Post by bsjmcr on Jul 7, 2023 22:03:48 GMT
Another one of the few constituencies not to have had a change of name or boundary, though the Commission could have taken the opportunity to rename this Old Trafford to make it more succinct and recognisable on the national and international stage, but more concise and obvious names don't seem to be on their agenda. At least this one didn't undergo the name elongation treatment, for it would become Stretford, Urmston, Flixton, Davyhulme, Partington and Carrington.
It covers the northern half of the borough of Trafford, west of Manchester city centre, south of the Ship Canal. The area along the canal sits opposite Salford Quays and probably has one of the lowest population densities in terms of residents you could find. This is not because it is swathes of green belt land or countryside, although there is a small green oasis in the Trafford Ecology Park, but because it is home to Trafford Park industrial and business complex, once the country’s first and largest industrial estate which thrived in the Industrial Revolution and after some decline is thriving again, now home to over 1,000 companies. The architecurally-notable Imperial War Museum north also sits overlooking the Quays, as does the new filming set for Coronation Street next door. The rest of Trafford Park is now home to all manners of businesses and industries, from Kelloggs, an Amazon warehouse, an international freight terminal, and large bases of brands from Adidas to Procter and Gamble and L’Oreal. Within this concrete jungle there are places for fun to be had including a trampoline park and an inflatable theme park. Most striking, however, has to be the Chill Factore (most people know it as Chill Factor as for some reason the ‘e’ is superscript and tiny), that juts out almost diagonally into the air as seen from the M60 motorway. Opened in 2007, it is the UK’s longest and was once the world’s widest indoor ski slope. The Trafford Centre cannot go without saying. Opened in 1998 by Peel (now owned by ‘intu’), it is now the 3rd largest shopping centre in the UK and one of the largest in Europe, and has the largest food court of any. It is a pioneering example of an out-of-town shopping centre situated on some former wasteland. There are 11,500 free parking spaces, which at Christmas time is still not enough. The architecture is notable and exquisite, its blue domes dominating and baroque/rococo architecture with statues and fountains throughout. It also features a cinema, SeaLife Centre, and Legoland. Many did not predict it to become the success it has become, but it is continues to be a bit of a marmite feature, with many blaming it for the heavy decline of the town centres of Stretford, Urmston and others. Locals are frustrated by the congestion it brings, while others find the architecture a bit artificial or even kitschy. A less romantic childhood memory of visiting the centre is the stench of the Davyhulme Sewage Works which could be detected from in the car on the way. It too is also one of the largest in Europe and one of the earliest, in action since 1894. Odour control technologies seem to have improved since the centre’s heyday.
‘Old Trafford’ will in most people conjure up images of the stadium of the world-famous football team, but it was actually the nearby Cricket Ground that came first. It was built in 1857 and is home to Lancashire County Cricket Club. Its official name is now Emirates Old Trafford. The Theatre of Dreams opened in 1910 and is the largest club football stadium nationally (2nd overall after Wembley of course), with a capacity of 74,879 - conveniently you could fit the electorate of an entire constituency in there in many cases. The West Stand is named the Stretford End and the North Stand was renamed Sir Alex Ferguson stand in 2011.
It should be said that some people do actually live in this constituency. Trafford Borough as a whole is known for being a Tory bastion until recently, and for retaining a grammar school system. Indeed two of their grammar schools are in this constituency, surprisingly, Stretford Grammar, and Urmston Grammar. However this seat remains safely Labour as it contains some of Trafford’s less salubrious areas, such as Clifford and Longford, and the town of Stretford. Much of the first two and part of the latter are made up of several densely populated rows of redbrick terraces, some with great views of Old Trafford. These are also the most ethnically diverse wards in Trafford, with high Asian populations. Stretford itself is fairly average in most respects. The most deprived area is actually in the far south, in the isolated Partington estate, a 1960’s Manchester overspill estate, near the former ICI chemical works, now Industrial Estate, at nearby Carrington. It is split away from everywhere else by swathes of green belt land and the river Mersey which meanders through Stretford and Urmston Meadows. The isolated location of Carrington was also chosen by Sir Alex Ferguson as the location of the new training ground for United, away from the prying eyes of paparazzi and fans. As with any overspill estate, Partington is mostly made up of white working class residents, with few professionals and few higher qualifications.
The same cannot be said for the final conurbation of this seat, Urmston, which is now pretty much contiguous with and similar in character to neighbouring Flixton and Davyhulme. Although all formerly in Lancashire, they would probably like to lean more towards former Cheshire in the south like their cousins in Altrincham just down the road. Firmly middle class and high in professionals and highly qualified people, house prices are above the regional average for what they are - there are not the gated mansions of Hale or Bowdon here, instead it is mostly made up of well-established semis and detached houses on leafy roads. Many may have moved from other areas, attracted to the grammar schools, which may be a reason for the the elevated house prices. Unlike Stretford, Urmston is not connected to the Metrolink tram network, though there are train stations in the area. The latest Metrolink line extension will not change this either, instead it will focus on connecting the Trafford Centre to the network.
Many notable people originate from the area, never mind the footballers (they mostly lived out in Cheshire anyway!). Emmeline Pankhurst and LS Lowry lived in Stretford (though the latter is now synonymous with Salford), and the singer Morrissey from Davyhulme. The late Winston Churchill, grandson of the original, once represented the Stretford, later Davyhulme, constituency which covered Urmston until retiring on its abolition in 1997.
Despite this relative affluence (overall it is above the national average in most respects and below average in deprivation), lack of extreme deprivation, dominance of free enterprise, grammar schools and even a Churchill in there, one would have thought this to be a marginal at the least? Well the Labour dominance in Stretford and nearby inner-city areas plus Partington would have been consistently dominant, and even the middle class areas around Urmston are rapidly moving away from the Conservatives, which is what led them to lose control Trafford Council to Labour in what was one of the few good results for Labour in the 2018/19 Local Elections. The affluence in Urmston is likely to be trending younger and/or public-sector, remain-voting, demographics now less inclined to the Tories overall. The ‘old money’ is now only to be found in the southern half of the borough, and even there, Graham Brady, as safe as he is, has had his majority reduced too. The more working class areas around Stretford are also likely to have remained loyal to Labour too, being ethnically diverse and also remain-leaning.
The lesser-known Winston Churchill represented the old Stretford seat from 1970 to 1983 when it split to create Davyhulme while Stretford shifted to include parts of inner-city Manchester, and so he remained loyal to his middle-class voters in Davyhulme right up to 1997. Tony Lloyd took over for Stretford in ’83 and followed the inner-city voters to Manchester Central in 1997, later becoming interim Mayor and Police Commissioner and is now MP for Rochdale.
The new Stretford and Urmston was taken by the safe hands of former social work academic and local Council Leader Beverley Hughes in 1997 with double that of the Conservative vote and a majority of almost 14,000. The Conservative still managed 30% on this occasion, perhaps some overhang from Churchill’s days in Davyhulme, but Ms Hughes, now Baroness of Stretford, boosted her majority in 2001 and the Conservatives have never really recovered since. Katie Price, aka Jordan was also the local independent candidate on that occasion, getting 713 votes (she was with United footballer Dwight Yorke at the time). Hughes’ majority was trimmed in 2005, votes splitting across all parties, but she still held by almost 8,000, stood down in 2010 and is now Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester under Andy Burnham. Non-local Kate Green swiftly took over and did extremely well, achieving over 33,000 votes in 2017 and an almost 20,000 majority that Ms Hughes and the Blair days could only dream of in this area, while 2019 saw the tiniest swing away with Green still getting 30,000 votes and the Conservatives at a standstill. Results like this for suburban seats were probably only seen in Greater London.
Remarkably, in late 2022, Ms Green decided to follow the footsteps of Beverley Hughes for the second time, taking over from her as Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester. This precipitated a by-election which was probably one of the least-publicised/covered since Sunak took over as PM. Held in the freezing cold conditions of 15 December 2022, a few weeks after the Chester by-election, and was easily won by Labour's Andrew Western with just under 70% of the vote, on a 10% swing. The Conservatives meanwhile scraped a little over 15%. What would Churchill say? What was more notable, sadly, was the low turnout, at just over 25%, puts it in the top 10 lowest by-election turnouts. This is unfair on the good name of Stretford and Urmston for it to be lumped in on this ignominious list of shame with, say, the likes of Manchester/Leeds Centrals, because as you have hopefully seen by now this is not a traditional inner-city apathy area at all. It is more simply down to the sub-zero temperatures on polling day and the very uncontroversial, highly 'technical' circumstances of the by-election, no scandal (unlike Chester, which had a 41% turnout), so quite pointless really in the eyes of voters. And it was at the end of a tumultuous political year and people were looking forward to Christmas - so fatigue set in no doubt. As for Mr Western, he was the Leader of Trafford Council (also something in common with Ms Hughes...) and Councillor for Priory ward in neighbouring Sale, which did him no harm. He stood in Altrincham & Sale West in the three general elections 2015-19, reducing Sir Graham Brady's majority substantially which was enough for him to decide to call it a day. Had Western stood in A&SW again next time, he would most likely have won, but he has now fast-tracked his Westminster career.
Stretford and Urmston, for all its national and international influence, fame and enterprise in many ways, is less stimulating electorally, and regardless the fate of United in the next football season and whoever their next owner may be (if the locally derided Glazers ever get round to selling it), the political red team will be here to stay.
At the General Election, Western unsurprinsgly comfortably held on, but with a reduced share of the vote, unable to replicate Kate Green’s massive vote shares, while the Tory got 1% fewer votes than in the 2022 by-election, though still coming second was probably an achievement in itself, given how many safe Labour seats had Reform coming second. They of course came third here, followed by saved deposits from the Workers Party and the Greens. Turnout remained at a respectable 61%, much higher than in 2001, which was not the case in other safe Labour seats. Still, with a majority of 16,000, Western does not have to worry too much, and is now ‘Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transformation’.
It covers the northern half of the borough of Trafford, west of Manchester city centre, south of the Ship Canal. The area along the canal sits opposite Salford Quays and probably has one of the lowest population densities in terms of residents you could find. This is not because it is swathes of green belt land or countryside, although there is a small green oasis in the Trafford Ecology Park, but because it is home to Trafford Park industrial and business complex, once the country’s first and largest industrial estate which thrived in the Industrial Revolution and after some decline is thriving again, now home to over 1,000 companies. The architecurally-notable Imperial War Museum north also sits overlooking the Quays, as does the new filming set for Coronation Street next door. The rest of Trafford Park is now home to all manners of businesses and industries, from Kelloggs, an Amazon warehouse, an international freight terminal, and large bases of brands from Adidas to Procter and Gamble and L’Oreal. Within this concrete jungle there are places for fun to be had including a trampoline park and an inflatable theme park. Most striking, however, has to be the Chill Factore (most people know it as Chill Factor as for some reason the ‘e’ is superscript and tiny), that juts out almost diagonally into the air as seen from the M60 motorway. Opened in 2007, it is the UK’s longest and was once the world’s widest indoor ski slope. The Trafford Centre cannot go without saying. Opened in 1998 by Peel (now owned by ‘intu’), it is now the 3rd largest shopping centre in the UK and one of the largest in Europe, and has the largest food court of any. It is a pioneering example of an out-of-town shopping centre situated on some former wasteland. There are 11,500 free parking spaces, which at Christmas time is still not enough. The architecture is notable and exquisite, its blue domes dominating and baroque/rococo architecture with statues and fountains throughout. It also features a cinema, SeaLife Centre, and Legoland. Many did not predict it to become the success it has become, but it is continues to be a bit of a marmite feature, with many blaming it for the heavy decline of the town centres of Stretford, Urmston and others. Locals are frustrated by the congestion it brings, while others find the architecture a bit artificial or even kitschy. A less romantic childhood memory of visiting the centre is the stench of the Davyhulme Sewage Works which could be detected from in the car on the way. It too is also one of the largest in Europe and one of the earliest, in action since 1894. Odour control technologies seem to have improved since the centre’s heyday.
‘Old Trafford’ will in most people conjure up images of the stadium of the world-famous football team, but it was actually the nearby Cricket Ground that came first. It was built in 1857 and is home to Lancashire County Cricket Club. Its official name is now Emirates Old Trafford. The Theatre of Dreams opened in 1910 and is the largest club football stadium nationally (2nd overall after Wembley of course), with a capacity of 74,879 - conveniently you could fit the electorate of an entire constituency in there in many cases. The West Stand is named the Stretford End and the North Stand was renamed Sir Alex Ferguson stand in 2011.
It should be said that some people do actually live in this constituency. Trafford Borough as a whole is known for being a Tory bastion until recently, and for retaining a grammar school system. Indeed two of their grammar schools are in this constituency, surprisingly, Stretford Grammar, and Urmston Grammar. However this seat remains safely Labour as it contains some of Trafford’s less salubrious areas, such as Clifford and Longford, and the town of Stretford. Much of the first two and part of the latter are made up of several densely populated rows of redbrick terraces, some with great views of Old Trafford. These are also the most ethnically diverse wards in Trafford, with high Asian populations. Stretford itself is fairly average in most respects. The most deprived area is actually in the far south, in the isolated Partington estate, a 1960’s Manchester overspill estate, near the former ICI chemical works, now Industrial Estate, at nearby Carrington. It is split away from everywhere else by swathes of green belt land and the river Mersey which meanders through Stretford and Urmston Meadows. The isolated location of Carrington was also chosen by Sir Alex Ferguson as the location of the new training ground for United, away from the prying eyes of paparazzi and fans. As with any overspill estate, Partington is mostly made up of white working class residents, with few professionals and few higher qualifications.
The same cannot be said for the final conurbation of this seat, Urmston, which is now pretty much contiguous with and similar in character to neighbouring Flixton and Davyhulme. Although all formerly in Lancashire, they would probably like to lean more towards former Cheshire in the south like their cousins in Altrincham just down the road. Firmly middle class and high in professionals and highly qualified people, house prices are above the regional average for what they are - there are not the gated mansions of Hale or Bowdon here, instead it is mostly made up of well-established semis and detached houses on leafy roads. Many may have moved from other areas, attracted to the grammar schools, which may be a reason for the the elevated house prices. Unlike Stretford, Urmston is not connected to the Metrolink tram network, though there are train stations in the area. The latest Metrolink line extension will not change this either, instead it will focus on connecting the Trafford Centre to the network.
Many notable people originate from the area, never mind the footballers (they mostly lived out in Cheshire anyway!). Emmeline Pankhurst and LS Lowry lived in Stretford (though the latter is now synonymous with Salford), and the singer Morrissey from Davyhulme. The late Winston Churchill, grandson of the original, once represented the Stretford, later Davyhulme, constituency which covered Urmston until retiring on its abolition in 1997.
Despite this relative affluence (overall it is above the national average in most respects and below average in deprivation), lack of extreme deprivation, dominance of free enterprise, grammar schools and even a Churchill in there, one would have thought this to be a marginal at the least? Well the Labour dominance in Stretford and nearby inner-city areas plus Partington would have been consistently dominant, and even the middle class areas around Urmston are rapidly moving away from the Conservatives, which is what led them to lose control Trafford Council to Labour in what was one of the few good results for Labour in the 2018/19 Local Elections. The affluence in Urmston is likely to be trending younger and/or public-sector, remain-voting, demographics now less inclined to the Tories overall. The ‘old money’ is now only to be found in the southern half of the borough, and even there, Graham Brady, as safe as he is, has had his majority reduced too. The more working class areas around Stretford are also likely to have remained loyal to Labour too, being ethnically diverse and also remain-leaning.
The lesser-known Winston Churchill represented the old Stretford seat from 1970 to 1983 when it split to create Davyhulme while Stretford shifted to include parts of inner-city Manchester, and so he remained loyal to his middle-class voters in Davyhulme right up to 1997. Tony Lloyd took over for Stretford in ’83 and followed the inner-city voters to Manchester Central in 1997, later becoming interim Mayor and Police Commissioner and is now MP for Rochdale.
The new Stretford and Urmston was taken by the safe hands of former social work academic and local Council Leader Beverley Hughes in 1997 with double that of the Conservative vote and a majority of almost 14,000. The Conservative still managed 30% on this occasion, perhaps some overhang from Churchill’s days in Davyhulme, but Ms Hughes, now Baroness of Stretford, boosted her majority in 2001 and the Conservatives have never really recovered since. Katie Price, aka Jordan was also the local independent candidate on that occasion, getting 713 votes (she was with United footballer Dwight Yorke at the time). Hughes’ majority was trimmed in 2005, votes splitting across all parties, but she still held by almost 8,000, stood down in 2010 and is now Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester under Andy Burnham. Non-local Kate Green swiftly took over and did extremely well, achieving over 33,000 votes in 2017 and an almost 20,000 majority that Ms Hughes and the Blair days could only dream of in this area, while 2019 saw the tiniest swing away with Green still getting 30,000 votes and the Conservatives at a standstill. Results like this for suburban seats were probably only seen in Greater London.
Remarkably, in late 2022, Ms Green decided to follow the footsteps of Beverley Hughes for the second time, taking over from her as Deputy Mayor of Greater Manchester. This precipitated a by-election which was probably one of the least-publicised/covered since Sunak took over as PM. Held in the freezing cold conditions of 15 December 2022, a few weeks after the Chester by-election, and was easily won by Labour's Andrew Western with just under 70% of the vote, on a 10% swing. The Conservatives meanwhile scraped a little over 15%. What would Churchill say? What was more notable, sadly, was the low turnout, at just over 25%, puts it in the top 10 lowest by-election turnouts. This is unfair on the good name of Stretford and Urmston for it to be lumped in on this ignominious list of shame with, say, the likes of Manchester/Leeds Centrals, because as you have hopefully seen by now this is not a traditional inner-city apathy area at all. It is more simply down to the sub-zero temperatures on polling day and the very uncontroversial, highly 'technical' circumstances of the by-election, no scandal (unlike Chester, which had a 41% turnout), so quite pointless really in the eyes of voters. And it was at the end of a tumultuous political year and people were looking forward to Christmas - so fatigue set in no doubt. As for Mr Western, he was the Leader of Trafford Council (also something in common with Ms Hughes...) and Councillor for Priory ward in neighbouring Sale, which did him no harm. He stood in Altrincham & Sale West in the three general elections 2015-19, reducing Sir Graham Brady's majority substantially which was enough for him to decide to call it a day. Had Western stood in A&SW again next time, he would most likely have won, but he has now fast-tracked his Westminster career.
Stretford and Urmston, for all its national and international influence, fame and enterprise in many ways, is less stimulating electorally, and regardless the fate of United in the next football season and whoever their next owner may be (if the locally derided Glazers ever get round to selling it), the political red team will be here to stay.
At the General Election, Western unsurprinsgly comfortably held on, but with a reduced share of the vote, unable to replicate Kate Green’s massive vote shares, while the Tory got 1% fewer votes than in the 2022 by-election, though still coming second was probably an achievement in itself, given how many safe Labour seats had Reform coming second. They of course came third here, followed by saved deposits from the Workers Party and the Greens. Turnout remained at a respectable 61%, much higher than in 2001, which was not the case in other safe Labour seats. Still, with a majority of 16,000, Western does not have to worry too much, and is now ‘Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transformation’.
