Post by John Chanin on Jul 16, 2020 20:36:17 GMT
This seat is unusual in having no significant urban centre at all. It consists of a string of territory to the west and north of Dudley and Wolverhampton, which has had large scale development since the second world war. There are many rural villages, connected by narrow lanes, in hilly and extensively wooded countryside, particularly in the south. But there are also expanded villages which have more the characteristic of small towns. The whole area can be summarised as commuter villages, similar to those to the south and east of Greater Birmingham, but in greater concentration. The Staffordshire and Worcestershire canal winds its way through the area.
There are 6 larger settlements with populations between 7000 and 15,000. Starting from the south is Kinver. This is an older village dominated by a church on the hill above and with a quaint old high street, on the banks of the river Stour. It has less new development and is the smallest of the six. North of the villages of Swindon and Himley is Wombourne, which is the largest settlement. Here there was inter-war settlement as well as the sprawling post-war estates. West of Wombourne are pretty villages like Trysull, and to the north is Perton. This is a wholly private new town, on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, developed in the 1980s on the site of an old airfield. Clearly Wolverhampton were not on board with this, as there is zero road access from the city, despite there being no intervening country. Perton can only be accessed from the west. It lacks facilities and any identifiable centre. Next is Codsall, the headquarters of South Staffordshire District Council, and the base for MP Gavin Williamson. This like Wombourne is a mostly modern development of estates, with two stations on the Shrewsbury line to take commuters into the city. North of the M54 is an extensive and flatter rural area with overgrown villages like Brewood and Featherstone. East of the M6 is a rather different area with some political variety. In the far north Hatherton and Huntington are essentially parts of Cannock, and there are Labour votes here. South of Cannock are Cheslyn Hay and Great Wyrley. While the urban area is continuous, they are separated by the railway running north from Walsall, which can only be crossed in two places. Cheslyn Hay is an older settlement with terraces of Edwardian houses, and is the most Labour part of the seat, sending occasional councillors to Codsall. Great Wyrley, despite a distant mining history, is more modern with extensive bungalows. Both send many commuters into Greater Birmingham to the south. Lastly south of Cheslyn Hay, and not sure whether it is part of Wednesfield, Willenhall, or a separate village, is Essington.
Overall the seat has high owner-occupation, with one of the lowest private rented figures in the country. There is some council housing in the larger settlements, but nowhere is it is high, and in Perton it is completely absent. The seat is almost entirely white, and fairly average socially, as the census figures show, but with education a little lower than average. The northern part of the seat in the orbit of Cannock has lower managerial workers, and less people with high educational qualifications. Kinver is the most up market part of the seat, but other parts of the south are not far behind. This is reflected in local politics. Many of the villages return Conservatives unopposed. At national level this is one of the safest Conservative seats, and getting safer. In 2017 it was the 11th safest, and in 2019 rose to 7th, behind only the Essex and Lincolnshire seats. It is typical of commuter villages in having all of the characteristics that lead to a strong Conservative vote. MP here since 2010 is businessman and former cabinet member Gavin Williamson.
The Boundary Commission had a problem with Staffordshire. Its electorate was a little high to fit into 11 seats, but more to the point, Dudley in the Black Country was too large for 3 seats. With Walsall and Wolverhampton together having the right electorate for 5 seats, and Sandwell for three, and Worcestershire not needing alteration, the Commission was forced inexorably to link part of Dudley with part of South Staffordshire. The smaller part of the much revised seat will be the Kingswinford area of Dudley Borough, amounting to 30,000 voters. This is the middle-class west of the borough, currently in the Dudley South seat, and normally votes Conservative, with a significant Labour minority. A similar number of voters in the north of the present seat therefore have to be moved out, into a curious bits left over seat of Stone and Great Wyrley, which curves round the east side of Stafford, to the west of Cannock. The new seat, renamed Kingswinford & Staffordshire South, will not be quite so safe as it was before, but safe enough for all normal purposes.
Census data: owner-occupied 76% (53/573 in England & Wales), private rented 8% (569th), social rented 14% (315th).
:White 96%, Black 1%, South Asian 2%, Mixed 1%, Other 1%
: Managerial & professional 37% (239th), Routine & Semi-routine 27% (368th)
: Degree level 25%(328th), No qualifications 38%(224th)
: Students 2.9% (353rd), Over 65: 21% (101st)
There are 6 larger settlements with populations between 7000 and 15,000. Starting from the south is Kinver. This is an older village dominated by a church on the hill above and with a quaint old high street, on the banks of the river Stour. It has less new development and is the smallest of the six. North of the villages of Swindon and Himley is Wombourne, which is the largest settlement. Here there was inter-war settlement as well as the sprawling post-war estates. West of Wombourne are pretty villages like Trysull, and to the north is Perton. This is a wholly private new town, on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, developed in the 1980s on the site of an old airfield. Clearly Wolverhampton were not on board with this, as there is zero road access from the city, despite there being no intervening country. Perton can only be accessed from the west. It lacks facilities and any identifiable centre. Next is Codsall, the headquarters of South Staffordshire District Council, and the base for MP Gavin Williamson. This like Wombourne is a mostly modern development of estates, with two stations on the Shrewsbury line to take commuters into the city. North of the M54 is an extensive and flatter rural area with overgrown villages like Brewood and Featherstone. East of the M6 is a rather different area with some political variety. In the far north Hatherton and Huntington are essentially parts of Cannock, and there are Labour votes here. South of Cannock are Cheslyn Hay and Great Wyrley. While the urban area is continuous, they are separated by the railway running north from Walsall, which can only be crossed in two places. Cheslyn Hay is an older settlement with terraces of Edwardian houses, and is the most Labour part of the seat, sending occasional councillors to Codsall. Great Wyrley, despite a distant mining history, is more modern with extensive bungalows. Both send many commuters into Greater Birmingham to the south. Lastly south of Cheslyn Hay, and not sure whether it is part of Wednesfield, Willenhall, or a separate village, is Essington.
Overall the seat has high owner-occupation, with one of the lowest private rented figures in the country. There is some council housing in the larger settlements, but nowhere is it is high, and in Perton it is completely absent. The seat is almost entirely white, and fairly average socially, as the census figures show, but with education a little lower than average. The northern part of the seat in the orbit of Cannock has lower managerial workers, and less people with high educational qualifications. Kinver is the most up market part of the seat, but other parts of the south are not far behind. This is reflected in local politics. Many of the villages return Conservatives unopposed. At national level this is one of the safest Conservative seats, and getting safer. In 2017 it was the 11th safest, and in 2019 rose to 7th, behind only the Essex and Lincolnshire seats. It is typical of commuter villages in having all of the characteristics that lead to a strong Conservative vote. MP here since 2010 is businessman and former cabinet member Gavin Williamson.
The Boundary Commission had a problem with Staffordshire. Its electorate was a little high to fit into 11 seats, but more to the point, Dudley in the Black Country was too large for 3 seats. With Walsall and Wolverhampton together having the right electorate for 5 seats, and Sandwell for three, and Worcestershire not needing alteration, the Commission was forced inexorably to link part of Dudley with part of South Staffordshire. The smaller part of the much revised seat will be the Kingswinford area of Dudley Borough, amounting to 30,000 voters. This is the middle-class west of the borough, currently in the Dudley South seat, and normally votes Conservative, with a significant Labour minority. A similar number of voters in the north of the present seat therefore have to be moved out, into a curious bits left over seat of Stone and Great Wyrley, which curves round the east side of Stafford, to the west of Cannock. The new seat, renamed Kingswinford & Staffordshire South, will not be quite so safe as it was before, but safe enough for all normal purposes.
Census data: owner-occupied 76% (53/573 in England & Wales), private rented 8% (569th), social rented 14% (315th).
:White 96%, Black 1%, South Asian 2%, Mixed 1%, Other 1%
: Managerial & professional 37% (239th), Routine & Semi-routine 27% (368th)
: Degree level 25%(328th), No qualifications 38%(224th)
: Students 2.9% (353rd), Over 65: 21% (101st)
2010 | % | 2015 | % | 2017 | % | 2019 | % | |
Conservative | 26,834 | 53.2% | 29,478 | 59.4% | 35,656 | 69.8% | 36,520 | 73.0% |
Labour | 10,244 | 20.3% | 9,107 | 18.4% | 12,923 | 25.3% | 8,270 | 16.5% |
Liberal Democrat | 8,427 | 16.7% | 1,448 | 2.9% | 1,348 | 2.6% | 3,280 | 6.6% |
UKIP | 2,753 | 5.5% | 8,267 | 16.7% | ||||
Green | 1,298 | 2.6% | 1,182 | 2.3% | 1,935 | 3.9% | ||
Others | 2,182 | 4.3% | ||||||
Majority | 16,590 | 32.9% | 20,371 | 41.1% | 22,733 | 44.5% | 28,250 | 56.5% |
