Post by andrewp on Apr 7, 2020 18:10:38 GMT
Somerton and Frome was created in the 1983 boundary changes and appeared to be the extra and 5th seat awarded to the county of Somerset. It certainly feels like the sort of left overs seat in the middle of the county that could easily have been called Mid Somerset or Somerset Mid. In actual fact it took the majority of the electors of the old Wells seat, and the minority came from Yeovil. The seat has had only minor changes in the 2 subsequent boundary reviews.
It feels like a left overs seat- stretching from Fivehead in the South West corner, which is really within Taunton’s travel to work area, some 40 miles in a dog leg shape over to the largest town in the North East of the County- Frome.
Frome is the largest town with a population of 26000. It was traditionally a woollen cloth making town and in the 18th century Daniel Defoe estimated that Frome was larger than nearby Bath. Frome gave its name to its own parliamentary constituency until 1950, a seat which Labour were capable of winning on the back of the then Somerset Coalfield around Midsomer Norton and Radstock. Frome has a vibrant arts scene and is rapidly becoming more alternative. It also bears some grudges that the County is administered from Taunton- ‘the county town at the end of the world’. Frome associates itself with Bath. The green party are increasingly competitive in local elections- in 2019 the town elected 11 District councillors- 5 Lib Dem, 4 Green, 1 Conservative and 1 Independent.
The other towns all have a population of around 5000 or less. The second biggest is Wincanton, a hilly market town on the A303 in the South East of the county, famous for its racecourse. The other towns are Castle Cary, Langport, Bruton and Somerton itself. These are picturesque Somerset market towns. All would have been carried by the Lib Dem’s between 1997 and 2010, and by the Conservatives since 2015. Bruton in particular, given its proximity to the A303 and being 2 hours from London on a good day, is now becoming a weekend second home spot for wealthy Londoners and has been considered one of the most fashionable places in the UK, with Cameron Mackintosh, Kevin McCloud, Stella McCartney and Nicholas Cage having homes there. It has acquired the nickname of Notting Brue.
When this seat was created in 1983, sitting Wells MP Robert Boscawen moved here and won the first two elections pretty comfortably. He retired and was succeeded for the Conservatives in 1992 by former Newport West MP Mark Robinson. In 1997 Frome optician and former Somerset County council leader David Heath gained the seat but by only by 130 votes- actually not one of the Lib Dem’s better gains that year. David Heath then embarked on an 18 year Harry Houdini act winning by 668 in 2001, 812 in 2005, and finally by a whopping 1817 in 2010. Heath would have been well ahead in Frome, but also would have been ahead in all the other towns mentioned, to outvote the more Conservative villages. Heath retired in 2015, and was succeeded as Lib Dem candidate by famous Newbury by election winner David Rendel ( by then a councillor in Bath). Conservative Businessman David Warburton managed an 18% swing from the Liberal Democrats to gain by 20000. He then increased that to 23000 in 2017. In December, local Lib Dem Frome councillor Adam Boyden achieved a 3% swing from the Conservatives but Warburtons majority is still a hefty 19000. After 20 years of being a knife edge marginal, it now looks like a safe Conservative seat
It feels like a left overs seat- stretching from Fivehead in the South West corner, which is really within Taunton’s travel to work area, some 40 miles in a dog leg shape over to the largest town in the North East of the County- Frome.
Frome is the largest town with a population of 26000. It was traditionally a woollen cloth making town and in the 18th century Daniel Defoe estimated that Frome was larger than nearby Bath. Frome gave its name to its own parliamentary constituency until 1950, a seat which Labour were capable of winning on the back of the then Somerset Coalfield around Midsomer Norton and Radstock. Frome has a vibrant arts scene and is rapidly becoming more alternative. It also bears some grudges that the County is administered from Taunton- ‘the county town at the end of the world’. Frome associates itself with Bath. The green party are increasingly competitive in local elections- in 2019 the town elected 11 District councillors- 5 Lib Dem, 4 Green, 1 Conservative and 1 Independent.
The other towns all have a population of around 5000 or less. The second biggest is Wincanton, a hilly market town on the A303 in the South East of the county, famous for its racecourse. The other towns are Castle Cary, Langport, Bruton and Somerton itself. These are picturesque Somerset market towns. All would have been carried by the Lib Dem’s between 1997 and 2010, and by the Conservatives since 2015. Bruton in particular, given its proximity to the A303 and being 2 hours from London on a good day, is now becoming a weekend second home spot for wealthy Londoners and has been considered one of the most fashionable places in the UK, with Cameron Mackintosh, Kevin McCloud, Stella McCartney and Nicholas Cage having homes there. It has acquired the nickname of Notting Brue.
When this seat was created in 1983, sitting Wells MP Robert Boscawen moved here and won the first two elections pretty comfortably. He retired and was succeeded for the Conservatives in 1992 by former Newport West MP Mark Robinson. In 1997 Frome optician and former Somerset County council leader David Heath gained the seat but by only by 130 votes- actually not one of the Lib Dem’s better gains that year. David Heath then embarked on an 18 year Harry Houdini act winning by 668 in 2001, 812 in 2005, and finally by a whopping 1817 in 2010. Heath would have been well ahead in Frome, but also would have been ahead in all the other towns mentioned, to outvote the more Conservative villages. Heath retired in 2015, and was succeeded as Lib Dem candidate by famous Newbury by election winner David Rendel ( by then a councillor in Bath). Conservative Businessman David Warburton managed an 18% swing from the Liberal Democrats to gain by 20000. He then increased that to 23000 in 2017. In December, local Lib Dem Frome councillor Adam Boyden achieved a 3% swing from the Conservatives but Warburtons majority is still a hefty 19000. After 20 years of being a knife edge marginal, it now looks like a safe Conservative seat
