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Post by greenhert on Jan 13, 2023 22:01:24 GMT
Fewest number of candidates in this Parliament. Last byelection with only six candidates was Brecon and Radnorshire in 2019. This does not surprise me. Not only is West Lancashire now a safe Labour seat, but it is also not an exciting place by any means. |
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Post by ClevelandYorks on Jan 13, 2023 22:58:02 GMT
Fewest number of candidates in this Parliament. Last byelection with only six candidates was Brecon and Radnorshire in 2019. This does not surprise me. Not only is West Lancashire now a safe Labour seat, but it also has poor transport connections and is not that close to any major city. It has got to be a contender for the most boring seat in the UK. |
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Jan 14, 2023 7:54:12 GMT
This does not surprise me. Not only is West Lancashire now a safe Labour seat, but it also has poor transport connections and is not that close to any major city. It has got to be a contender for the most boring seat in the UK. In what sense boring? Electorally it has not always been boring and is no more so than a whole swathe of Lancashire marginals (albeit it isn't marginal anymore). It has a good deal more internal varierty than many constituencies and Skelmersdale itself is interesting just by virtue of how much of a shit hole it is. If the constituency were called Ormskirk (as it should be IMO) it would be a constituency with a very long and varied history |
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Jan 14, 2023 7:56:05 GMT
Fewest number of candidates in this Parliament. Last byelection with only six candidates was Brecon and Radnorshire in 2019. This does not surprise me. Not only is West Lancashire now a safe Labour seat, but it also has poor transport connections and is not that close to any major city. I think at its closest point (ie border to border), its all of about 4 miles from Liverpool.. |
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Post by iainbhx on Jan 14, 2023 8:32:47 GMT
Fewest number of candidates in this Parliament. Last byelection with only six candidates was Brecon and Radnorshire in 2019. This does not surprise me. Not only is West Lancashire now a safe Labour seat, but it also has poor transport connections and is not that close to any major city. I see facts have gone out of the window again. It's about 5 miles from Liverpool, which I believe is a major city. Of course, you may not count it as one by your own special definition. The major town has 2 buses an hour to Liverpool, 3 buses an hour to Wigan and 2 buses an hour to Southport - main of which serve other settlements in the seat, as well as a range of local services to Skem itself. Ormskirk - as a railhead has 2 tph to Liverpool, 4 in the peaks and a decent Sunday service, the service to Preston is one train per hour. the preston service makes other stops in the seat and sort of connects to trains on the Wigan - Southport line which serve other settlements. Skem is well connected to the Motorway network via the M58. What's the lack of transport - bike lanes? pony and trap lanes? |
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Post by andrewteale on Jan 14, 2023 9:37:26 GMT
Fewest number of candidates in this Parliament. Last byelection with only six candidates was Brecon and Radnorshire in 2019. This does not surprise me. Not only is West Lancashire now a safe Labour seat, but it also has poor transport connections and is not that close to any major city. I'm struggling to think of any constituency in Lancashire which fits that definition. Poor transport connections are one thing the county is not noted for. |
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Post by aargauer on Jan 14, 2023 10:04:09 GMT
This does not surprise me. Not only is West Lancashire now a safe Labour seat, but it also has poor transport connections and is not that close to any major city. I'm struggling to think of any constituency in Lancashire which fits that definition. Poor transport connections are one thing the county is not noted for. Lancaster and Fleetwood? Pretty safe in an equal year. |
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The Bishop
Labour
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Post by The Bishop on Jan 14, 2023 10:23:40 GMT
This does not surprise me. Not only is West Lancashire now a safe Labour seat, but it also has poor transport connections and is not that close to any major city. I see facts have gone out of the window again. It's about 5 miles from Liverpool, which I believe is a major city. Of course, you may not count it as one by your own special definition. The major town has 2 buses an hour to Liverpool, 3 buses an hour to Wigan and 2 buses an hour to Southport - main of which serve other settlements in the seat, as well as a range of local services to Skem itself. Ormskirk - as a railhead has 2 tph to Liverpool, 4 in the peaks and a decent Sunday service, the service to Preston is one train per hour. the preston service makes other stops in the seat and sort of connects to trains on the Wigan - Southport line which serve other settlements. Skem is well connected to the Motorway network via the M58. What's the lack of transport - bike lanes? pony and trap lanes?  Well the lack of a rail connection to Skelmersdale is apparently an issue in the byelection, and it is one of the bigger places in the country without one. |
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Post by Davıd Boothroyd on Jan 14, 2023 10:33:10 GMT
There's been a sort of unofficial competition for "biggest town in England without a railway station". For many years it was Corby, but that was reopened in 2009.
Skelmersdale has the added insult of there being a station for Upholland and also one for Rainford.
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The Bishop
Labour
Down With Factionalism!
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Post by The Bishop on Jan 14, 2023 10:34:39 GMT
Though its not "even" the biggest in historic Lancashire (Leigh narrowly beats it to that honour)
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Post by iainbhx on Jan 14, 2023 10:59:52 GMT
There's been a sort of unofficial competition for "biggest town in England without a railway station". For many years it was Corby, but that was reopened in 2009. Skelmersdale has the added insult of there being a station for Upholland and also one for Rainford. It's Gosport isn't it, followed by Dudley. Despite the latter having two stations with Dudley in the name, neither are in the borough never mind the town, Dudley Port is, well, grim and Sandwell & Dudley is in Oldbury and not that well connected with Dudley. |
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Post by iainbhx on Jan 14, 2023 11:00:33 GMT
Though its not "even" the biggest in historic Lancashire (Leigh narrowly beats it to that honour) But Leigh has a Gadgetbahn in the Guided Busway. |
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Post by iainbhx on Jan 14, 2023 11:06:10 GMT
I see facts have gone out of the window again. It's about 5 miles from Liverpool, which I believe is a major city. Of course, you may not count it as one by your own special definition. The major town has 2 buses an hour to Liverpool, 3 buses an hour to Wigan and 2 buses an hour to Southport - main of which serve other settlements in the seat, as well as a range of local services to Skem itself. Ormskirk - as a railhead has 2 tph to Liverpool, 4 in the peaks and a decent Sunday service, the service to Preston is one train per hour. the preston service makes other stops in the seat and sort of connects to trains on the Wigan - Southport line which serve other settlements. Skem is well connected to the Motorway network via the M58. What's the lack of transport - bike lanes? pony and trap lanes? Well the lack of a rail connection to Skelmersdale is apparently an issue in the byelection, and it is one of the bigger places in the country without one. You could probably extend the Murkeyrail line to the NW corner of Skem without it being ruinously expensive and knocking down too many houses, after that it becomes difficult. Seem to remember, but I could be wrong, that the last business case for it came out fairly badly. |
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Post by Pete Whitehead on Jan 14, 2023 11:22:45 GMT
I don't think the concept of 'knocking down too many houses' is actually a thing where Skelmersdale is concerned
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Post by AdminSTB on Jan 14, 2023 11:46:22 GMT
Well the lack of a rail connection to Skelmersdale is apparently an issue in the byelection, and it is one of the bigger places in the country without one. You could probably extend the Murkeyrail line to the NW corner of Skem without it being ruinously expensive and knocking down too many houses, after that it becomes difficult. Seem to remember, but I could be wrong, that the last business case for it came out fairly badly. And was, I think, only a couple of years ago (possibly in the first lockdown). However, it is surprising how many seemingly weak cases get funding and seemingly strong ones don't. Maybe they'll be lucky next time if they can persuade Steve Rotheram to stump up for a Merseyrail extension. |
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Post by batman on Jan 14, 2023 12:36:54 GMT
I'm struggling to think of any constituency in Lancashire which fits that definition. Poor transport connections are one thing the county is not noted for. Lancaster and Fleetwood? Pretty safe in an equal year. Lancaster has excellent rail connections however and Fleetwood even has trams! |
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Post by batman on Jan 14, 2023 12:38:44 GMT
There's been a sort of unofficial competition for "biggest town in England without a railway station". For many years it was Corby, but that was reopened in 2009. Skelmersdale has the added insult of there being a station for Upholland and also one for Rainford. It's Gosport isn't it, followed by Dudley. Despite the latter having two stations with Dudley in the name, neither are in the borough never mind the town, Dudley Port is, well, grim and Sandwell & Dudley is in Oldbury and not that well connected with Dudley. I discovered this when I went on a beer-drinking expedition in Dudley & Brierley Hill with my old friend Ian. When I canvassed in the Dudley West by-election I went by car. |
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Post by ClevelandYorks on Jan 14, 2023 13:08:49 GMT
It has got to be a contender for the most boring seat in the UK. In what sense boring? Electorally it has not always been boring and is no more so than a whole swathe of Lancashire marginals (albeit it isn't marginal anymore). It has a good deal more internal varierty than many constituencies and Skelmersdale itself is interesting just by virtue of how much of a shit hole it is. If the constituency were called Ormskirk (as it should be IMO) it would be a constituency with a very long and varied history I didn’t mean electorally, more in terms of the towns and countryside within the seat. It was an attempt to spark a discussion about which seat would be the most boring to live in! |
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Post by iainbhx on Jan 14, 2023 13:18:03 GMT
You could probably extend the Murkeyrail line to the NW corner of Skem without it being ruinously expensive and knocking down too many houses, after that it becomes difficult. Seem to remember, but I could be wrong, that the last business case for it came out fairly badly. And was, I think, only a couple of years ago (possibly in the first lockdown). However, it is surprising how many seemingly weak cases get funding and seemingly strong ones don't. Maybe they'll be lucky next time if they can persuade Steve Rotheram to stump up for a Merseyrail extension. It was turned down last June for a very poor business csse but it was running from the Wigan - Kirby Line into the south of Skem and was, ahem, ambitious. Resiting Upholland, calling it Skem Parkway and running a bus service might work somewhat. But Skem is a traffic source not a traffic destination. |
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Post by bjornhattan on Jan 14, 2023 13:28:41 GMT
In what sense boring? Electorally it has not always been boring and is no more so than a whole swathe of Lancashire marginals (albeit it isn't marginal anymore). It has a good deal more internal varierty than many constituencies and Skelmersdale itself is interesting just by virtue of how much of a shit hole it is. If the constituency were called Ormskirk (as it should be IMO) it would be a constituency with a very long and varied history I didn’t mean electorally, more in terms of the towns and countryside within the seat. It was an attempt to spark a discussion about which seat would be the most boring to live in! Surely that's almost entirely down to personal preference? If you don't drive and you're not interested in the outdoors, living in Ross, Skye, and Lochaber would be rather boring; if you're an introvert and don't like cities then you'd not want to live in Battersea. Personally, I'd say the most boring seat would be somewhere like Luton North - it doesn't even have much poltical interest any more, and most of it is rather bland suburbia of a not especially interesting town. It does get a few points for having the source of the River Lea, but loses them for having (IIRC) the fewest pubs out of any seat in England.
But even then, I'm sure there is something interesting going on there - very few places are objectively boring. Even the Fens, whose defining trait is the utterly flat and monotonous countryside, becomes interesting by virtue of just how dull the terrain is!
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