Post by John Chanin on Sept 12, 2022 12:48:06 GMT
This is an unusual seat, with an unusual political history. There are two parts to it. Firstly the long coast of north Norfolk, extending from Wells-next-the-sea in the west all the way round to Happisburgh and Waxham, just to the north of Yarmouth. The coast in the west is part of the marshy lowlands adjoining the Wash, full of bird sanctuaries, half of which is in north-west Norfolk. At Sheringham the marshes disappear, and there is a more conventional coast with beaches stretching to the east. Cromer (headquarters of the District Council) and Sheringham are seaside resorts, both with populations of just over 7000, and with the relatively high levels of private renting typical of such resorts. Cromer is famous as one of the first Victorian seaside resorts, and a lot of its buildings reflect this. It also has an interglacial (around 500,000 years ago) named after it, based on sediments in the area. All the rest of the coast is retirement villages. The whole area has over a third retired population, reaching a peak of 40% in the villages west of Sheringham. For those not retired, managerial jobs exceed routine, except in Cromer, but not by much. The elderly population means that educational qualifications are not high. Local politics here is a contest between Conservative and Liberal Democrat. Normally the Conservatives dominate on the coast, but they won no seats at all in 2019. This area accounts for just under half the electorate.
Norfolk is the agricultural heartland of Britain, and much of it falls in the inland half of this seat, littered with stately homes and country houses, like Holkham Hall (home to the Earl of Leicester), built on the agricultural wealth, originally of wool, and then of wheat. These are not prairies however - there is plenty of woodland alongside the wheatfields. The largest settlement in the seat is North Walsham, with a population of just 12,500. There is only one other settlement that might be called a town in the inland portion - Holt. The rest is agricultural villages. There is quite a bit of rural council housing here (much as usual now sold off), and while managerial occupations exceed routine, they don’t do so by much, in what is working countryside, with low educational qualifications. The retired population is still over 20% everywhere, although not as high as on the coast, partly one suspects because the young people migrate to the towns in the absence of local employment opportunities. In local politics the Liberal Democrats are traditionally stronger in this section, particularly North Walsham.
Overall this is one of the 10 whitest seats in the UK, and has the third highest retired population, only Clacton and Christchurch being above it. This however wasn’t always the case. Historically this area was the base for the National Union of Agricultural Workers, which sent Labour MPs Edwin Gooch and Bert Hazell to parliament from 1945 to 1970. Concern over the plight of poor agricultural labourers in tied cottages led to legislation to improve their condition in the Labour government of the 1960s. By 1979 however as machines replaced humans, and the population on the coast expanded, the seat had become safely Conservative, with the Alliance taking over second place. In 1997 the Liberal Democrat candidate Norman Lamb reduced the Conservative majority to just over 1000, winning narrowly in 2001, expanding his majority to safety in 2005 and 2010, helping him to hold on against the tide in 2015 and 2017 (when he defeated the present MP for NW Norfolk, James Wild). Despite the local political dominance of the Liberal Democrats, who inherited what was left of the rural agricultural Labour vote, the Conservatives won the seat very easily in 2019 on the retirement of Norman Lamb. The new MP is Duncan Baker, an accountant from Holt, and former leader of the District Council.
The Boundary Commission originally proposed to restore the town of Fakenham and the pilgrimage village of Walsingham (in North Norfolk District) to the seat, in exchange for southern coastal wards removed to top up Great Yarmouth. However following consultation the seat is to be unaltered except for a minor adjustment to new ward boundaries.
Census data: owner-occupied 71% (188/573 in England & Wales), private rented 14% (299th), social rented 13% (394th).
:White 99%, Black 0%, South Asian 0%, Mixed 1%, Other 0%
: Managerial & professional 31% (409th), Routine & Semi-routine 32% (239th)
: Degree level 23%(374th), Minimal qualifications 41%(149th)
: Students 2% (573rd), Over 65- 30% (3rd)
Norfolk is the agricultural heartland of Britain, and much of it falls in the inland half of this seat, littered with stately homes and country houses, like Holkham Hall (home to the Earl of Leicester), built on the agricultural wealth, originally of wool, and then of wheat. These are not prairies however - there is plenty of woodland alongside the wheatfields. The largest settlement in the seat is North Walsham, with a population of just 12,500. There is only one other settlement that might be called a town in the inland portion - Holt. The rest is agricultural villages. There is quite a bit of rural council housing here (much as usual now sold off), and while managerial occupations exceed routine, they don’t do so by much, in what is working countryside, with low educational qualifications. The retired population is still over 20% everywhere, although not as high as on the coast, partly one suspects because the young people migrate to the towns in the absence of local employment opportunities. In local politics the Liberal Democrats are traditionally stronger in this section, particularly North Walsham.
Overall this is one of the 10 whitest seats in the UK, and has the third highest retired population, only Clacton and Christchurch being above it. This however wasn’t always the case. Historically this area was the base for the National Union of Agricultural Workers, which sent Labour MPs Edwin Gooch and Bert Hazell to parliament from 1945 to 1970. Concern over the plight of poor agricultural labourers in tied cottages led to legislation to improve their condition in the Labour government of the 1960s. By 1979 however as machines replaced humans, and the population on the coast expanded, the seat had become safely Conservative, with the Alliance taking over second place. In 1997 the Liberal Democrat candidate Norman Lamb reduced the Conservative majority to just over 1000, winning narrowly in 2001, expanding his majority to safety in 2005 and 2010, helping him to hold on against the tide in 2015 and 2017 (when he defeated the present MP for NW Norfolk, James Wild). Despite the local political dominance of the Liberal Democrats, who inherited what was left of the rural agricultural Labour vote, the Conservatives won the seat very easily in 2019 on the retirement of Norman Lamb. The new MP is Duncan Baker, an accountant from Holt, and former leader of the District Council.
The Boundary Commission originally proposed to restore the town of Fakenham and the pilgrimage village of Walsingham (in North Norfolk District) to the seat, in exchange for southern coastal wards removed to top up Great Yarmouth. However following consultation the seat is to be unaltered except for a minor adjustment to new ward boundaries.
Census data: owner-occupied 71% (188/573 in England & Wales), private rented 14% (299th), social rented 13% (394th).
:White 99%, Black 0%, South Asian 0%, Mixed 1%, Other 0%
: Managerial & professional 31% (409th), Routine & Semi-routine 32% (239th)
: Degree level 23%(374th), Minimal qualifications 41%(149th)
: Students 2% (573rd), Over 65- 30% (3rd)
2010 | % | 2015 | % | 2017 | % | 2019 | % | |
Conservative | 15,928 | 32.1% | 15,256 | 30.9% | 21,748 | 41.7% | 29,792 | 58.6% |
Liberal Democrat | 27,554 | 55.5% | 19,299 | 39.1% | 25,260 | 48.4% | 15,397 | 30.3% |
Labour | 2,896 | 5.8% | 5,043 | 10.2% | 5,180 | 9.9% | 3,895 | 7.7% |
UKIP/Brexit | 2,680 | 5.4% | 8,328 | 16.9% | 1,739 | 3.4% | ||
Green | 508 | 1.0% | 1,488 | 3.0% | ||||
Others | 95 | 1.2% | ||||||
Majority | 11,626 | 23.4% | 4,043 | 8.2% | 3,512 | 6.7% | 14,395 | 28.3% |
