North Thanet

[Merseymike]

The Conservatives have never really been under threat here. There will always be some Labour potential in Margate and its relatively Boho newcomers may actually boost that, but this seat didn't even go Labour in 97 and has not been at all close in recent elections.

[Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells]

May 12, 2020 9:57:35 GMT carlton43 said:

May 12, 2020 7:32:22 GMT Delighted Of Tunbridge Wells said:

Out of interest,Carlton,does the Isle of Sheppey count? That is still clearly separated by water from the mainland,however it is well connected to Sittingbourne by road and rail bridge.

Yes, indeed it does have all the attributes of an island in that it is entirely surrounded by water and at all stages and conditions of the tides, and by a proper depth of water, and by salt water or 'sea'.  There can be no doubt of it in any way.

For me a connection by tunnel, bridge or causeway makes no difference to a description and a geographic actuality.  'In a state of nature' is it always surrounded completely by water?  If it is it is an island.  If it is not 'always' completely surrounded the definition is open to question and may not stand.  It is as simple as that.

I know Sheppey well from childhood and in the period 1950-70 from family visits, fishing, bird watching and a short term affair of the heart. I attended upon and helped an academic in his researches on the structure of the soils (much of it is layers of silts deposited by the River Rhine before Britain was separated from the mainland); I witnessed the final years of the Sheppey Light Railway under steam; and I accompanied the famous Mick Fisher (king of slots and bandits) in his Rolls Royce, touring his haunts on the island in search of 'operator fraud'!  He had 'Joyce' in the boot as his 'persuader'!  It was an American metal baseball bat.  I know Sheppey. 

OK,that makes sense. You're very lucky to have seen the light railway in operation. It's so frustrating to me that I was born so many years after Beeching,which means I never got to ride on all of these beautiful bucolic little rural railways where you could relax on a trip through the country, not to mention the lifeline a lot of these lines must have provided to the small communities nearby. There are lots of preserved railways thankfully, but there were so many unnecessarily lost.

[Robert Waller]

2011 Census

Age 65+ 21.9% 60/650
Owner-occupied 67.0% 325/650
Private rented 19.6% 135/650
Social rented 11.6% 513/650
White 96.5% 273/650
Black 0.5% 371/650
Asian 1.5% 407/650
Managerial & professional 26.7%
Routine & Semi-routine 28.3%
Caring, leisure and other service occupations 13.2% 5/650
Degree level 19.5% 535/650
No qualifications 28.4% 133/650
Students 6.3% 418/650

2021 Census

Owner occupied 67.3% 251/573
Private rented 21.9% 165/573
Social rented 10.8% 482/573
White 94.3%
Black 0.8%
Asian 2.0%
Managerial & professional 29.0% 369/573
Routine & Semi-routine 25.8% 220/573
Degree level 25.2% 482/573
No qualifications 21.6% 138/573

[Pete Whitehead]

Although both Thanet seats as currently drawn are within quota, the need for North Thanet to absorb some excess voters from Canterbury (which push it over quota) has led to a complete reconfiguration of the boundaries in this area. This constituency gains the Dover district wards of Little Stour & Ashstone and Sandwich (some 11,000 voters) from South Thanet and part fo Sturry from Canterbury (4,500 voters) and loses over 12,000 in Central Margate, Dane Valley and Salmestone wards. This is the (even) grottier end of Margate and effectively this swaps out the most Conservative part of South Thanet for the most Labour part of North Thanet. The seat is was to be renamed 'West Thanet' on the initial proposals but the revised plans go for 'Herne Bay & Sandwich' - a bit of a demotion for 'Thanet' but after all only a minority of voters in this 'new' seat will live in Thanet.

2019 Notional Results - Herne Bay & Sandwich

Con	32607	62.2%
Lab	13840	26.4%
LD	4143	7.9%
Grn	1820	3.5%
Oth	33	0.1%
Majority	18767	35.8%