Post by Robert Waller on May 3, 2020 13:47:52 GMT
The constituency of Woking has been held continuously by the Conservative party since its creation out of parts of the former Chertsey and Farnham seats in 1950, and it has never seen a close contest the narrowest margin being 5,678 over the Liberal Democrats in 1997 when the MP Humfrey Malins suffered a 20% drop in the Tory share to their all time low of 38%. However, it is still of interest, not least because of its relatively varied mix of neighbourhoods for a Surrey division.
The Nomis official labour market statistics define the Woking ‘Built-Up Area’ as the most populous in the county of Surrey(105,000), though those boundaries extend a little beyond the borough of Woking itself (100,897 ) and certainly include communities that do not consider themselves part of the town of Woking itself, which with a 2011 population of 62,000 is probably behind Guildford in the county’s rank order of size. The constituency is actually a little larger than the borough, as it takes in the two rural wards of Pirbright and Normandy from Guildford’s local government area. Within the seat’s boundaries a very diverse range of housing and demographic type are to be found. As might be expected in Surrey, there are some very expensive and up-market areas, such as in parts of West Byfleet and Pyrford and the Mount Hermon, Woodhams, St John’s and Hook Heath wards of Woking itself. There are also attractive villages that have to an extent been swallowed up, such as Horsell, chosen by the Martians for their first landing in attack on the Earth in H.G.Wells’s War of the Worlds. But there are plenty of less attractive neighbourhoods too, such as the large 1960s and 1970s development of Goldsworth Park west of Woking centre, Old Woking to its south east, and, well to its east, the big Sheerwater council estate as well as the largest concentration of Asian residents in the county within the Maybury area – which, when it was paired in a ward with Sheerwater, was only 37% ‘white British’. This predominantly Muslim community is long standing, and here is to be found what is claimed to be the first purpose-built mosque in England, Shah Jahan, dating from 1889. Woking constituency as a whole ranks only 504th in the proportion of ‘white British; and is just outside the top 100 for ‘Asian’ residents. It does have a cosmopolitan feel in a way surrounding seats do not.
Not surprisingly, this means that Woking council is not overhwlmingly Tory. In May 2019, for example, they won only four of the ten wards contested; there have been local government boundary changes resulting in new wards since the last census and parliamentary boundary review, which will lead to adjustment in the next review, though probably not major changes as the electorate of 75,000 is currently quite close to the national quota. Labour won the new, heavily ethnic, Canalside ward, an Independent followed up success in a local byelection in Byfleet, and the Liberal Democrats took the other four. The borough went to ‘no overall control’ for the first time since 2010. However in December 2019 the MP Jonathan Lord held on by 9,767, even though there was a 9% swing to the Liberal Democrats who moved up from 3rd to 2nd. There is still a substantial Labour vote of 16% that might be squeezed, but with Lord attaining nearly 49% it would also need a major drop in Conservative popularity for the Lib Dems to get close. For all its diversity, overall Woking still lies in the top fifty seats for professional and managerial workers, and its most well known employer is McLaren, who make Formula 1 racing cars and some ‘supercars’ to go on the public road. It is likely that the Tories will take the chequered flag here yet again in future general elections.
2011 Census
Owner-occupied 70.3% 205/650
Private rented 16.0% 228/650
Social rented 11.8% 504/650
White 84.2% 504/650
Black 1.4% 214/650
Asian 11.0% 105/650
Managerial & professional 43.5%
Routine & Semi-routine 17.2%
Degree level 38.0% 67/650
No qualifications 15.2% 603/650
Students 6.4% 412/650
Age 65+ 15.0% 455/650
2021 Census
Owner occupied 67.4% 249/573
Private rented 21.3% 176/573
Social rented 11.4% 453/573
White 79.3%
Black 1.9%
Asian 13.4%
Managerial & professional 43.9% 47/573
Routine & Semi-routine 16.5% 498/573
Degree level 44.0% 69/573
No qualifications 13.1% 512/573
General Election 2019: Woking
Conservative Jonathan Lord 26,396 48.9 –5.2
Liberal Democrats Will Forster 16,629 30.8 +13.3
Labour Gerry Mitchell 8,827 16.4 –7.5
Green Ella Walding 1,485 2.8 +0.8
UKIP Troy de Leon 600 1.1 –1.0
C Majority 9,767 18.1 –12.1
Turnout 53,933 71.5 –1.0
Registered electors 75,455
Conservative hold
Swing 9.3 C to LD
The Nomis official labour market statistics define the Woking ‘Built-Up Area’ as the most populous in the county of Surrey(105,000), though those boundaries extend a little beyond the borough of Woking itself (100,897 ) and certainly include communities that do not consider themselves part of the town of Woking itself, which with a 2011 population of 62,000 is probably behind Guildford in the county’s rank order of size. The constituency is actually a little larger than the borough, as it takes in the two rural wards of Pirbright and Normandy from Guildford’s local government area. Within the seat’s boundaries a very diverse range of housing and demographic type are to be found. As might be expected in Surrey, there are some very expensive and up-market areas, such as in parts of West Byfleet and Pyrford and the Mount Hermon, Woodhams, St John’s and Hook Heath wards of Woking itself. There are also attractive villages that have to an extent been swallowed up, such as Horsell, chosen by the Martians for their first landing in attack on the Earth in H.G.Wells’s War of the Worlds. But there are plenty of less attractive neighbourhoods too, such as the large 1960s and 1970s development of Goldsworth Park west of Woking centre, Old Woking to its south east, and, well to its east, the big Sheerwater council estate as well as the largest concentration of Asian residents in the county within the Maybury area – which, when it was paired in a ward with Sheerwater, was only 37% ‘white British’. This predominantly Muslim community is long standing, and here is to be found what is claimed to be the first purpose-built mosque in England, Shah Jahan, dating from 1889. Woking constituency as a whole ranks only 504th in the proportion of ‘white British; and is just outside the top 100 for ‘Asian’ residents. It does have a cosmopolitan feel in a way surrounding seats do not.
Not surprisingly, this means that Woking council is not overhwlmingly Tory. In May 2019, for example, they won only four of the ten wards contested; there have been local government boundary changes resulting in new wards since the last census and parliamentary boundary review, which will lead to adjustment in the next review, though probably not major changes as the electorate of 75,000 is currently quite close to the national quota. Labour won the new, heavily ethnic, Canalside ward, an Independent followed up success in a local byelection in Byfleet, and the Liberal Democrats took the other four. The borough went to ‘no overall control’ for the first time since 2010. However in December 2019 the MP Jonathan Lord held on by 9,767, even though there was a 9% swing to the Liberal Democrats who moved up from 3rd to 2nd. There is still a substantial Labour vote of 16% that might be squeezed, but with Lord attaining nearly 49% it would also need a major drop in Conservative popularity for the Lib Dems to get close. For all its diversity, overall Woking still lies in the top fifty seats for professional and managerial workers, and its most well known employer is McLaren, who make Formula 1 racing cars and some ‘supercars’ to go on the public road. It is likely that the Tories will take the chequered flag here yet again in future general elections.
2011 Census
Owner-occupied 70.3% 205/650
Private rented 16.0% 228/650
Social rented 11.8% 504/650
White 84.2% 504/650
Black 1.4% 214/650
Asian 11.0% 105/650
Managerial & professional 43.5%
Routine & Semi-routine 17.2%
Degree level 38.0% 67/650
No qualifications 15.2% 603/650
Students 6.4% 412/650
Age 65+ 15.0% 455/650
2021 Census
Owner occupied 67.4% 249/573
Private rented 21.3% 176/573
Social rented 11.4% 453/573
White 79.3%
Black 1.9%
Asian 13.4%
Managerial & professional 43.9% 47/573
Routine & Semi-routine 16.5% 498/573
Degree level 44.0% 69/573
No qualifications 13.1% 512/573
General Election 2019: Woking
Conservative Jonathan Lord 26,396 48.9 –5.2
Liberal Democrats Will Forster 16,629 30.8 +13.3
Labour Gerry Mitchell 8,827 16.4 –7.5
Green Ella Walding 1,485 2.8 +0.8
UKIP Troy de Leon 600 1.1 –1.0
C Majority 9,767 18.1 –12.1
Turnout 53,933 71.5 –1.0
Registered electors 75,455
Conservative hold
Swing 9.3 C to LD
