Post by YL on Jul 15, 2023 13:58:42 GMT
The Peak District National Park is often divided into two areas, the more northerly Dark Peak, with a geology dominated by Millstone Grit, and the more southerly White Peak, whose geology is dominated by limestone. A starting point would be to say that of the parts of Derbyshire in the National Park this constituency covers the White Peak parts and High Peak the Dark, though this is an over-simplification, as there are gritstone moorlands in this constituency, mostly in the east, and the limestone area extends to the area around Buxton. The White Peak is generally more populated than the moorlands of the Dark Peak, and this constituency has a more rural population than High Peak does. However it does also contain some sizable towns on the edge of the National Park, including Matlock, Cromford, Wirksworth and Ashbourne, and the rural areas have some industrial heritage of their own, mostly around quarrying and lead mining. The constituency, which was called West Derbyshire until 2010, also lacks High Peak's recent marginal history and has usually been safe for the Conservative Party, having been held by them since 1950.
Matlock is the largest town, and is the headquarters of Derbyshire County Council. Just south of Matlock, the River Derwent passes through a scenic limestone valley in which we find the touristy Matlock Bath, which feels a little like a seaside resort which has lost its beach. Matlock Bath shares its ward with Cromford, the site of Richard Arkwright's pioneering mill and the heart of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. Politically Matlock generally supports the Liberal Democrats at local level, while Cromford and Matlock Bath voted strongly Labour in 2023, but have historically been more marginal. Darley Dale, effectively a northward extension of the Matlock urban area, is marginal between the Conservatives and Lib Dems, voting for the latter in 2023.
South-west of Cromford, Wirksworth is a town built around lead mining and quarrying. Like a number of formerly industrial towns around the southern Pennines, it has developed an "arty" or "alternative" culture, and this has helped it remain a Labour stronghold on Derbyshire Dales council. Further west, Ashbourne is perhaps best known for the insanity which takes over the town every Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, known as Royal Shrovetide Football. Ashbourne's two wards both split between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in 2023, but both contain rural areas outside the town, and Ashbourne itself was presumably carried by the Lib Dems.
The north of the constituency is entirely within the National Park and most settlements are small; the largest town here is Bakewell, a place which shows some nominative determinism in what it is best known for. Another well known settlement is Eyam, the village which was struck by the plague in 1666 and famously locked itself down to protect neighbouring communities, while the Cavendish mansion of Chatsworth is both a major tourist attraction and historically deeply connected to the area's politics. The north-eastern part of the constituency is close to the city of Sheffield and Hathersage, Baslow and Grindleford in particular have excellent connections to the city and are popular bases for commuting among those who can afford them, in some ways demographically looking like spillovers of west Sheffield. Hathersage also shows its connections to Sheffield by being the location of the upmarket David Mellor cutlery factory, while its popularity as a base for outdoor activity is shown by the number of outdoor shops and cafés there.
This northern area was generally strong for the Conservatives. However, they lost seats here in 2019 and in 2023 they won only Bakewell and Chatsworth wards, the latter containing the upmarket village of Baslow as well as the house and the estate villages; Hathersage (including Eyam, Grindleford and Stony Middleton) voted for a Labour candidate and a Labour dissident and Bradwell voted Labour in a landslide, while the Green Party won Tideswell, Calver & Longstone and Youlgrave wards, which between them cover many of the attractive villages of the White Peak.
Further south, surrounding Ashbourne, is more rural territory on the southern edge of the Peak District, bounded on the west by the famously scenic valley of the River Dove, which marks the border with Staffordshire. This area is remote from big cities and has less of a commuter element while the day-trippers often have more Midland sounding accents, and the Conservative vote held up better here. Hartington, close to the Dove, has a small cheese factory which is one of the few entitled to make Stilton.
Finally, the boundaries of the constituency extend outside Derbyshire Dales district in two areas. One, which is not new and has shrunk a little under the new boundaries, is in Amber Valley district and contains villages in the foothills of the Peak District on either side of the Derwent between Matlock and Belper; the best known is probably Crich (pronounced /kraɪtʃ/, with a "long i", not to rhyme with "rich") with its National Tramway Museum in an old quarry. This area is also generally Conservative, though Crich now has one Lib Dem councillor. The other, which is new, consists of the villages of Hatton and Hilton in South Derbyshire, which extends the rural area south of Ashbourne, still on the River Dove, though well below the famous parts of Dovedale. Hatton has some Labour strength and voted for them in 2023, though it only did so on a tie-break, while Hilton's poll was cancelled following the death of a candidate before the count was complete, and the postponed poll ended up electing two Lib Dems and one Conservative.
Deprivation is mostly low, with the main exception being one very deprived pocket in eastern Matlock. It is particularly low in the north-east, as far south as northern Darley Dale, and in western Wirksworth, which include several census areas in the 10% least deprived census areas in England. The remoter areas close to Dovedale are a bit more deprived and are around the English median. The demographics are mostly older, white and on the middle class side, with higher than average proportions with degrees and in managerial and professional occupations. Education levels and those in managerial and professional jobs are particularly high, again, in the north-east; one output area in Hathersage has nearly 75% of its adult population having degrees.
The constituency was created as West Derbyshire in 1885. It was often represented by a member of the Cavendish family, sometimes the one with the title Marquess of Hartington (the courtesy title held by the heir to the Dukedom of Devonshire), as they moved from Liberal to Liberal Unionist to Conservative. Since the First World War, it has either been represented by the Conservatives or by somebody called Charles White: the first of that name won it in 1918 for the Liberals but was defeated by the then Marquess of Hartington in 1923, while his son won it as an Independent Labour candidate in a 1944 by-election and held it as an official Labour candidate in 1945. It was represented for a time by the future media personality Matthew Parris for the Conservatives; when he resigned in 1986 it was very nearly lost to the Liberals in the resulting by-election. That by-election was won by Patrick McLoughlin, who was a Cabinet minister for some time in the 2010s, but retired in 2019, succeeded by Sarah Dines.
The recent Conservative decline in the north of the constituency in local elections and the longer standing Lib Dem and Labour strength in the towns might suggest the constituency could be vulnerable in spite of Dines's large majority in 2019. However, local elections are not national ones, the opposition to the Conservatives is divided, and even if they struggle in the north and in the towns the rural areas north and south of Ashbourne are likely to make this a challenging constituency for any opposition candidate to win. It is interesting to speculate how things might have been different here if the Liberals had won that 1986 by-election and established themselves and their successors as the clear alternative to the Tories, though the track record of Ryedale, won by the Liberals on the same day, suggests any effect might have long disappeared.
Matlock is the largest town, and is the headquarters of Derbyshire County Council. Just south of Matlock, the River Derwent passes through a scenic limestone valley in which we find the touristy Matlock Bath, which feels a little like a seaside resort which has lost its beach. Matlock Bath shares its ward with Cromford, the site of Richard Arkwright's pioneering mill and the heart of the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. Politically Matlock generally supports the Liberal Democrats at local level, while Cromford and Matlock Bath voted strongly Labour in 2023, but have historically been more marginal. Darley Dale, effectively a northward extension of the Matlock urban area, is marginal between the Conservatives and Lib Dems, voting for the latter in 2023.
South-west of Cromford, Wirksworth is a town built around lead mining and quarrying. Like a number of formerly industrial towns around the southern Pennines, it has developed an "arty" or "alternative" culture, and this has helped it remain a Labour stronghold on Derbyshire Dales council. Further west, Ashbourne is perhaps best known for the insanity which takes over the town every Shrove Tuesday and Ash Wednesday, known as Royal Shrovetide Football. Ashbourne's two wards both split between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in 2023, but both contain rural areas outside the town, and Ashbourne itself was presumably carried by the Lib Dems.
The north of the constituency is entirely within the National Park and most settlements are small; the largest town here is Bakewell, a place which shows some nominative determinism in what it is best known for. Another well known settlement is Eyam, the village which was struck by the plague in 1666 and famously locked itself down to protect neighbouring communities, while the Cavendish mansion of Chatsworth is both a major tourist attraction and historically deeply connected to the area's politics. The north-eastern part of the constituency is close to the city of Sheffield and Hathersage, Baslow and Grindleford in particular have excellent connections to the city and are popular bases for commuting among those who can afford them, in some ways demographically looking like spillovers of west Sheffield. Hathersage also shows its connections to Sheffield by being the location of the upmarket David Mellor cutlery factory, while its popularity as a base for outdoor activity is shown by the number of outdoor shops and cafés there.
This northern area was generally strong for the Conservatives. However, they lost seats here in 2019 and in 2023 they won only Bakewell and Chatsworth wards, the latter containing the upmarket village of Baslow as well as the house and the estate villages; Hathersage (including Eyam, Grindleford and Stony Middleton) voted for a Labour candidate and a Labour dissident and Bradwell voted Labour in a landslide, while the Green Party won Tideswell, Calver & Longstone and Youlgrave wards, which between them cover many of the attractive villages of the White Peak.
Further south, surrounding Ashbourne, is more rural territory on the southern edge of the Peak District, bounded on the west by the famously scenic valley of the River Dove, which marks the border with Staffordshire. This area is remote from big cities and has less of a commuter element while the day-trippers often have more Midland sounding accents, and the Conservative vote held up better here. Hartington, close to the Dove, has a small cheese factory which is one of the few entitled to make Stilton.
Finally, the boundaries of the constituency extend outside Derbyshire Dales district in two areas. One, which is not new and has shrunk a little under the new boundaries, is in Amber Valley district and contains villages in the foothills of the Peak District on either side of the Derwent between Matlock and Belper; the best known is probably Crich (pronounced /kraɪtʃ/, with a "long i", not to rhyme with "rich") with its National Tramway Museum in an old quarry. This area is also generally Conservative, though Crich now has one Lib Dem councillor. The other, which is new, consists of the villages of Hatton and Hilton in South Derbyshire, which extends the rural area south of Ashbourne, still on the River Dove, though well below the famous parts of Dovedale. Hatton has some Labour strength and voted for them in 2023, though it only did so on a tie-break, while Hilton's poll was cancelled following the death of a candidate before the count was complete, and the postponed poll ended up electing two Lib Dems and one Conservative.
Deprivation is mostly low, with the main exception being one very deprived pocket in eastern Matlock. It is particularly low in the north-east, as far south as northern Darley Dale, and in western Wirksworth, which include several census areas in the 10% least deprived census areas in England. The remoter areas close to Dovedale are a bit more deprived and are around the English median. The demographics are mostly older, white and on the middle class side, with higher than average proportions with degrees and in managerial and professional occupations. Education levels and those in managerial and professional jobs are particularly high, again, in the north-east; one output area in Hathersage has nearly 75% of its adult population having degrees.
The constituency was created as West Derbyshire in 1885. It was often represented by a member of the Cavendish family, sometimes the one with the title Marquess of Hartington (the courtesy title held by the heir to the Dukedom of Devonshire), as they moved from Liberal to Liberal Unionist to Conservative. Since the First World War, it has either been represented by the Conservatives or by somebody called Charles White: the first of that name won it in 1918 for the Liberals but was defeated by the then Marquess of Hartington in 1923, while his son won it as an Independent Labour candidate in a 1944 by-election and held it as an official Labour candidate in 1945. It was represented for a time by the future media personality Matthew Parris for the Conservatives; when he resigned in 1986 it was very nearly lost to the Liberals in the resulting by-election. That by-election was won by Patrick McLoughlin, who was a Cabinet minister for some time in the 2010s, but retired in 2019, succeeded by Sarah Dines.
The recent Conservative decline in the north of the constituency in local elections and the longer standing Lib Dem and Labour strength in the towns might suggest the constituency could be vulnerable in spite of Dines's large majority in 2019. However, local elections are not national ones, the opposition to the Conservatives is divided, and even if they struggle in the north and in the towns the rural areas north and south of Ashbourne are likely to make this a challenging constituency for any opposition candidate to win. It is interesting to speculate how things might have been different here if the Liberals had won that 1986 by-election and established themselves and their successors as the clear alternative to the Tories, though the track record of Ryedale, won by the Liberals on the same day, suggests any effect might have long disappeared.
