Post by YL on Jul 22, 2020 14:17:30 GMT
Doncaster is an industrial town surrounded by the South Yorkshire coalfield, and has a particular history with the railway industry; it's where the famous locomotives Flying Scotsman and Mallard were built. This constituency contains most of the main built up area of the town, south of the River Don, and extends eastwards to include the areas of Edenthorpe, Kirk Sandall, Barnby Dun and Armthorpe, birthplace of Kevin Keegan; these eastern areas were outside the pre-1974 County Borough of Doncaster and have their own parish councils.
Overall, this is a working class constituency with high deprivation levels. The main exceptions are in suburban Bessacarr in the south of the constituency, and to some extent in the eastern parishes, especially Barnby Dun and Kirk Sandall, where most census areas are less deprived than the English median. However, much of the area around the town centre is in the most deprived 10% in England, and overall this is the 93rd most deprived consituency in England. The tower blocks on Cleveland Street, visible from trains approaching the station from the south or west, are in a census area which is the most deprived in South Yorkshire and the 55th most deprived in England. Armthorpe also has quite high deprivation levels.
Similar patterns appear in the census returns. The constituency has lower than the median proportions of graduates and professional and managerial occupations, and higher proportions of those in working class occupations and with no qualifications or low level ones only; mostly it is not extreme in these respects, but it is 17th in the UK for elementary occupations. The main exceptions again, with a more middle class profile, are Kirk Sandall, Barnby Dun and especially Bessacarr; some areas east of the town centre, around Town Fields and Wheatley Hills, also show a middle class element in the population. Unlike the older age profile of some surrounding areas, the age profile of this constituency is fairly average, with slightly fewer people in their 70s and slightly more in their 30s than the national average.
The constituency is essentially a continuation of the constituency which existed until 1983 and which was simply named "Doncaster", especially the post-1950 version which did not include the areas north of the Don now in Doncaster North and did include Bessacarr. However that version did not include the eastern parishes. Doncaster first voted Labour in 1922, and then became fairly safe Labour, except in 1931, until the 1950 boundary changes, which turned it marginal, and it voted Conservative three times in the 1950s. Renamed Doncaster Central and extended to the east, it was fairly close in 1983, but swung sharply to Labour in 1987 and then looked safe. Since 1997 the MP has been Rosie Winterton; as with some other South Yorkshire constituencies there was a dramatic fall in her share of the vote in 2010, when it fell below 40%, followed by a recovery in 2015 and 2017, making the seat look fairly safe again, and then another big fall in 2019, reducing the majority over the Conservatives to only just over 2,000.
Local elections in Doncaster borough have had some unusual moments, especially the election of an executive Mayor from the English Democrats in 2009. In recent years, however, most of the wards in this constituency have elected Labour councillors, with the only non-Labour councillor in this constituency at the moment a Conservative who is one of the three representing Bessacarr. Former Liberal Democrat strength in Bessacarr, last won in 2012, disappeared when two of the councillors left the party; before the Coalition years they had some strength in other parts of the constituency as well. UKIP won a single seat here in 2014, in the then Edenthorpe, Kirk Sandall & Barnby Dun ward in the east, and won another in a by-election there, but did not hold them in the 2015 all up elections.
Overall, this is a working class constituency with high deprivation levels. The main exceptions are in suburban Bessacarr in the south of the constituency, and to some extent in the eastern parishes, especially Barnby Dun and Kirk Sandall, where most census areas are less deprived than the English median. However, much of the area around the town centre is in the most deprived 10% in England, and overall this is the 93rd most deprived consituency in England. The tower blocks on Cleveland Street, visible from trains approaching the station from the south or west, are in a census area which is the most deprived in South Yorkshire and the 55th most deprived in England. Armthorpe also has quite high deprivation levels.
Similar patterns appear in the census returns. The constituency has lower than the median proportions of graduates and professional and managerial occupations, and higher proportions of those in working class occupations and with no qualifications or low level ones only; mostly it is not extreme in these respects, but it is 17th in the UK for elementary occupations. The main exceptions again, with a more middle class profile, are Kirk Sandall, Barnby Dun and especially Bessacarr; some areas east of the town centre, around Town Fields and Wheatley Hills, also show a middle class element in the population. Unlike the older age profile of some surrounding areas, the age profile of this constituency is fairly average, with slightly fewer people in their 70s and slightly more in their 30s than the national average.
The constituency is essentially a continuation of the constituency which existed until 1983 and which was simply named "Doncaster", especially the post-1950 version which did not include the areas north of the Don now in Doncaster North and did include Bessacarr. However that version did not include the eastern parishes. Doncaster first voted Labour in 1922, and then became fairly safe Labour, except in 1931, until the 1950 boundary changes, which turned it marginal, and it voted Conservative three times in the 1950s. Renamed Doncaster Central and extended to the east, it was fairly close in 1983, but swung sharply to Labour in 1987 and then looked safe. Since 1997 the MP has been Rosie Winterton; as with some other South Yorkshire constituencies there was a dramatic fall in her share of the vote in 2010, when it fell below 40%, followed by a recovery in 2015 and 2017, making the seat look fairly safe again, and then another big fall in 2019, reducing the majority over the Conservatives to only just over 2,000.
Local elections in Doncaster borough have had some unusual moments, especially the election of an executive Mayor from the English Democrats in 2009. In recent years, however, most of the wards in this constituency have elected Labour councillors, with the only non-Labour councillor in this constituency at the moment a Conservative who is one of the three representing Bessacarr. Former Liberal Democrat strength in Bessacarr, last won in 2012, disappeared when two of the councillors left the party; before the Coalition years they had some strength in other parts of the constituency as well. UKIP won a single seat here in 2014, in the then Edenthorpe, Kirk Sandall & Barnby Dun ward in the east, and won another in a by-election there, but did not hold them in the 2015 all up elections.
