Leyton & Wanstead

[John Chanin]

Most of the seat is a densely packed area of terraced housing in the south of the borough of Waltham Forest, to the east of the river Lea. To the north is Walthamstow, to the east the discontinuous open space of Wanstead Flats, Bush Wood, and Hollow Ponds (all part of Epping Forest), and to the south it blends imperceptibly into Stratford. Through the middle runs the M11 extension (A12) alongside the Central Line of the Underground, forming a substantial barrier. South of here the housing is evenly distributed between owner-occupation, private, and social renting, with the large Cathall Estate renovated as part of the Housing Action Trust programme in the 1990s, and therefore not in council control. There is a very high black population here, as large as the Asian population, and particularly concentrated in the social housing, and this is the poorest part of the seat. To the north-west is Leyton proper. In the south-west corner it includes part of the Olympic Park, Alongside the marshes are the Spitalfields vegetable market, and Leyton Orient football club, and another large ex-council HAT estate. Around Leyton High Street much of the two-storey terraced housing was built as flats for the working classes in Edwardian times. As elsewhere in London much of this is now rented privately - in the central Grove Green ward nearly 50%, one of the highest figures in the country. To the east of the Gospel Oak-Barking line, part of the London Overground, which meanders through north-east London, is Leytonstone. This is a bit more up market, with more owner-occupation, and a higher proportion of managerial occupations. There is some fine Victorian housing adjoining the open spaces, much now occupied by Asian households, and at the far north-east corner the giant Whipps Cross hospital which serves north-east London.

At the boundary review which came into effect in 1997, the two Wanstead wards from Redbridge were added. This is a different, much more middle-class world, with larger houses, much higher levels of owner-occupation, managerial occupations, and much whiter, and has nothing in common with Leyton except for the E11 postcode. To the east it adjoins the river Roding, including the splendid and extensive Wanstead Park, once an aristocratic estate, although the house is long demolished. Between here and the Wanstead Flats, which form the boundary with Newham, is the curiously isolated small residential district of Aldersbrook, mostly comprised of Edwardian semis and terraces, with some modern council housing on former bomb sites. It was a curious decision by the Boundary Commission to create this merger, left alone in 2010.  

Locally there was for many years a strong Liberal Democrat presence in Leyton. Cann Hall ward in the far south was a stronghold, and most of the other wards were marginal. At parliamentary level they were generally second until 2015. After the coalition Liberal support collapsed, and all wards are now safely Labour with the Greens a distant second. Wanstead was formerly in the very safe Conservative seat of Wanstead & Woodford, but with political change in recent years now has a sizeable Labour vote, and indeed Labour won both the wards in this area at the last council elections. The MP since 2010 is John Cryer, the son of two other MPs, and formerly MP for Hornchurch from 1997 to 2005. 

When I wrote this profile I said that this seat was unlikely to survive the next boundary review. To demonstrate how it’s never worth second guessing the Boundary Commission, this turned out to be untrue. The undersized seat has simply been extended further into Redbridge to include the whole of the new South Woodford ward. Like the Wanstead area, this used to be safely Conservative, but along with much of suburban London has slid into Labour control over the last decade, as the ethnic minority population has expanded, and the educated middle classes have been turned off Conservative politics. 30 years ago the Conservatives would have been competitive in the proposed new seat, but not now, and its expansion will make little difference.

Census data: owner-occupied 48% (524/573 in England & Wales), private rented 31% (30th), social rented 21% (161st).
                      :White 49%, Black 17%, Sth Asian 19%, Mixed 5%, Other 9%
                      : Managerial & professional 41% (149th), Routine & Semi-routine 24% (445th)
                      : Degree 36% (74th), Minimal qualifications 28% (506th)
                      : Students 10% (72nd), Over 65: 9% (541st)

	2010	%	2015	%	2017	%	2019	%
Labour	17,511	43.6%	23,858	58.6%	32,234	69.8%	28,836	64.7%
Conservative	8,928	22.2%	8,939	22.0%	9,627	20.8%	8,028	18.0%
Liberal Democrat	11,095	27.6%	2,304	5.7%	2,961	6.4%	4,666	10.5%
UKIP/Brexit	1,080	2.7%	2,341	5.8%			785	1.8%
Green	562	1.4%	2,974	7.3%	1,351	2.9%	1,805	4.1%
Others	983	2.5%	289	0.7%			427	1.0%
Majority	6,416	16.0%	14,919	36.7%	22,607	49.0%	20,808	46.7%

[John Chanin]

This is very much where my family comes from. My mother's childhood home was demolished in the 1980s as part of the creation of the M11 extension. I used as a child to play on Wanstead flats, one of my grandmothers living in Aldersbrook. The other set of grandparents lived by Whipps Cross hospital. I lived myself for many years in one of the Abraham flats in Grove Green ward.

[greenhert]

Good piece, John, although you did miss out the fact that it is John Cryer who is MP for Leyton & Wanstead. Mr Cryer is the son of former Labour MPs Bob and Ann Cryer, is married to Ellie Reeves who is Labour MP for Lewisham West & Penge (her sister Rachel is Labour MP for Leeds West) and one or both of his sons with Ellie Reeves may become Labour MPs in the future. Will his "Labour dynasty" continue like the Wedgwood Benns?

[Deleted]

Apr 6, 2020 10:37:07 GMT John Chanin said:

Most of the seat is a densely packed area of terraced housing in the south of the borough of Waltham Forest, to the east of the river Lea. To the north is Walthamstow, to the east the discontinuous open space of Wanstead Flats, Bush Wood, and Hollow Ponds (all part of Epping Forest), and to the south it blends imperceptibly into Stratford. Through the middle runs the M11 extension (A12) alongside the Central Line of the Underground, forming a substantial barrier. South of here the housing is evenly distributed between owner-occupation, private, and social renting, with the large Cathall Estate renovated as part of the Housing Action Trust programme in the 1990s, and therefore not in council control. There is a very high black population here, as large as the Asian population, and particularly concentrated in the social housing, and this is the poorest part of the seat. To the north-west is Leyton proper. In the south-west corner it includes part of the Olympic Park, Alonside the marshes are the Spitalfields vegetable market, and Leyton Orient football club, and another large ex-council HAT estate. Around Leyton High Street much of the two-storey terraced housing was built as flats for the working classes in Edwardian times. As elsewhere in London much of this is now rented privately - in the central Grove Green ward nearly 50%, one of the highest figures in the country. To the east of the Gospel Oak-Barking line, part of the London Overground, which meanders through north-east London, is Leytonstone. This is a bit more up market, with more owner-occupation, and a higher proportion of managerial occupations. There is some fine Victorian housing adjoining the open spaces, much now occupied by Asian households, and at the far north-east corner the giant Whipps Cross hospital which serves north-east London.

At the boundary review which came into effect in 1997, the two Wanstead wards from Redbridge were added. This is a different, much more middle-class world, with larger houses, much higher levels of owner-occupation, managerial occupations, and much whiter, and has nothing in common with Leyton except for the E11 postcode. To the east it adjoins the river Roding, including the splendid and extensive Wanstead Park, once an aristocratic estate, although the house is long demolished. Between here and the Wanstead Flats, which form the boundary with Newham, is the curiously isolated small residential district of Aldersbrook, mostly comprised of inter-war semis and terraces. It was a curious decision by the Boundary Commission to create this merger, left alone in 2010, but almost certain not to survive the next boundary review, when it eventually occurs.

Locally there was for many years a strong Liberal Democrat presence in Leyton. Cann Hall ward in the far south was a stronghold, and most of the other wards were marginal. At parliamentary level they were generally second until 2015. After the coalition Liberal support collapsed, and all wards are now safely Labour with the Greens a distant second. Wanstead was formerly in the very safe Conservative seat of Wanstead & Woodford, but with political change in recent years now has a sizeable Labour vote, and indeed Labour won both the wards in this area at the last council elections.

Census data: owner-occupied 48% (524/573 in England & Wales), private rented 31% (30th), social rented 21% (161st).
                      :White 49%, Black 17%, Sth Asian 19%, Mixed 5%, Other 9%
                      : Managerial & professional 41% (149th), Routine & Semi-routine 24% (445th)

	2010	%	2015	%	2017	%	2019	%
Labour	17,511	43.6%	23,858	58.6%	32,234	69.8%	28,836	64.7%
Conservative	8,928	22.2%	8,939	22.0%	9,627	20.8%	8,028	18.0%
Liberal Democrat	11,095	27.6%	2,304	5.7%	2,961	6.4%	4,666	10.5%
UKIP/Brexit	1,080	2.7%	2,341	5.8%			785	1.8%
Green	562	1.4%	2,974	7.3%	1,351	2.9%	1,805	4.1%
Others	983	2.5%	289	0.7%			427	1.0%
Majority	6,416	16.0%	14,919	36.7%	22,607	49.0%	20,808	46.7%

A fair summary, on which I would only make a couple of comments.

Firstly, the middle-class element of Leyton and Leytonstone has been expanding in recent years, as such people have been attracted by (relatively) lower property prices. This has been reflected in the increasing number of shops, restaurants and pubs catering to their tastes. These people are pretty monolithically centre-left leaning at present, so there will be no early change in the partisan allegiance of the area, but it is difficult to believe that this cultural change will have no long-term consequences at all.

Secondly, similar changes have been taking place in Wanstead proper and Aldersbrook, with an influx of younger couples with families. They are also mainly left-leaning, though better-off (reflecting the higher property prices) and more likely to be from established middle-class backgrounds. 

Thirdly, the slightly strange though pleasant Aldersbrook enclave (it has no pub and few shops) is a little older than you suggest. Aldersbrook began to be developed around 1900, as the Wellesley family sold off the northern and southern parts of Wanstead Park to builders (the present-day golf course and public park cover only the core of the former pleasure gardens of Wanstead House). The houses in Aldersbrook are a little larger and more elaborate than those of the Lake House estate to the west, which began to be developed around 1908, though the social composition of the older parts of the two estates is similar. Aldersbrook, however, has two council estates, one built and owned by Newham, the other by Redbridge. It also suffered from WWII bombing, as there were various military installations on Wanstead Flats which the Germans were aiming at, so there is some post-war infill development.

[John Chanin]

Apr 6, 2020 10:43:20 GMT greenhert said:

Good piece, John, although you did miss out the fact that it is John Cryer who is MP for Leyton & Wanstead. Mr Cryer is the son of former Labour MPs Bob and Ann Cryer, is married to Ellie Reeves who is Labour MP for Lewisham West & Penge (her sister Rachel is Labour MP for Leeds West) and one or both of his sons with Ellie Reeves may become Labour MPs in the future. Will his "Labour dynasty" continue like the Wedgwood Benns?

Sorry I'm a bit distracted this morning.  I've listed the MP on all the other seats I've done.  Now added. 

[John Chanin]

Apr 6, 2020 11:17:13 GMT @goodoldcause2 said:

A fair summary, on which I would only make a couple of comments.

Firstly, the middle-class element of Leyton and Leytonstone has been expanding in recent years, as such people have been attracted by (relatively) lower property prices. This has been reflected in the increasing number of shops, restaurants and pubs catering to their tastes. These people are pretty monolithically centre-left leaning at present, so there will be no early change in the partisan allegiance of the area, but it is difficult to believe that this cultural change will have no long-term consequences at all.

Secondly, similar changes have been taking place in Wanstead proper and Aldersbrook, with an influx of younger couples with families. They are also mainly left-leaning, though better-off (reflecting the higher property prices) and more likely to be from established middle-class backgrounds. 

Thirdly, the slightly strange though pleasant Aldersbrook enclave (it has no pub and few shops) is a little older than you suggest. Aldersbrook began to be developed around 1900, as the Wellesley family sold off the northern and southern parts of Wanstead Park to builders (the present-day golf course and public park cover only the core of the former pleasure gardens of Wanstead House). The houses in Aldersbrook are a little larger and more elaborate than those of the Lake House estate to the west, which began to be developed around 1908, though the social composition of the older parts of the two estates is similar. Aldersbrook, however, has two council estates, one built and owned by Newham, the other by Redbridge. It also suffered from WWII bombing, as there were various military installations on Wanstead Flats which the Germans were aiming at, so there is some post-war infill development.

Amazing what you learn and in what context.  I always thought my grandmother's house was built in the 1920s.  One curiosity about the Newham council estate.  When the whole of Aldersbrook was moved into Redbridge in the 1990s, as part of the order all Newham's property in their part of Aldersbrook was transferred to Redbridge.  However the council estate was further north in the section that always was Redbridge so we were allowed to keep it......Another oddity was that 4 (!) Newham councillors lived in that small area of Aldersbrook, and therefore had to stand down at the subsequent council elections. 

[Pete Whitehead]

Notional result 2019 on the proposed new boundaries

Lab	31710	63.0%
Con	9992	19.9%
LD	5350	10.6%
BxP	1905	3.8%
Grn	905	1.8%
Oth	450	0.9%
Majority	21718	43.2%

[Robert Waller]

2021 Census

Owner occupied 48.4% 511/573
Private rented 31.7% 54/573
Social rented 19.9% 156/573
White 51.1%
Black 14.1%
Asian 23.3%
South Asian 19.1%
Managerial & professional 36.8% 174/573
Routine & Semi-routine 17.2% 479/573
Degree level 46.7% 50/573
No qualifications 16.4% 361/573


(2011)
Owner occupied 47.6% 524/573
Private rented 31.8% 32/573
Social rented 20.6% 161/573
White 49%, Black 17%, Sth Asian 19%
Managerial & professional 31.5%
Routine & Semi-routine 18.3%
Degree level 36.3% 74/573
No qualifications 17.5% 479/573