Post by sirbenjamin on Mar 15, 2021 16:23:23 GMT
As this doesn't exist and is local to me...
Could benefit from having some census data and that sort of stuff.
Croydon South consists of eight wards to the south of the London Borough of Croydon and has existed, more or less, in its current form since the 1974 boundary review. Perhaps confusingly, a Croydon South constituency also existed from 1918 to 1974, which covered the central and southern parts of what we now know as Croydon town centre, and shared very little territory with the modern version. To add to the confusion, one of the eight wards is itself called 'South Croydon' and, like the parliamentary seat, it typically elects Conservatives.
The area is, for the most part, classic Tory suburbia that has resisted electoral change in a way that other parts of Outer London have not. While Labour have battled for second place with the
Liberal Democrats and Liberal-SDP Alliance that preceded them, the
Conservative majority has only dipped below 10,000 on one occasion, in
2001, and while support for opposition parties is divided, the seat looks like a very distant prospect for either of them.
Liberal Democrats and Liberal-SDP Alliance that preceded them, the
Conservative majority has only dipped below 10,000 on one occasion, in
2001, and while support for opposition parties is divided, the seat looks like a very distant prospect for either of them.
Current MP Chris Philp has a healthy majority of 12,339 and in 2015 it was even bigger - over 17,000 - when he fended off the spirited challenge of Labour's Emily Benn who failed to replicate the electoral success of her grandfather. Like many Outer London seats it is now oversized and will need to be reduced at the next boundary review, but barring drastic changes it is likely to remain safe for Mr Philp who has become a well-regarded local MP in a relatively short period of time. (And a junior minister for an even shorter period).
The best-known part of the seat is probably Purley ('Say no more!') where commuter trains divide and passengers who want to go to Tattenham Corner hurriedly extricate themselves from the front five coaches. When JD Wetherspoon announced plans to sell off their Purley pub, the Foxley Hatch, a campaign by locals - reportedly including a high court judge - persuaded them to retain it. But Purley is less upscale than many outsiders assume, and those who visit by train may be surprised to see their vista dominated by the heaviest of heavy industries - concrete production - and a 'quarry' that could double for a 1970s Doctor Who location.
From Purley the A22 and A23 take you out of the Borough of Croydon, into Surrey and onwards towards Gatwick Airport, Brighton and the South Coast. The green-belty spaces to the south of the seat include smaller settlements such as villagey Coulsdon and Kenley with its aerodrome, right on the Surrey border. Likewise, Sanderstead and Selsdon (home to the eponymous 'Man') feel a little more isolated due to weaker transport connections (the only station Selsdon ever had closed in 1983 and was more than a mile from Selsdon!) but one thing these areas all have in common is that they all elect a full slate of Tory Councillors in all but the worst years.
The only real area of local Labour strength is in Waddon, to the North West of the seat; former Croydon Central MP, the defective Andrew Pelling, is now a Councillor here. Waddon, with its tram stops and slightly run-down feel, has more in common with Central and Northern Croydon than the rest of South, and if it is this area that is removed in boundary changes, the seat will become substantially safer for the Conservatives.
