Mid Worcestershire
Jun 3, 2020 11:29:26 GMT
Robert Waller, Disgusted Of Tunbridge Wells, and 1 more like this
Post by John Chanin on Jun 3, 2020 11:29:26 GMT
This constituency was created in 1997 as an additional seat for Worcestershire, which made the Boundary Commission’s job easier. Each of Worcestershire’s Districts now have a seat based on them, and in this case it is Wychavon. Curiously this is actually the largest of the district councils, despite not previously having a seat to itself, and as a result rural wards have to be carved off to make up the numbers for Redditch and Malvern Hills (West Worcestershire). The seat consists of two medium sized towns, both with a population of around 25,000, and their surrounding hinterland, connected by a narrow rural neck between Worcester and Redditch, made even narrower by the removal of Pershore to West Worcestershire. In the north is Droitwich, and in the south Evesham, and the two urban areas make up almost exactly half of the voters.
Droitwich is an old town with a fading reputation as a spa, based on the Permo-Triassic salt deposits underlying the area. It has a quaint old centre but the town has expanded greatly over the last 50 years, with private estates of ever newer vintage the further you go from the centre. The council housing is mostly tucked away on the far side of the river Salwarpe in Droitwich West ward, and this is the only ward that Labour has occasionally won. The rest of the town is solidly Conservative although not with particularly high managerial occupations, or educational qualifications, except for the endless new estates to the south-east where over 90% of households are owner-occupied. The other thing the town is famous for is the long-wave radio transmitter, just to the north, which serves the whole of England. Evesham is quite a working class town, with more routine than managerial workers in all five of its wards. The centre is classic market town, with its wide main street and market place, tucked inside a bend of the river Avon. The bulk of the town sits across the Avon to the south-east. Across the river to the west is the slightly detached area of Great Hampton. The Avon is wide here and subject to flooding, and there are only two river crossings. Politically the Liberal Democrats have normally formed the opposition here at local level, Labour not standing candidates for many years prior to 2019. The Greens won one of the Evesham wards in that year, but generally the town is Conservative, although not as much as Droitwich or the rural areas.
The extensive rural areas provide the other half of the electorate, although there are no settlements of any size. The south is flat land in the Vale of Evesham - very agricultural with lots of small villages. There is some rural council housing here, and a significant proportion of unqualified routine workers, typical of such areas. At the far south of the seat the land rises up into the Cotswolds at the village of Broadway, with its tower on top of the hill visible for miles. Between Worcester and Droitwich the land is more rolling, less agricultural, with more managerial workers and commuters, mostly to Worcester. The river Severn forms the western boundary of the seat here. South of Worcester is a flatter but demographically similar area, with managerial workers exceeding 50% in places. Owner-occupation is around 80% throughout. As usual the villages are generally monolithically Conservative, sometimes returning councillors unopposed. Where there is opposition it comes from the Liberal Democrats who hold two wards regularly including the best educated and highest status Bowbrook ward to the north-east of Worcester.
This all adds up to a very safe Conservative seat, which has been becoming safer. In 2019 it was the 15th safest Conservative seat in the country. Its first MP, moving from now marginal Worcester, which had included the rural centre of the new seat, was Peter Luff, who gained selection in preference to the sitting MP for Redditch & Droitwich (which had also carried the name of Mid Worcestershire). The Evesham area had previously been in the South Worcestershire seat. Current MP is management consultant Nigel Huddleston, first elected in 2015.
Mid Worcestershire is slightly oversized, and Redditch is slightly undersized. The only change proposed by the Boundary Commission is to move the rural ward of Dodderhill, north of Droitwich, with its 2000 electors (and the long wave radio transmitter), into the Redditch seat. This will not affect the very safe nature of this seat.
Census data: Owner-occupied 73% (145/573 in England & Wales), private rented 11% (489th), social rented 15% (294th).
: White 98%, Black 0%, South Asian 1%, Mixed 1%, Other 1%
: Managerial & professional 37% (230th), Routine & Semi-routine 28% (340th)
: Degree level 28%(233rd), Minimal qualifications 36%(303rd)
: Students 2.5% (462nd), Over 65: 20% (112th)
Droitwich is an old town with a fading reputation as a spa, based on the Permo-Triassic salt deposits underlying the area. It has a quaint old centre but the town has expanded greatly over the last 50 years, with private estates of ever newer vintage the further you go from the centre. The council housing is mostly tucked away on the far side of the river Salwarpe in Droitwich West ward, and this is the only ward that Labour has occasionally won. The rest of the town is solidly Conservative although not with particularly high managerial occupations, or educational qualifications, except for the endless new estates to the south-east where over 90% of households are owner-occupied. The other thing the town is famous for is the long-wave radio transmitter, just to the north, which serves the whole of England. Evesham is quite a working class town, with more routine than managerial workers in all five of its wards. The centre is classic market town, with its wide main street and market place, tucked inside a bend of the river Avon. The bulk of the town sits across the Avon to the south-east. Across the river to the west is the slightly detached area of Great Hampton. The Avon is wide here and subject to flooding, and there are only two river crossings. Politically the Liberal Democrats have normally formed the opposition here at local level, Labour not standing candidates for many years prior to 2019. The Greens won one of the Evesham wards in that year, but generally the town is Conservative, although not as much as Droitwich or the rural areas.
The extensive rural areas provide the other half of the electorate, although there are no settlements of any size. The south is flat land in the Vale of Evesham - very agricultural with lots of small villages. There is some rural council housing here, and a significant proportion of unqualified routine workers, typical of such areas. At the far south of the seat the land rises up into the Cotswolds at the village of Broadway, with its tower on top of the hill visible for miles. Between Worcester and Droitwich the land is more rolling, less agricultural, with more managerial workers and commuters, mostly to Worcester. The river Severn forms the western boundary of the seat here. South of Worcester is a flatter but demographically similar area, with managerial workers exceeding 50% in places. Owner-occupation is around 80% throughout. As usual the villages are generally monolithically Conservative, sometimes returning councillors unopposed. Where there is opposition it comes from the Liberal Democrats who hold two wards regularly including the best educated and highest status Bowbrook ward to the north-east of Worcester.
This all adds up to a very safe Conservative seat, which has been becoming safer. In 2019 it was the 15th safest Conservative seat in the country. Its first MP, moving from now marginal Worcester, which had included the rural centre of the new seat, was Peter Luff, who gained selection in preference to the sitting MP for Redditch & Droitwich (which had also carried the name of Mid Worcestershire). The Evesham area had previously been in the South Worcestershire seat. Current MP is management consultant Nigel Huddleston, first elected in 2015.
Mid Worcestershire is slightly oversized, and Redditch is slightly undersized. The only change proposed by the Boundary Commission is to move the rural ward of Dodderhill, north of Droitwich, with its 2000 electors (and the long wave radio transmitter), into the Redditch seat. This will not affect the very safe nature of this seat.
Census data: Owner-occupied 73% (145/573 in England & Wales), private rented 11% (489th), social rented 15% (294th).
: White 98%, Black 0%, South Asian 1%, Mixed 1%, Other 1%
: Managerial & professional 37% (230th), Routine & Semi-routine 28% (340th)
: Degree level 28%(233rd), Minimal qualifications 36%(303rd)
: Students 2.5% (462nd), Over 65: 20% (112th)
2010 | % | 2015 | % | 2017 | % | 2019 | % | |
Conservative | 27,770 | 54.5% | 29,763 | 57.0% | 35,967 | 65.3% | 37,426 | 66.7% |
Labour | 7,613 | 14.9% | 7,548 | 14.5% | 12,641 | 22.9% | 9,408 | 16.8% |
Liberal Democrat | 11,906 | 23.4% | 3,750 | 7.2% | 3,450 | 6.3% | 6,474 | 11.5% |
UKIP | 3,049 | 6.0% | 9,231 | 17.7% | 1,660 | 3.0% | ||
Green | 593 | 1.2% | 1,933 | 3.7% | 1,371 | 2.5% | 2,177 | 3.9% |
Others | 638 | 1.1% | ||||||
Majority | 15,864 | 31.1% | 20,532 | 39.3% | 23,326 | 42.3% | 28,018 | 49.9% |
