Post by John Chanin on Apr 27, 2020 15:24:18 GMT
Sutton Coldfield is a rather reluctant part of the city of Birmingham. It was forced into union by the local government reforms of the 1970s. There is no question that geographically it is part of the city - the urban area is continuous - but socially it is a different matter. The seat throughout is very middle-class with little variation - owner-occupied, managerial jobs. Physically the main feature is the huge Sutton Park, which the seat surrounds on the south and east (the west is in Walsall borough, and the north is in Lichfield District). Some of the housing in the Four Oaks area is not just 4-bedroom executive houses, but positively plutocratic. To the east the boundary approximates to the new M6 toll. There is actually quite a lot of open country between the built up area and the city boundary, but there is nothing here but farms, and few voters. Most development in the north is post-war. The centre has some older housing, and a fraction more private renting and social housing but there is little in it. The southern section is mostly inter-war semis, as it blends indistinguishably into Erdington. To the south-east are Walmley and Minworth, two communities outside Sutton proper, Minworth being separated from the Castle Vale estate by an industrial estate and Birmingham’s main sewage works.
Politically the seat has been entirely unchanged since 1974, as locals have resisted any rationalization of local ward boundaries. In 1979 it was the safest Conservative seat in the whole country. Since then it has slid down the list, along with general trends in urban areas, and the arrival of some ethnic minority households. There was only a narrow Leave vote here at the 2016 referendum. However it is still very safe. Locally Labour won the Vesey ward in 2018, a narrow strip sandwiched between the Birmingham boundary and Sutton Park. However this was largely due to the untiring work of local activist Rob Pocock, and Vesey would have voted Conservative in the General Election like the rest of Sutton Coldfield. MP here since 2001 is veteran Andrew Mitchell, first elected for Gedling in Nottingham in 1987. He is a former cabinet minister, probably best known for “Plebgate”, when he supposedly abused a policeman on guard at Downing Street.
Census data: owner-occupied 80% (18/573 in England & Wales), private rented 11% (501st), social rented 8% (550th).
:White 89%, Black 2%, Sth Asian 5%, Mixed 2%, Other 2%
: Managerial & professional 48% (62nd), Routine & Semi-routine 19% (522nd)
Politically the seat has been entirely unchanged since 1974, as locals have resisted any rationalization of local ward boundaries. In 1979 it was the safest Conservative seat in the whole country. Since then it has slid down the list, along with general trends in urban areas, and the arrival of some ethnic minority households. There was only a narrow Leave vote here at the 2016 referendum. However it is still very safe. Locally Labour won the Vesey ward in 2018, a narrow strip sandwiched between the Birmingham boundary and Sutton Park. However this was largely due to the untiring work of local activist Rob Pocock, and Vesey would have voted Conservative in the General Election like the rest of Sutton Coldfield. MP here since 2001 is veteran Andrew Mitchell, first elected for Gedling in Nottingham in 1987. He is a former cabinet minister, probably best known for “Plebgate”, when he supposedly abused a policeman on guard at Downing Street.
Census data: owner-occupied 80% (18/573 in England & Wales), private rented 11% (501st), social rented 8% (550th).
:White 89%, Black 2%, Sth Asian 5%, Mixed 2%, Other 2%
: Managerial & professional 48% (62nd), Routine & Semi-routine 19% (522nd)
2010 | % | 2015 | % | 2017 | % | 2019 | % | |
Conservative | 27,303 | 54.0% | 27,782 | 54.6% | 32,224 | 61.0% | 31,604 | 60.4% |
Labour | 10,298 | 20.4% | 11,365 | 22.3% | 16,885 | 31.9% | 12,332 | 23.6% |
Liberal Democrat | 9,117 | 18.0% | 2,627 | 5.2% | 2,302 | 4.4% | 6,358 | 12.2% |
UKIP | 1,587 | 3.1% | 7,489 | 14.7% | ||||
Green | 535 | 1.1% | 1,426 | 2.8% | 965 | 1.8% | 2,031 | 3.9% |
Others | 1,749 | 3.5% | 165 | 0.3% | 482 | 0.9% | ||
Majority | 17,005 | 33.6% | 16,417 | 32.3% | 15,339 | 29.0% | 19,272 | 36.8% |
