & professional 36% (266th), Routine & Semi-routine 23% (466th)
: Degree 20% (455th), Minimal qualifications 41% (150th)
: Students 1.9% (563rd), Over 65 20% (136th)
Most of the seat is Rochford District, without the eastern end, including the eponymous town, which has been linked with Southend East. The District is essentially an urban extension of the Southend built-up area (and treated as such by the ONS). Rayleigh, the largest town, is separated from the Southend district of Eastwood only by 400 metres of scrubby woodland. Rayleigh was a village with an old church and a mediaeval history, before the great post-war building of satellite towns turned it into an area of middle class semi-detached housing with garages. There is a thriving shopping centre. Rayleigh is connected by ribbon development to Hockley to its east, which is much the same - a post-war urban sprawl added to the old village of Hawkwell. A small area of woodland separates Hockley from Ashingdon. This is the new quarter of Rochford, on the west of the town, the housing dating from the 1990s and 2000s. The District stretches north and east alongside the River Crouch and into the marshes and Wallasea Island, separating the estuaries of the Crouch and Roach. This area is sparsely populated but includes the small town of Hullbridge which has become a Green stronghold at local elections. Wickford is of a similar size and constitution to Rayleigh, but is part of Basildon District. It is separated from Rayleigh by a small patch of countryside including the village of Rawreth.
The whole seat is almost entirely developed post-war, and the increasing population has led to rapid changes in the parliamentary seats here. The census shows that this has the second highest owner-occupation figure in England & Wales, and the 4th lowest council housing. These figures, and those for ethnicity are very similar to neighbouring Castle Point, but this seat is distinctly up market, as shown by the occupational structure figures. The present constituency dates only from 2010. Previously Rayleigh was linked with parts of Chelmsford District (South Woodham) and Wickford was part of the Billericay constituency.
The area is monolithically Conservative at both local and national levels. The Liberal Democrats have won some seats in Rayleigh in the past and usually win semi-rural Rawreth. The Greens hold Hullbridge. As often the case in such areas there are local independents who challenge the Conservatives from time to time. There is no Labour representation whatsoever, and hasn’t been for many years. The current MP is Mark Francois, first elected for Rayleigh in 2001. He is one of the leading figures in the European Research Group, the anti-EU pressure group.
Boundary changes here will be very minor, just adjusting to new ward boundaries by transferring 2700 voters to Rochford & Southend East.
Census data: owner-occupied 85% (2/573 in England & Wales), private rented 8% (566th), social rented 6% (570th).
:White 97%, Black 1%, Asian 1%, Mixed 1%, Other 1%
: Managerial & professional 36% (266th), Routine & Semi-routine 23% (466th)
: Degree 20% (455th), Minimal qualifications 41% (150th)
: Students 1.9% (563rd), Over 65 20% (136th)
2010 | % | 2015 | % | 2017 | % | 2019 | % | |
Conservative | 30,257 | 57.8% | 29,088 | 54.7% | 36,914 | 66.7% | 39,864 | 72.6% |
Labour | 7,577 | 14.5% | 6,705 | 12.6% | 13,464 | 24.3% | 8,864 | 16.1% |
Liberal Democrat | 7,919 | 15.1% | 1,622 | 3.0% | 1,557 | 2.8% | 4,171 | 7.6% |
UKIP | 2,211 | 4.2% | 11,858 | 22.3% | 2,326 | 4.2% | ||
Green | 2,160 | 4.1% | 1,529 | 2.9% | 1,062 | 1.9% | 2,002 | 3.6% |
Others | 2,219 | 4.2% | 2,418 | 4.5% | ||||
Majority | 22,338 | 42.7% | 14,021 | 32.4% | 23,450 | 42.4% | 31,000 | 56.5% |
