Post by John Chanin on Apr 24, 2020 9:42:44 GMT
Perry Barr is the north-west seat in Birmingham. It divides neatly into four parts, plus a disconnected addendum, which are also largely followed by the wards, both old (which determine the boundaries of the seat) and new. In the south, and part of the inner city is Handsworth, north of the main Soho Road with its shopping centre, and clustered round its fine Victorian park. This, together with Birchfield to the east, is the heart of the long settled Caribbean community in Birmingham. However today there is a Muslim majority here, spreading out from an early settlement area in the cramped terraces of Lozells, adjoining Newtown in the south-east corner of the seat. This area was the centre of the 2004 riots, when tensions between the long-settled black population, and the incoming Muslim population, came to a head around rumours of a rape of a young black girl. The old ward had only 11% white population, even lower than the wards in the heart of Muslim east Birmingham, and the ninth lowest ward figure in the whole country. Handsworth proper is characterised by lots of streets with small terraced housing dating back to the beginning of the last century. Matthew Boulton’s (of the £50 note) original manufactury was in Handsworth. Birchfield is more prosperous and has some larger houses, as well as the ubiquitous terraces of small houses, and higher levels of owner-occupation. It is noticeably more suburban in the north, with inter-war semis, as it borders Handsworth Wood. The famous athletics club, Birchfield Harriers, is actually based in Perry Barr on the other side of the railway line. There is little council housing here - the significant levels of social housing are mostly housing association. Locally speaking like the rest of the inner city this area is overwhemlmingly Labour.
Handsworth Wood to the north is very different. This is an expansive suburban area on the south and east side of Handsworth golf course, which forms part of the Sandwell valley with its country park (and the M5), which separates the boroughs here, and gave its name to Sandwell borough. Next to Handsworth are larger houses on tree lined streets. Further north there are inter war semis, and further north still there are a lot of post-war developments in the Hamstead area. The majority of the housing is owner-occupied, but the main feature of the area is the large Sikh population - over a quarter. Handsworth Wood is unusual in a very segregated city, for being very mixed. It is a favoured destination for black families made good, moving out of the inner city, and increasingly too for Kashmiris and Pakistanis, while retaining a significant white population. This area would have formed the majority of the Conservative vote in the old Handsworth seat, once the safe base of senior Conservative minister Edward Boyle. However immigration and the decline of Chamberlain conservatism had turned it Labour before the incorporation of most of it into Perry Barr in 1983. The present ward is safely Labour, without being as overwhelmingly so as Handsworth.
Handsworth Wood is separated from Perry Barr and Great Barr by the river Tame, and the railway to Walsall which runs alongside it, and there is just one road connecting the areas. Perry Barr is the southern part, running northwards from the shopping mall, greyhound track, and old main building of the Birmingham City University by Perry Barr station on the border with the inner city. The housing forms a narrow corridor between the flood plain of the Tame, and Perry Park, which contains the Alexander Stadium, now redeveloped for the Commonwealth Games into the country’s main purpose built athletics stadium. The housing here is pleasant tree-lined streets of inter-war semis. North of one of the many canals which flow through Birmingham it is much the same, but with part of the immediate post-war Perry Beeches council estate alongside the M6. At the northern end the boundary with the disconnected area of Sandwell, known generically as Great Barr, is invisible. Anomalously the Witton area of Aston, on the far side of a large industrial estate, is also in this constituency. It consists of small houses alongside the river Tame, just to the north of Villa Park, some of which are liable to flooding. Perry Barr is solidly owner-occupied, with virtually no social housing. It is not however particularly wealthy, with the highest level of intermediate occupations in the city. Like Handsworth Wood this is a mixed area - around a half white with significant both black and asian populations. All in all it is a modestly prosperous suburban area, which has been a Liberal Democrat stronghold since the beginning of the century, despite losing their Great Barr base over the border in Sandwell.
Lastly, north of the M6, which forms another major barrier, is Oscott. It has a short border with Sutton Coldfield in the north, and a long one on the north-west with with the Walsall ward of Pheasey, which is geographically speaking an extension of Birmingham, with open country between it and other parts of Walsall. The area contains modest terraced and semi-detached housing for the most part, with the inter-war council estate of Kingstanding spilling over on the east side. There is little post-war development. The area can be characterised as modestly prosperous white working class owner-occupation. Labour won here consistently since 2002, although often not by much, and the ward was split with the Conservatives at the 2022 council elections.
Nationally this very heterogeneous seat has been safely Labour since it took on roughly its present form in 1983. The swap of Handsworth Wood for Kingstanding in 1997 made little political difference, although substantially increasing both the ethnic minority share, and the proportion in managerial jobs. The MP is Kashmir born Khalid Mahmood, first elected in 2001 when he was the first Muslim MP in England.
Generally the Boundary Commission has sought to minimise change in Birmingham, despite the new pattern of smaller wards. This seat is however to see some significant changes. The original proposal was to move the Lozells ward at the far south of the seat, restoring Kingstanding once again to the seat. Following consultation the Boundary Commission has taken a different tack. The area of this seat north of the M6 - basically Oscott - is to be transferred to Erdington. In exchange majority muslim Aston ward is to come in from Ladywood, plus half of the Stockland Green ward. The latter section, some 6000 voters, is north of the M6 and rather cut off from the rest of the seat (there is only one raod crossing the motorway), but this does look like the least bad solution to problems in north Birmingham. The changes will make it even more of a ‘majority minority’ seat, and even safer for Labour than it is already.
Census data: Owner-occupied 62% (400/573 in England & Wales), private rented 18% (152nd), social rented 18% (220th).
: White 40%, Black 15%, Sth Asian 34%, Mixed 4%, Other 7%
: Managerial & professional 26% (507th), Routine & Semi-routine 39% (79th)
: Degree 19% (479th), Minimal qualifications 43% (104th)
: Students 9% (81st), Over 65: 12% (491st)
: Muslim 20% (22nd), Sikh 11% (7th)
Handsworth Wood to the north is very different. This is an expansive suburban area on the south and east side of Handsworth golf course, which forms part of the Sandwell valley with its country park (and the M5), which separates the boroughs here, and gave its name to Sandwell borough. Next to Handsworth are larger houses on tree lined streets. Further north there are inter war semis, and further north still there are a lot of post-war developments in the Hamstead area. The majority of the housing is owner-occupied, but the main feature of the area is the large Sikh population - over a quarter. Handsworth Wood is unusual in a very segregated city, for being very mixed. It is a favoured destination for black families made good, moving out of the inner city, and increasingly too for Kashmiris and Pakistanis, while retaining a significant white population. This area would have formed the majority of the Conservative vote in the old Handsworth seat, once the safe base of senior Conservative minister Edward Boyle. However immigration and the decline of Chamberlain conservatism had turned it Labour before the incorporation of most of it into Perry Barr in 1983. The present ward is safely Labour, without being as overwhelmingly so as Handsworth.
Handsworth Wood is separated from Perry Barr and Great Barr by the river Tame, and the railway to Walsall which runs alongside it, and there is just one road connecting the areas. Perry Barr is the southern part, running northwards from the shopping mall, greyhound track, and old main building of the Birmingham City University by Perry Barr station on the border with the inner city. The housing forms a narrow corridor between the flood plain of the Tame, and Perry Park, which contains the Alexander Stadium, now redeveloped for the Commonwealth Games into the country’s main purpose built athletics stadium. The housing here is pleasant tree-lined streets of inter-war semis. North of one of the many canals which flow through Birmingham it is much the same, but with part of the immediate post-war Perry Beeches council estate alongside the M6. At the northern end the boundary with the disconnected area of Sandwell, known generically as Great Barr, is invisible. Anomalously the Witton area of Aston, on the far side of a large industrial estate, is also in this constituency. It consists of small houses alongside the river Tame, just to the north of Villa Park, some of which are liable to flooding. Perry Barr is solidly owner-occupied, with virtually no social housing. It is not however particularly wealthy, with the highest level of intermediate occupations in the city. Like Handsworth Wood this is a mixed area - around a half white with significant both black and asian populations. All in all it is a modestly prosperous suburban area, which has been a Liberal Democrat stronghold since the beginning of the century, despite losing their Great Barr base over the border in Sandwell.
Lastly, north of the M6, which forms another major barrier, is Oscott. It has a short border with Sutton Coldfield in the north, and a long one on the north-west with with the Walsall ward of Pheasey, which is geographically speaking an extension of Birmingham, with open country between it and other parts of Walsall. The area contains modest terraced and semi-detached housing for the most part, with the inter-war council estate of Kingstanding spilling over on the east side. There is little post-war development. The area can be characterised as modestly prosperous white working class owner-occupation. Labour won here consistently since 2002, although often not by much, and the ward was split with the Conservatives at the 2022 council elections.
Nationally this very heterogeneous seat has been safely Labour since it took on roughly its present form in 1983. The swap of Handsworth Wood for Kingstanding in 1997 made little political difference, although substantially increasing both the ethnic minority share, and the proportion in managerial jobs. The MP is Kashmir born Khalid Mahmood, first elected in 2001 when he was the first Muslim MP in England.
Generally the Boundary Commission has sought to minimise change in Birmingham, despite the new pattern of smaller wards. This seat is however to see some significant changes. The original proposal was to move the Lozells ward at the far south of the seat, restoring Kingstanding once again to the seat. Following consultation the Boundary Commission has taken a different tack. The area of this seat north of the M6 - basically Oscott - is to be transferred to Erdington. In exchange majority muslim Aston ward is to come in from Ladywood, plus half of the Stockland Green ward. The latter section, some 6000 voters, is north of the M6 and rather cut off from the rest of the seat (there is only one raod crossing the motorway), but this does look like the least bad solution to problems in north Birmingham. The changes will make it even more of a ‘majority minority’ seat, and even safer for Labour than it is already.
Census data: Owner-occupied 62% (400/573 in England & Wales), private rented 18% (152nd), social rented 18% (220th).
: White 40%, Black 15%, Sth Asian 34%, Mixed 4%, Other 7%
: Managerial & professional 26% (507th), Routine & Semi-routine 39% (79th)
: Degree 19% (479th), Minimal qualifications 43% (104th)
: Students 9% (81st), Over 65: 12% (491st)
: Muslim 20% (22nd), Sikh 11% (7th)
2010 | % | 2015 | % | 2017 | % | 2019 | % | |
Labour | 21,142 | 50.3% | 23,697 | 57.4% | 30,109 | 68.1% | 26,594 | 63.1% |
Conservative | 8,960 | 21.3% | 8,869 | 21.5% | 11,726 | 26.5% | 11,277 | 26.8% |
Liberal Democrat | 9,234 | 22.0% | 2,001 | 4.8% | 1,080 | 2.4% | 1,901 | 4.5% |
UKIP/Brexit | 1,675 | 4.0% | 5,032 | 12.2% | 1,382 | 3.3% | ||
Green | 1,330 | 3.2% | 591 | 1.3% | 845 | 2.0% | ||
Others | 1,034 | 2.5% | 331 | 0.8% | 691 | 1.5% | 148 | 0.4% |
Majority | 11,908 | 28.3% | 14,828 | 35.9% | 18,383 | 41.6% | 15,317 | 36.3% |
