Post by John Chanin on Apr 22, 2020 11:10:14 GMT
The Selly Oak seat in its present incarnation is largely a suburban seat on the southern edge of the city. Although the name was unchanged, the revised seat in 2010 contains only half of the seat that previously carried the name. Out went Kings Norton and Moseley, and in from the abolished Hall Green seat came most of Kings Heath, Billesley, Maypole, and Monyhull.
At the north-west corner of the seat is the brand new Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and the surrounding area of Selly Oak proper is high on private renting by hospital staff and students. To the east of the Birmingham-Worcester canal and the cross-city railway line, is Bournbrook. This is essentially now student housing - it sits just to the south of the sprawling campus of Birmingham University. In the north-west corner Selly Park is part of the old middle-class inner city suburbs. It contains larger owner-occupied houses, and is paranoid about student infiltration. The seat slopes down to the river Rea on its eastern boundary where there is some small terraced housing liable to flooding. The students thin out to the south where Bournville sits, surrounding the famous Cadbury chocolate factory. The estate built by the Cadbury family for their workers - Bournville Village - is still rented, and managed by a Trust, and still has no pubs in line with the temperance views of its Quaker founders. South of the factory is smart middle-class housing with plenty of green spaces, and solidly owner-occupied. To the east is Stirchley, stretching along both sides of the river Rea - an area of modest owner-occupied housing, with some council estates in the east.
This old part of the seat is separated from the new part through a narrow neck by the Camp Hill railway line. Adjoining Stirchley is Kings Heath, or at least the southern end of it, as the shopping centre is in Hall Green. This is mostly inter-war owner-occupied housing, modestly prosperous. South of the Stratford canal is Monyhull, with a large new area of private housing on the site of the old mental hospital, as well as older owner-occupied housing in the corner between the canals. On the city border, next to open country, is the miserably deprived Druids Heath estate - the worst of Birmingham’s peripheral estates, with extensive tower blocks in a rundown state. Redevelopment is however in progress and the towers are coming down. In the south east corner is Billesley alongside the river Cole. This is a classic area of working class owner-occupation, in inter-war and immediate post-war terraced housing, interspersed with council housing, and a higher asian population than elsewhere in the seat, as it neighbours Hall Green. Moseley Rugby Club sits on Billesley Common here (the original ground in Moseley was abandoned when professionalism came in, as it sat in a residential area where ground improvement was impossible). South of the Chinn Brook are Warstock and Highters Heath. Unlike further west this is not however the edge of the built-up area, as the commuter village of Hollywood lies to the south of Highters Heath, and the up market district of Solihull Lodge lies to the south of Warstock. This area is a curious mixture of pleasant middle-class suburban housing and rundown council estates.
As can be seen from the census data below, this is overall a very average urban seat - mostly white except for the students, and parts of Billesley, but with rather more social housing typical of a big city. Politically it reflects this, all 4 of the old wards regularly changing hands at local elections. Bournville was historically more Conservative, and Billesley more Labour, with the Liberal Democrats holding Selly Oak when the students were voting for them. In 2018 all of the new wards voted Labour except for Highters Heath , which was safely Conservative, and Druids Heath, where the Greens exploited the disaffection of the council tenants, and the lack of history of the new residents of Monyhull to win the ward. There was no change in 2022. In parliamentary terms the old Selly Oak was Conservative until 1992, but the current seat is safely Labour. The MP is Steve McCabe - a Scot first elected in 1997 for Hall Green, who followed the bulk of his old seat into this constituency in 2010. He is a former social worker and low key backbencher.
Although Birmingham wards are still large, the reduction in size in the middle of the last decade makes the Boundary Commission’s job much easier in creating sensible constituencies without crossing ward boundaries. However although there are many ways of dividing Birmingham, the Commission has chosen to adhere as closely as possible to the existing pattern of seats, splitting wards in order to do so. In this seat the Commission has split not one, but two, wards in its attempt to achieve this. The ward and district of Kings Heath remains split, although the boundary is a little further to the south. And the Weoley & Selly Oak ward has been split exactly on the old line to keep Selly Oak in this seat (and prevent the Boundary Commission from having to find a new name). These are the only changes other than some minor realignment, and so the seat will be effectively unaltered.
Census data: owner-occupied 58% (457/573 in England & Wales), private rented 19% (137th), social rented 22% (134th).
:White 78%, Black 4%, Sth Asian 9%, Mixed 4%, Other 5%
: Managerial & professional 38% (214th), Routine & Semi-routine 31% (258th)
: Degree 27% (256th), Minimal qualifications 34% (367th)
: Students 18% (21st), Over 65: 14% (457th)
At the north-west corner of the seat is the brand new Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and the surrounding area of Selly Oak proper is high on private renting by hospital staff and students. To the east of the Birmingham-Worcester canal and the cross-city railway line, is Bournbrook. This is essentially now student housing - it sits just to the south of the sprawling campus of Birmingham University. In the north-west corner Selly Park is part of the old middle-class inner city suburbs. It contains larger owner-occupied houses, and is paranoid about student infiltration. The seat slopes down to the river Rea on its eastern boundary where there is some small terraced housing liable to flooding. The students thin out to the south where Bournville sits, surrounding the famous Cadbury chocolate factory. The estate built by the Cadbury family for their workers - Bournville Village - is still rented, and managed by a Trust, and still has no pubs in line with the temperance views of its Quaker founders. South of the factory is smart middle-class housing with plenty of green spaces, and solidly owner-occupied. To the east is Stirchley, stretching along both sides of the river Rea - an area of modest owner-occupied housing, with some council estates in the east.
This old part of the seat is separated from the new part through a narrow neck by the Camp Hill railway line. Adjoining Stirchley is Kings Heath, or at least the southern end of it, as the shopping centre is in Hall Green. This is mostly inter-war owner-occupied housing, modestly prosperous. South of the Stratford canal is Monyhull, with a large new area of private housing on the site of the old mental hospital, as well as older owner-occupied housing in the corner between the canals. On the city border, next to open country, is the miserably deprived Druids Heath estate - the worst of Birmingham’s peripheral estates, with extensive tower blocks in a rundown state. Redevelopment is however in progress and the towers are coming down. In the south east corner is Billesley alongside the river Cole. This is a classic area of working class owner-occupation, in inter-war and immediate post-war terraced housing, interspersed with council housing, and a higher asian population than elsewhere in the seat, as it neighbours Hall Green. Moseley Rugby Club sits on Billesley Common here (the original ground in Moseley was abandoned when professionalism came in, as it sat in a residential area where ground improvement was impossible). South of the Chinn Brook are Warstock and Highters Heath. Unlike further west this is not however the edge of the built-up area, as the commuter village of Hollywood lies to the south of Highters Heath, and the up market district of Solihull Lodge lies to the south of Warstock. This area is a curious mixture of pleasant middle-class suburban housing and rundown council estates.
As can be seen from the census data below, this is overall a very average urban seat - mostly white except for the students, and parts of Billesley, but with rather more social housing typical of a big city. Politically it reflects this, all 4 of the old wards regularly changing hands at local elections. Bournville was historically more Conservative, and Billesley more Labour, with the Liberal Democrats holding Selly Oak when the students were voting for them. In 2018 all of the new wards voted Labour except for Highters Heath , which was safely Conservative, and Druids Heath, where the Greens exploited the disaffection of the council tenants, and the lack of history of the new residents of Monyhull to win the ward. There was no change in 2022. In parliamentary terms the old Selly Oak was Conservative until 1992, but the current seat is safely Labour. The MP is Steve McCabe - a Scot first elected in 1997 for Hall Green, who followed the bulk of his old seat into this constituency in 2010. He is a former social worker and low key backbencher.
Although Birmingham wards are still large, the reduction in size in the middle of the last decade makes the Boundary Commission’s job much easier in creating sensible constituencies without crossing ward boundaries. However although there are many ways of dividing Birmingham, the Commission has chosen to adhere as closely as possible to the existing pattern of seats, splitting wards in order to do so. In this seat the Commission has split not one, but two, wards in its attempt to achieve this. The ward and district of Kings Heath remains split, although the boundary is a little further to the south. And the Weoley & Selly Oak ward has been split exactly on the old line to keep Selly Oak in this seat (and prevent the Boundary Commission from having to find a new name). These are the only changes other than some minor realignment, and so the seat will be effectively unaltered.
Census data: owner-occupied 58% (457/573 in England & Wales), private rented 19% (137th), social rented 22% (134th).
:White 78%, Black 4%, Sth Asian 9%, Mixed 4%, Other 5%
: Managerial & professional 38% (214th), Routine & Semi-routine 31% (258th)
: Degree 27% (256th), Minimal qualifications 34% (367th)
: Students 18% (21st), Over 65: 14% (457th)
2010 | % | 2015 | % | 2017 | % | 2019 | % | |
Labour | 17,950 | 38.5% | 21,584 | 47.7% | 30,836 | 62.9% | 27,714 | 56.0% |
Conservative | 14,468 | 31.1% | 13,137 | 29.0% | 15,629 | 31.9% | 15,300 | 30.9% |
Liberal Democrat | 10,371 | 22.3% | 2,517 | 5.6% | 1,644 | 3.4% | 3,169 | 6.4% |
UKIP/Brexit | 1,131 | 2.4% | 5,755 | 12.7% | 1,436 | 2.9% | ||
Green | 664 | 1.4% | 2,301 | 5.1% | 876 | 1.8% | 1,848 | 3.7% |
| BNP | 1,820 | 3.9% | ||||||
Others | 159 | 0.3% | ||||||
Majority | 3,482 | 7.5% | 8,447 | 18.6% | 15,207 | 31.0% | 12,414 | 25.1% |
