Post by andrewp on Jul 23, 2022 9:08:58 GMT
Inspired by Robert’s post and the tidiness of completing the region, here is an entry for Wiltshire North.
The name of Wiltshire North was reintroduced as a constituency name in the boundary changes that came into effect for the 1983 general election. The constituency broadly covers the area between Swindon and Bath in the North west of the county, with the M4 running East/ West through the constituency. This is largely a constituency of small market towns, popular with commuters to Swindon, Bath and Bristol, all of which are reachable within 45 minutes.
When North Wiltshire was reintroduced as a constituency name, after a gap of over 100 years, it was largely a replacement for the Chippenham constituency name, with that town being the largest in the new constituency. Chippenham was removed in 2010 to be the centre of the 7th and additional constituency granted to Wiltshire in that year, thus leaving the largest town in this constituency as the lesser known Calne.
None of the remaining towns are particularly large. These are affluent pleasant market towns with Calne (17000 population) being the largest followed by Corsham (13000), Royal Wootton Bassett (11000) , Malmesbury ( 6000) and Cricklade ( 4000). Elsewhere there are hundreds of villages in the North Wiltshire countryside.
A major feature of the area from 1940 until 2012 was RAF Lyneham, the home of the RAF Hercules force and the RAFs principal transport hub. During the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts the base was used for the repatriation of service personnel who had been killed in those conflicts, with the cortege then being transported through the nearest town of Wootton Bassett. The town got its ‘Royal’ in 2011 in recognition of its role in the repatriations. Wootton Bassett is an old market town close to Swindon which has tripled in size since World War 2, partly due to the growth of Lyneham and partly to its proximity to growing Swindon. Wootton Bassett has more 1960s and 1970s estates than the other more historic towns.
The constituency was 96.8% white at the time of the 2011 census and 72.5 owner occupier, both well above the national average. It was ranked 20th out of 573 constituencies in England and Wales for those employed in Higher managerial jobs and, due to Lyneham, 7th in the percentage of people employed in public administration and Defence with 5000 people working at Lyneham at the time.
In the local elections in 2021, the Liberal Democrats were able to enjoy some success here and won 7 divisions to the Conservatives 11. The Lib Dems won Malmesbury, Cricklade, Sherston, Box, 2 of the 4 division in Calne and 1 of the 3 in Wootton Bassett, The Conservatives really fought back in some of the rural wards, winning shares of over 60% in many, peaking at 80% at Lyneham.
The Chippenham constituency was a source of near misses for the Liberal party in the 1960s and 1970s, losing by less than 2000 votes no fewer than 4 times in 12 years- in a 1962 by election, in 1964, 1966, and October 1974. Since Wiltshire North was renamed in 1983, the Lib Dems have not come quite as close, but continued to have some strength. The closest being in 1997 when then new Conservative candidate James Gray won by 3,475. The constituency remained semi marginal through the 2000’s, but the national decline of the Liberal Democrats post coalition, and crucially, the removal of Chippenham itself, the best of the towns for the Liberal Democrats have left this looking like a safe Conservative seat.
In 2016, it is estimated to have voted more or less 50/50 in the EU Referendum.
In 2019 the Lib Dems made the first steps to recovery here and increased their share from 18% to 27% and in the course cut Gray’s majority from 22800 to 17600. There is a long way back for the Liberal Democrats here and one suspects that their focus may be on neighbouring Chippenham rather than here. Gray is in his 3rd decade of service here now, and despite some controversy looks to have a safe tenure to hand over to a new Conservative candidate.
The initial proposal for boundary changes here are quite radical. About 25000 electors would move to become the minority section of a cross county seat with part of the Cotswolds in neighbouring Gloucestershire, named Cirencester and North Wiltshire. The remainder would be reunited with Chippenham Town in a Chippenham seat. The boundary between the two new seats would largely follow the motorway and both would have healthy enough notional Conservative majorities
The name of Wiltshire North was reintroduced as a constituency name in the boundary changes that came into effect for the 1983 general election. The constituency broadly covers the area between Swindon and Bath in the North west of the county, with the M4 running East/ West through the constituency. This is largely a constituency of small market towns, popular with commuters to Swindon, Bath and Bristol, all of which are reachable within 45 minutes.
When North Wiltshire was reintroduced as a constituency name, after a gap of over 100 years, it was largely a replacement for the Chippenham constituency name, with that town being the largest in the new constituency. Chippenham was removed in 2010 to be the centre of the 7th and additional constituency granted to Wiltshire in that year, thus leaving the largest town in this constituency as the lesser known Calne.
None of the remaining towns are particularly large. These are affluent pleasant market towns with Calne (17000 population) being the largest followed by Corsham (13000), Royal Wootton Bassett (11000) , Malmesbury ( 6000) and Cricklade ( 4000). Elsewhere there are hundreds of villages in the North Wiltshire countryside.
A major feature of the area from 1940 until 2012 was RAF Lyneham, the home of the RAF Hercules force and the RAFs principal transport hub. During the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts the base was used for the repatriation of service personnel who had been killed in those conflicts, with the cortege then being transported through the nearest town of Wootton Bassett. The town got its ‘Royal’ in 2011 in recognition of its role in the repatriations. Wootton Bassett is an old market town close to Swindon which has tripled in size since World War 2, partly due to the growth of Lyneham and partly to its proximity to growing Swindon. Wootton Bassett has more 1960s and 1970s estates than the other more historic towns.
The constituency was 96.8% white at the time of the 2011 census and 72.5 owner occupier, both well above the national average. It was ranked 20th out of 573 constituencies in England and Wales for those employed in Higher managerial jobs and, due to Lyneham, 7th in the percentage of people employed in public administration and Defence with 5000 people working at Lyneham at the time.
In the local elections in 2021, the Liberal Democrats were able to enjoy some success here and won 7 divisions to the Conservatives 11. The Lib Dems won Malmesbury, Cricklade, Sherston, Box, 2 of the 4 division in Calne and 1 of the 3 in Wootton Bassett, The Conservatives really fought back in some of the rural wards, winning shares of over 60% in many, peaking at 80% at Lyneham.
The Chippenham constituency was a source of near misses for the Liberal party in the 1960s and 1970s, losing by less than 2000 votes no fewer than 4 times in 12 years- in a 1962 by election, in 1964, 1966, and October 1974. Since Wiltshire North was renamed in 1983, the Lib Dems have not come quite as close, but continued to have some strength. The closest being in 1997 when then new Conservative candidate James Gray won by 3,475. The constituency remained semi marginal through the 2000’s, but the national decline of the Liberal Democrats post coalition, and crucially, the removal of Chippenham itself, the best of the towns for the Liberal Democrats have left this looking like a safe Conservative seat.
In 2016, it is estimated to have voted more or less 50/50 in the EU Referendum.
In 2019 the Lib Dems made the first steps to recovery here and increased their share from 18% to 27% and in the course cut Gray’s majority from 22800 to 17600. There is a long way back for the Liberal Democrats here and one suspects that their focus may be on neighbouring Chippenham rather than here. Gray is in his 3rd decade of service here now, and despite some controversy looks to have a safe tenure to hand over to a new Conservative candidate.
The initial proposal for boundary changes here are quite radical. About 25000 electors would move to become the minority section of a cross county seat with part of the Cotswolds in neighbouring Gloucestershire, named Cirencester and North Wiltshire. The remainder would be reunited with Chippenham Town in a Chippenham seat. The boundary between the two new seats would largely follow the motorway and both would have healthy enough notional Conservative majorities
