Post by John Chanin on Jun 17, 2022 7:30:27 GMT
Rutland is the smallest district council in the country with a population of just 40,000. Curiously it isn’t technically a district council at all, but a unitary county, as a result of the strangest decision of the Banham Commission in the 1990s, although it is quite unable to exercise in an effective and efficient way the functions of a unitary council. It contains two small towns - Oakham with a population of just over 10,000, and Uppingham which is half the size. Uppingham is a pretty little town, best known for its private school. Oakham is more workaday, although with an ancient manor house in the centre. Right in the middle of the county is England’s largest reservoir (by area), Rutland Water . Naturally it doubles as a nature reserve, bird sanctuary, and sailing venue. The miniature county sits in the Jurassic hill country that extends all the way from Somerset to the North York Moors, and although not exactly the Alps it is high enough to provide water throughout the east Midlands. The water is pumped up from the rivers Welland and Nene into a bowl in the hills. The rest of the county is sparsely populated rural countryside, with small, remote, and pleasant villages like Market Overton, with mixed arable and pastoral. Local councillors only represent about 1000 electors each as a result of its diminutive size, which leads to many conservative minded independents as well as Conservatives. There is the occasional Liberal Democrat, and a Green was elected in Uppingham at the last local elections, but the whole area is very safely Conservative nationally. The towns are only two-thirds owner-occupied, but managerial jobs are over 40% almost everywhere, and degree holders exceed those with minimal qualifications everywhere except the west side of Oakham, and the rural border with Lincolnshire, which are a little down market.
If Rutland is the smallest district in England, then the second smallest is, yes, Melton. This has a population of 50,000, over half of which live in the town of Melton Mowbray, by far the largest in the constituency, famous for its pork pies and stilton cheese. The pocket district is based on the valley of the Wreake (a tributary of the Soar), on which Melton Mowbray sits, plus the Vale of Belvoir to the north, which forms a salient into Nottinghamshire. The largest settlement here is the village of Bottesford, but the main feature is Belvoir Castle which overlooks the vale - a chateau built in the early 1800s rather than a proper castle, home to the Dukes of Rutland - a bit incongruous for a dukedom, as a barony or at best an earldom would seem more appropriate, but there’s no accounting for mediaeval aristocracy, or the fact that they rarely live where their titles suggest. The hill country to the east, a continuation of Rutland, is very sparsely populated, with more pleasant villages, but there are more residents in the Wreake valley with the larger villages of Asfordby, and the delightfully named Frisby-on-the-Wreake. Asfordby was the site of the last deep pit sunk in the UK in the 1980s, but didn't last long owing to geological difficulties. Historically there was something of a Labour vote in Melton town, which has an industrial history, a significant amount of council housing, and more routine than managerial workers. However this has dissolved away with Labour not even managing to raise candidates in most of the town in the last local election. There aren’t any Liberal Democrats in the district either, with a lone Green providing variety to the various Conservatives and conservative independents.
The two small districts combined are unable to raise an electorate of even 70,000, so the constituency is topped up with four wards from Harborough District, amounting to about 10,000 voters. Most of this is rolling countryside like that to the east and north, with no villages of any size. However half of the population is in the Leicester suburb of Thurnby/Bushby. Like most of east Leicester this has a sizable Asian population and is totally incongruous in this constituency. It is well off, well educated, and almost entirely owner-occupied however, and votes Liberal Democrat at local elections.
Overall this amounts to a very safe rural and small town Conservative constituency. The constituency took its present form in 1983, but the Boundary Commission is proposing a reversion to the pre-1983 arrangement, where Rutland is linked with Stamford in Lincolnshire, Melton is linked with Charnwood District east of the Soar. The original proposals also returned the Harborough wards to Harborough constituency, but following consultation they now remain in the Rutland seat - a ridiculous decision leaving the Rutland & Stamford seat crossing three counties and stretching all the way from the Leicester suburbs to Stamford. The new Melton & Syston seat is more sensible and compact, and both new seats will be safely Conservative. This gives MP Alicia Kearns, first elected in 2019 at the young age of 32, and a former PR consultant, a choice of two safe seats to continue her career.
Census data: owner-occupied 74% (116/573 in England & Wales), private rented 14% (295th), social rented 11% (490th).
:White 97%, Black 0%, South Asian 1%, Mixed 1%, Other 1%
: Managerial & professional 40% (159th), Routine & Semi-routine 26% (392nd)
: Degree level 30%(171st), No qualifications 32%(399th)
: Students 3% (422nd), Over 65- 20% (134th)
If Rutland is the smallest district in England, then the second smallest is, yes, Melton. This has a population of 50,000, over half of which live in the town of Melton Mowbray, by far the largest in the constituency, famous for its pork pies and stilton cheese. The pocket district is based on the valley of the Wreake (a tributary of the Soar), on which Melton Mowbray sits, plus the Vale of Belvoir to the north, which forms a salient into Nottinghamshire. The largest settlement here is the village of Bottesford, but the main feature is Belvoir Castle which overlooks the vale - a chateau built in the early 1800s rather than a proper castle, home to the Dukes of Rutland - a bit incongruous for a dukedom, as a barony or at best an earldom would seem more appropriate, but there’s no accounting for mediaeval aristocracy, or the fact that they rarely live where their titles suggest. The hill country to the east, a continuation of Rutland, is very sparsely populated, with more pleasant villages, but there are more residents in the Wreake valley with the larger villages of Asfordby, and the delightfully named Frisby-on-the-Wreake. Asfordby was the site of the last deep pit sunk in the UK in the 1980s, but didn't last long owing to geological difficulties. Historically there was something of a Labour vote in Melton town, which has an industrial history, a significant amount of council housing, and more routine than managerial workers. However this has dissolved away with Labour not even managing to raise candidates in most of the town in the last local election. There aren’t any Liberal Democrats in the district either, with a lone Green providing variety to the various Conservatives and conservative independents.
The two small districts combined are unable to raise an electorate of even 70,000, so the constituency is topped up with four wards from Harborough District, amounting to about 10,000 voters. Most of this is rolling countryside like that to the east and north, with no villages of any size. However half of the population is in the Leicester suburb of Thurnby/Bushby. Like most of east Leicester this has a sizable Asian population and is totally incongruous in this constituency. It is well off, well educated, and almost entirely owner-occupied however, and votes Liberal Democrat at local elections.
Overall this amounts to a very safe rural and small town Conservative constituency. The constituency took its present form in 1983, but the Boundary Commission is proposing a reversion to the pre-1983 arrangement, where Rutland is linked with Stamford in Lincolnshire, Melton is linked with Charnwood District east of the Soar. The original proposals also returned the Harborough wards to Harborough constituency, but following consultation they now remain in the Rutland seat - a ridiculous decision leaving the Rutland & Stamford seat crossing three counties and stretching all the way from the Leicester suburbs to Stamford. The new Melton & Syston seat is more sensible and compact, and both new seats will be safely Conservative. This gives MP Alicia Kearns, first elected in 2019 at the young age of 32, and a former PR consultant, a choice of two safe seats to continue her career.
Census data: owner-occupied 74% (116/573 in England & Wales), private rented 14% (295th), social rented 11% (490th).
:White 97%, Black 0%, South Asian 1%, Mixed 1%, Other 1%
: Managerial & professional 40% (159th), Routine & Semi-routine 26% (392nd)
: Degree level 30%(171st), No qualifications 32%(399th)
: Students 3% (422nd), Over 65- 20% (134th)
2010 | % | 2015 | % | 2017 | % | 2019 | % | |
Conservative | 28,228 | 51.1% | 30,383 | 55.6% | 36,169 | 62.8% | 36,507 | 62.6% |
Labour | 7,893 | 14.3% | 8,383 | 15.4% | 13,065 | 22.7% | 9,583 | 16.4% |
Liberal Democrat | 14,228 | 25.8% | 4,407 | 8.1% | 4,711 | 8.2% | 7,970 | 13.7% |
UKIP | 2,526 | 4.6% | 8,678 | 15.9% | 1,869 | 3.2% | 917 | 1.6% |
Green | 2,325 | 4.3% | 1,755 | 3.0% | 2,875 | 4.9% | ||
Others | 2,345 | 4.3% | 427 | 0.8% | 458 | 0.8% | ||
Majority | 14,000 | 25.4% | 21,705 | 39.8% | 23,104 | 40.1% | 26,924 | 46.2% |
