Post by November_Rain on Apr 25, 2020 18:47:43 GMT
The parliament constituency of Weston-super-Mare consists of the Victorian seaside town of the same name which like many seaside resorts has gone into decline for many years, and the economy is very much dependant on tourism, mainly from visitors across the water in South Wales and up the M5 from the West Midlands.
This constituency also features a number of rural areas such as the village of Congresbury which has the River Yeo running through this commuter village and the parishes of Hewish and Puxton, the latter known for the famous Puxton Park, a family adventure destination. To the south of Hewish and Puxton, the villages of Wick St Lawrence and St George's. The latter has in recent years had many housing developments, and does have a pocket of social housing run by both the Knightstone and Alliance Homes housing associations. Heading east are the villages of Banwell and Winscombe which in recent years have been in the local press due to the proposed Banwell by-pass which has caused great concerns amongst villagers as it's felt the influx of extra cars would have a profound impact on the local wildlife and pollute the countryside. East of Winscombe where the constituency cuts off is the villages of Blagdon, Langford and Churchill.
East of the town, you have the rural areas of Locking famous for the RAF base and now the Helicopter Museum, and neighbouring Hutton. South of the ajoined council ward of Hutton and Locking is the village of Bleadon.
The northern part of Weston-super-Mare has the parish of Kewstoke which has the famous Sand Bay point, and Worle which to some residents is very much a sore-point of being included within Weston-super-Mare as this area did have it's own parish for many years. Worle is split into three wards of North Worle that borders into Wick St Lawrence, Mid-Worle which covers the local high street and the Preanes Green housing estate and South Worle which features the Mead Vale housing estate.
Weston as the town consists of the areas of Milton a mainly residential area with some private and social housing – heading past the point of the Weston Milton station you have the Hutton Moor Leisure Centre and Gym on the main Winterstoke Road, which does lead into Winterstoke ward – a “new” area of the town with modern built homes mainly owner-occupied or rented via a private landlord. Heading east of the area is Weston Village, another new developed area.
East of Milton is the appropriately named Hillside ward. Many of the roads are very steep hills, and it's a mixed ward in terms of demographics as the more affluent parts are heading near Milton Cemetery and Ashcombe Park and westwards to the old Birnbeck Pier. The rest of the ward in the less “hilly” parts that cover half of the town centre, Knightstone Island, Grove Park and half of the Boulevard high street are mainly private rental and less affluent – usually appealing to those on low incomes and students. Central ward is the town centre area covering most of the town centre from Ashcombe Road to Clarence Park. It's an area with some affluent parts such as Ellenbrough and Clarence Park areas and a lot of deprivation in the more central areas with residents in mostly poor-quality private housing. Crossing the boundary is South ward which houses the Potteries and the Oldmixon and Bournville housing estates. These areas have a high amount of social housing and a lot of deprivation. Uphill ward the missing piece of the puzzle covers parts of the town centre at Moorland Road which is believed to be the longest road in the town that has a mix of owner-occupied and private rental. Controversially due to a boundary change, the Coronation estate which is majority social housing, the town's hospital and of course the affluent and rural Uphill Village.
One point to add is, Wrington where Bristol Airport is based was a part of the constituency until 1997. That is now based in the North Somerset constituency, which is also the name of the local authority in both the former constituency and Weston-super-Mare both fall into.
The electorate of the town is 79,819 and Weston-super-Mare is the largest settlement within North Somerset council. Most employment within in the constituency is either seasonal work within the tourism trade which the town depends on a lot, hospitality and services, social care due to an older skewing population and some distribution and light industries. The town does have a reputation as a “dormitory town” for Bristol, as those in skilled professions do tend to travel to Bristol and it's fellow towns for work.
Politically, the constituency has mostly returned Conservative MPs, with exception of 1997 and 2001 where the Liberal Democrats were successful with Brian Cotter. Labour were the second largest party from 1945 to 1970 (with exception of the 1969 by-election), and were usually behind the Liberal Democrats or Conservatives for quite a long period, until things changed in 2015 where they snatched a narrow second place from UKIP. The Labour vote increased again in 2017 which posted the parties best result since 1945, but declined by 6% in the most recent general election in December 2019.
The Liberal Democrats vote since their runner-up in 2010 has fallen dramatically, as they were fourth in 2015 behind UKIP, a distant third in 2017 and again in 2019.
As for minor party performances, UKIP were a close third with nearly 18% of the vote in 2015, but their presence has somewhat disappeared from view since then. The Greens have never retained their deposit in any general election they have contested in this constituency, the closest they got was in 2015 with well-known Green activist Dr Richard Lawson (who was a former councillor in the district). The BNP took part in 2005 and 2010 losing their deposits on both occasions and the English Democrats took part with a very small amount of votes in 2010 and 2015.
On a local level, the Labour vote is very strong in South ward which has the housing estates of the Bournville and Oldmixon in which since the seat's creation has always returned Labour councillors, in some years being the only wards to do so. Milton has a been a bell-weather ward since 1995 as it has alternated between Labour and Conservative councillors in a more “mixed marriage” approach, but the Labour vote has always been strong thanks to a very popular local councillor in Richard Tucker. Labour did claim it's first councillor in Winterstoke ward in 2019, and historically we have had representation in North Worle and South Worle. Labour gained two town councillors in South Worle in 2019 and for the first time in Uphill in the same year by one vote.
The Liberal Democrats main areas of support are within the two town centre wards of Central and Hillside. They did gain a councillor in Congresbury from the Greens who bizarrely did not defend the seat in 2019 and have a councillor in Blagdon and Churchill ward who was their candidate for the 2019 General Election. The Greens had Congresbury as their private fiefdom for quite some time with Richard Lawson and Holocaust survivor Tom Leimdorfer, but they were successful in gaining a councillor in Banwell and Winscombe in 2019. The issues regarding the proposed by-pass played a key part it was believed. There are two Independent councillors in Hutton and Locking; Mike Solomon defeated former deputy council leader Elfan ap Rees in 2019 and ex-Conservative councillor John Ley-Morgan for Uphill. I will add historically, UKIP did have a town councillor in Mid Worle from 2015 to 2019. She did not defend her seat.
The rest of the wards returned Conservative councillors in 2019, and have for most of their electoral history. One point to note is the majority of the Conservative councillors on North Somerset council are based in Weston-super-Mare.
This constituency also features a number of rural areas such as the village of Congresbury which has the River Yeo running through this commuter village and the parishes of Hewish and Puxton, the latter known for the famous Puxton Park, a family adventure destination. To the south of Hewish and Puxton, the villages of Wick St Lawrence and St George's. The latter has in recent years had many housing developments, and does have a pocket of social housing run by both the Knightstone and Alliance Homes housing associations. Heading east are the villages of Banwell and Winscombe which in recent years have been in the local press due to the proposed Banwell by-pass which has caused great concerns amongst villagers as it's felt the influx of extra cars would have a profound impact on the local wildlife and pollute the countryside. East of Winscombe where the constituency cuts off is the villages of Blagdon, Langford and Churchill.
East of the town, you have the rural areas of Locking famous for the RAF base and now the Helicopter Museum, and neighbouring Hutton. South of the ajoined council ward of Hutton and Locking is the village of Bleadon.
The northern part of Weston-super-Mare has the parish of Kewstoke which has the famous Sand Bay point, and Worle which to some residents is very much a sore-point of being included within Weston-super-Mare as this area did have it's own parish for many years. Worle is split into three wards of North Worle that borders into Wick St Lawrence, Mid-Worle which covers the local high street and the Preanes Green housing estate and South Worle which features the Mead Vale housing estate.
Weston as the town consists of the areas of Milton a mainly residential area with some private and social housing – heading past the point of the Weston Milton station you have the Hutton Moor Leisure Centre and Gym on the main Winterstoke Road, which does lead into Winterstoke ward – a “new” area of the town with modern built homes mainly owner-occupied or rented via a private landlord. Heading east of the area is Weston Village, another new developed area.
East of Milton is the appropriately named Hillside ward. Many of the roads are very steep hills, and it's a mixed ward in terms of demographics as the more affluent parts are heading near Milton Cemetery and Ashcombe Park and westwards to the old Birnbeck Pier. The rest of the ward in the less “hilly” parts that cover half of the town centre, Knightstone Island, Grove Park and half of the Boulevard high street are mainly private rental and less affluent – usually appealing to those on low incomes and students. Central ward is the town centre area covering most of the town centre from Ashcombe Road to Clarence Park. It's an area with some affluent parts such as Ellenbrough and Clarence Park areas and a lot of deprivation in the more central areas with residents in mostly poor-quality private housing. Crossing the boundary is South ward which houses the Potteries and the Oldmixon and Bournville housing estates. These areas have a high amount of social housing and a lot of deprivation. Uphill ward the missing piece of the puzzle covers parts of the town centre at Moorland Road which is believed to be the longest road in the town that has a mix of owner-occupied and private rental. Controversially due to a boundary change, the Coronation estate which is majority social housing, the town's hospital and of course the affluent and rural Uphill Village.
One point to add is, Wrington where Bristol Airport is based was a part of the constituency until 1997. That is now based in the North Somerset constituency, which is also the name of the local authority in both the former constituency and Weston-super-Mare both fall into.
The electorate of the town is 79,819 and Weston-super-Mare is the largest settlement within North Somerset council. Most employment within in the constituency is either seasonal work within the tourism trade which the town depends on a lot, hospitality and services, social care due to an older skewing population and some distribution and light industries. The town does have a reputation as a “dormitory town” for Bristol, as those in skilled professions do tend to travel to Bristol and it's fellow towns for work.
Politically, the constituency has mostly returned Conservative MPs, with exception of 1997 and 2001 where the Liberal Democrats were successful with Brian Cotter. Labour were the second largest party from 1945 to 1970 (with exception of the 1969 by-election), and were usually behind the Liberal Democrats or Conservatives for quite a long period, until things changed in 2015 where they snatched a narrow second place from UKIP. The Labour vote increased again in 2017 which posted the parties best result since 1945, but declined by 6% in the most recent general election in December 2019.
The Liberal Democrats vote since their runner-up in 2010 has fallen dramatically, as they were fourth in 2015 behind UKIP, a distant third in 2017 and again in 2019.
As for minor party performances, UKIP were a close third with nearly 18% of the vote in 2015, but their presence has somewhat disappeared from view since then. The Greens have never retained their deposit in any general election they have contested in this constituency, the closest they got was in 2015 with well-known Green activist Dr Richard Lawson (who was a former councillor in the district). The BNP took part in 2005 and 2010 losing their deposits on both occasions and the English Democrats took part with a very small amount of votes in 2010 and 2015.
On a local level, the Labour vote is very strong in South ward which has the housing estates of the Bournville and Oldmixon in which since the seat's creation has always returned Labour councillors, in some years being the only wards to do so. Milton has a been a bell-weather ward since 1995 as it has alternated between Labour and Conservative councillors in a more “mixed marriage” approach, but the Labour vote has always been strong thanks to a very popular local councillor in Richard Tucker. Labour did claim it's first councillor in Winterstoke ward in 2019, and historically we have had representation in North Worle and South Worle. Labour gained two town councillors in South Worle in 2019 and for the first time in Uphill in the same year by one vote.
The Liberal Democrats main areas of support are within the two town centre wards of Central and Hillside. They did gain a councillor in Congresbury from the Greens who bizarrely did not defend the seat in 2019 and have a councillor in Blagdon and Churchill ward who was their candidate for the 2019 General Election. The Greens had Congresbury as their private fiefdom for quite some time with Richard Lawson and Holocaust survivor Tom Leimdorfer, but they were successful in gaining a councillor in Banwell and Winscombe in 2019. The issues regarding the proposed by-pass played a key part it was believed. There are two Independent councillors in Hutton and Locking; Mike Solomon defeated former deputy council leader Elfan ap Rees in 2019 and ex-Conservative councillor John Ley-Morgan for Uphill. I will add historically, UKIP did have a town councillor in Mid Worle from 2015 to 2019. She did not defend her seat.
The rest of the wards returned Conservative councillors in 2019, and have for most of their electoral history. One point to note is the majority of the Conservative councillors on North Somerset council are based in Weston-super-Mare.
The nickname does come from the beach after a high tide does get rather muddy and it's in the local press at least four or five times a summer with people being rescued by the fire service by being stuck in the mud because they've gone too far out when the sea goes in!
