Post by bsjmcr on May 3, 2020 0:38:35 GMT
This is a part of the country that is on the up overall, but the constituency is made of extremes. Salford Quays is the core of regeneration here and is now nationally famed, with the BBC and ITV based at MediaCity. Programmes beaming out of Salford include BBC Breakfast, Blue Peter, Judge Rinder, Jeremy Kyle (until the tragic events of recent) and somewhat paradoxically, University Challenge. The Coronation Street set and architecturally notable Imperial War Museum also make an impression on the area, but as they're on the other side of the river along with Old Trafford they fall under Stretford & Urmston. Here in Salford, surrounding MediaCity and the Lowry complex are swathes of luxury riverside apartments, with many more still being built, for the professionals working locally in the media or in Manchester. Yet just down the road there was abject and still is some deprivation and degradation in inner-city wards such as Langworthy, Weaste and Seedley. In between is the town of Swinton, and neighbouring Pendlebury where LS Lowry was based - little could he imagine the affluence now dominating the former industrial docklands he would have observed. Hanging off the western edge of this seat is most of the town of Eccles, famed for the cake above all else. All in all this makes for a constituency that is around average in terms of education levels and employment.
Eccles seems to be a fairly 'neutral' town in Greater Manchester, invoking neither impressions of extreme deprivation or affluence (unlike say neighbouring Worsley). It appears to be trending middle class, particularly the Monton area (RLB's home patch), and has even gained the nickname 'Monton Carlo'. As such it was one of the very few Salford wards to vote remain (along with the Ordsall ward which includes the Quays, plus Worsley, Boothstown and Ellenbrook in the neighbouring constituency). The River Irwell dictates the boundary between the two cities (yes, Salford is a City!) and as such Salford territory meanders into what most would consider on the ground as Manchester City Centre in the Trinity and Blackfriars area which includes 'Salford Central' railway station.
Swinton is actually the base of Salford City Council (and surprisingly where the eponymous insurance company was founded!). Its name derived from 'swine town' - it would have been a farming town right up to the Industrial Revolution. It is still a working class, particularly skilled working class town of some council and many owner-occupied terraces and semis. It is quite self-sufficient and independent from Salford, with its own shopping centre and amenities. Next-door Pendlebury is a mix of industrial and residential. It had a coal mine, Agecroft Colliery, which only closed in 1991, its power station was demolished two years later. Being a bit further out it includes a green oasis in Clifton Country Park and Marina, made of a former gravel pit. Other spots of green space in this otherwise urban constituency include Ordsall Hall, a historic Tudor mansion conveniently located just a stone's throw away from the shiny glassy apartments of the Quays, and Salford's largest park, Buile Hill, in the less salubrious Weaste and Seedley area. The picturesque-sounding 'Irwell Riverside' ward includes Salford University and its many students. While Salford may have had a bad name in the past, the university is no ex-poly but a well-established 1960s institution stemming from a 19th Century Mechanics Institute, its attractive redbrick Peel Hall building preserved, near the pleasant riverside Peel Park. The respectable list of alumni as well as LS Lowry include Ben Kingsley and Peter Kay.
Other efforts of regeneration are being attempted at the aforementioned inner city areas of Weaste, Seedley, Langworthy and Claremont which includes Pendleton, home to the college and the rather clapped-out Salford Precinct shopping centre. The terraced houses of these areas were replaced by tower blocks decades ago, which in turn many of which have been demolished, and others refurbished and smartened up (in some cases with questionable cladding). The remaining rows of decayed terraces have also been boarded up and slowly demolished over the years, though some have been regenerated such as the smart Chimney Pot Park development in Langworthy, redone by the eminent redeveloper Urban Splash. There is also Pendleton Gateway, a fancy name for a library on the face of it, but a one-stop shop of council services plus a GP and Dentist in one place, a legacy of the Blair, or locally, should that be Blears, era.
Salford has been twisted and turned over several boundary reviews due to declining, and now increasing, population. 1997-2010 was probably its most interesting period as it was represented by the colourful character Hazel Blears with towering majorities on tiny turnouts - 2001 saw a majority of 11,000 on a 42% turnout. At the time the Salford seat was concentrated on the inner city and contained the easternmost wards of Kersal and Broughton, on the other side of the Irwell, which were shaved off in 2010 to join Manchester Blackley, while Swinton and Eccles was added from the thin, snake-like abolished Eccles seat. Ms Blears took the new S&E seat in 2010 with a much reduced majority of just under 6,000, after a heavily personal campaign from Lib Dems arising from her expenses controversy. She did pay back the money, brandishing the cheque around on the news like a Who Wants to be a Millionaire contestant. A sharp, canny and feisty politician in a small package, she was also controversial for wearing a 'rocking the boat' brooch when resigning from Gordon Brown's cabinet, which she later apologised for. Locally, much credit will be given to her though for fighting hard for constituents and attracting all the funding and regeneration which can be seen in the area. Fervently local, her election to her beloved hometown was a case of third time lucky, having stood in hopeless Tatton against Hamilton in '87 and a shock defeat in nearby marginal Bury South - one of many results signifying John Major's surprise majority in 1992. Rising Labour star Rebecca Long-Bailey took over in 2015, achieving even more towering majorities on each occasion.
Mrs Long-Bailey's link with the area arise from her dad who worked on the docks of Salford Quays. She was born in Trafford, schooled in Chester and studied at MMU. The swing against her in 2019 was tiny compared to other leave 'red wall' seats, giving her a good base from which to launch her unsuccessful leadership campaign. The non-local choice of Conservative candidate may have been a reason as they managed to lose vote share, while the Brexit party took over 8% of the vote. Scratch the surface and S&E is interesting electorally for other minor parties - the Greens saved their deposit in 2015, while the Lib Dems massively lost theirs after their creditable 2010 performance (though they managed to keep it in 2019), and in 2010 the BNP saved their deposit... On the brighter side, Mark 'Bez' Berry of Happy Mondays made an appearance on the ballot paper in 2015, beating the 'Trade Unionist and Socialist' and Pirate Party canddiates.
Eccles seems to be a fairly 'neutral' town in Greater Manchester, invoking neither impressions of extreme deprivation or affluence (unlike say neighbouring Worsley). It appears to be trending middle class, particularly the Monton area (RLB's home patch), and has even gained the nickname 'Monton Carlo'. As such it was one of the very few Salford wards to vote remain (along with the Ordsall ward which includes the Quays, plus Worsley, Boothstown and Ellenbrook in the neighbouring constituency). The River Irwell dictates the boundary between the two cities (yes, Salford is a City!) and as such Salford territory meanders into what most would consider on the ground as Manchester City Centre in the Trinity and Blackfriars area which includes 'Salford Central' railway station.
Swinton is actually the base of Salford City Council (and surprisingly where the eponymous insurance company was founded!). Its name derived from 'swine town' - it would have been a farming town right up to the Industrial Revolution. It is still a working class, particularly skilled working class town of some council and many owner-occupied terraces and semis. It is quite self-sufficient and independent from Salford, with its own shopping centre and amenities. Next-door Pendlebury is a mix of industrial and residential. It had a coal mine, Agecroft Colliery, which only closed in 1991, its power station was demolished two years later. Being a bit further out it includes a green oasis in Clifton Country Park and Marina, made of a former gravel pit. Other spots of green space in this otherwise urban constituency include Ordsall Hall, a historic Tudor mansion conveniently located just a stone's throw away from the shiny glassy apartments of the Quays, and Salford's largest park, Buile Hill, in the less salubrious Weaste and Seedley area. The picturesque-sounding 'Irwell Riverside' ward includes Salford University and its many students. While Salford may have had a bad name in the past, the university is no ex-poly but a well-established 1960s institution stemming from a 19th Century Mechanics Institute, its attractive redbrick Peel Hall building preserved, near the pleasant riverside Peel Park. The respectable list of alumni as well as LS Lowry include Ben Kingsley and Peter Kay.
Other efforts of regeneration are being attempted at the aforementioned inner city areas of Weaste, Seedley, Langworthy and Claremont which includes Pendleton, home to the college and the rather clapped-out Salford Precinct shopping centre. The terraced houses of these areas were replaced by tower blocks decades ago, which in turn many of which have been demolished, and others refurbished and smartened up (in some cases with questionable cladding). The remaining rows of decayed terraces have also been boarded up and slowly demolished over the years, though some have been regenerated such as the smart Chimney Pot Park development in Langworthy, redone by the eminent redeveloper Urban Splash. There is also Pendleton Gateway, a fancy name for a library on the face of it, but a one-stop shop of council services plus a GP and Dentist in one place, a legacy of the Blair, or locally, should that be Blears, era.
Salford has been twisted and turned over several boundary reviews due to declining, and now increasing, population. 1997-2010 was probably its most interesting period as it was represented by the colourful character Hazel Blears with towering majorities on tiny turnouts - 2001 saw a majority of 11,000 on a 42% turnout. At the time the Salford seat was concentrated on the inner city and contained the easternmost wards of Kersal and Broughton, on the other side of the Irwell, which were shaved off in 2010 to join Manchester Blackley, while Swinton and Eccles was added from the thin, snake-like abolished Eccles seat. Ms Blears took the new S&E seat in 2010 with a much reduced majority of just under 6,000, after a heavily personal campaign from Lib Dems arising from her expenses controversy. She did pay back the money, brandishing the cheque around on the news like a Who Wants to be a Millionaire contestant. A sharp, canny and feisty politician in a small package, she was also controversial for wearing a 'rocking the boat' brooch when resigning from Gordon Brown's cabinet, which she later apologised for. Locally, much credit will be given to her though for fighting hard for constituents and attracting all the funding and regeneration which can be seen in the area. Fervently local, her election to her beloved hometown was a case of third time lucky, having stood in hopeless Tatton against Hamilton in '87 and a shock defeat in nearby marginal Bury South - one of many results signifying John Major's surprise majority in 1992. Rising Labour star Rebecca Long-Bailey took over in 2015, achieving even more towering majorities on each occasion.
Mrs Long-Bailey's link with the area arise from her dad who worked on the docks of Salford Quays. She was born in Trafford, schooled in Chester and studied at MMU. The swing against her in 2019 was tiny compared to other leave 'red wall' seats, giving her a good base from which to launch her unsuccessful leadership campaign. The non-local choice of Conservative candidate may have been a reason as they managed to lose vote share, while the Brexit party took over 8% of the vote. Scratch the surface and S&E is interesting electorally for other minor parties - the Greens saved their deposit in 2015, while the Lib Dems massively lost theirs after their creditable 2010 performance (though they managed to keep it in 2019), and in 2010 the BNP saved their deposit... On the brighter side, Mark 'Bez' Berry of Happy Mondays made an appearance on the ballot paper in 2015, beating the 'Trade Unionist and Socialist' and Pirate Party canddiates.
