Post by John Chanin on Aug 4, 2023 8:55:53 GMT
Birmingham is a very segregated city, both racially and by class, and Northfield is the white working class area of the city. That is not to say that there isn’t variety here. Any map of Birmingham will show a salient extending into the countryside on the south-west corner. The north of this area is Frankley, a large Birmingham post-war overspill estate partly built originally on land that was mostly in Worcestershire. A local referendum in 1995 transferred the whole estate into Birmingham. It consists of leafy low-rise houses, the majority of which have been sold under right to buy, and is the pleasantest of Birmingham’s peripheral estates, but it is very isolated, being a long way from central Birmingham with poor transport links. South of Frankley is Rubery - an old Worcestershire town that has been absorbed into the city. Rubery is owner-occupied suburbia but only half of it is in Birmingham, the smarter western half being in Bromsgrove. Both wards are now voting Conservative at local level.
Where the Bristol Road (A38) leaves Birmingham was the site of the Longbridge car plant, which provided thousands of jobs in this corner of the city in its heyday. The plant was surrounded by council estates for its workers, and with work being well paid, the majority of homes were sold under right to buy, prior to closure of the car works in 2005. The site of the old factory now contains a lot of brand new housing, mostly owner-occupied, and this has swung the ward towards the Conservatives. East of Longbridge is West Heath - a council estate of older vintage and rather down market. Further to the east, along the southern boundary of the city, is Kings Norton. To the south there are more modern peripheral estates at Hawkesley and Walkers Heath, and this area was gained by the Greens at the last council elections. North of the Redditch Road is Kings Norton proper, which includes the old Tudor buildings around the Green, restored thanks to the BBC Restoration programme. It is predominantly low-rise inter-war owner-occupied housing.
The seat extends north up the Bristol Road through Northfield. This is distinctly different middle-class territory, with up market Victorian housing, some quite substantial, to the east of the main suburban shopping centre (now bypassed) along the Bristol Road. To the west alongside the North Worcestershire golf course is more recent private housing. Further north is a salient extending towards the city centre along the west side of the Bristol Road. Between Merritts Brook and the Bourn Brook (two tributaries of the river Rea) is Weoley. This is mainly low-rise inter war housing, mixed private and council, with more private renting close to the hospital complex at Selly Oak. In the far north-west corner is Birmingham’s only castle - ruined unfortunately.
Less than a third of households now live in social housing, although the council estate ambience is still predominant. This is a working class area with more routine than managerial workers, high intermediate workers, and low educational qualifications. It has a very low proportion of ethnic minorities by Birmingham standards, with more black residents than asian - also unusual for Birmingham. However the number has risen substantially between the 2011 and 2021 censuses. Politically the whole seat is marginal. Northfield used to be fairly safely Conservative, and the peripheral estates fairly safely Labour, but recent social trends have equalised this out. All the new wards were marginal in 2022, Labour coming out slightly on top, and all the four old wards changed hands between the parties earlier in the century. This has also been reflected in the parliamentary seat. Conservative in the 1980s (with Bartley Green rather than Kings Norton), the seat has been Labour subsequently although rarely safely. The recent trend has been away from Labour, and this is one of the seats that fell to the Conservatives in 2019 as MP Richard Burden, who won the seat from the Conservatives in 1992, lost to Gary Sambrook, a councillor whose indefatigable campaigning turned a council estate ward in the north of the city to the Conservatives. The seat voted 62% Leave at the referendum, and this undoubtedly had an effect.
The boundary review leaves the seat effectively unaltered, with only very minor realignment to new ward boundaries. In order to achieve this, rather curiously the Boundary Commission has chosen to split Weoley & Selly Oak ward along much the same lines as the old ward boundaries.
Census data: owner-occupied 56% (449/575 in England & Wales), private rented 15% (427th), social rented 29% (37th).
: White 78%(427th), Black 8%(87th), South Asian 4%(235th), Mixed 6%(41st), Other 5%(154th)
: Managerial & professional 34% (417th), Routine & Semi-routine 35% (119th)
: Degree 27% (418th), Minimal qualifications 34% (82nd)
: Students 7.2% (181st), Over 65: 17% (392nd)
Boundaries: The new seat is made up of 98% from Northfield and 2% from Edgbaston.
99% of the old Northfield seat is in the new one, with 1% going to Selly Oak.
Where the Bristol Road (A38) leaves Birmingham was the site of the Longbridge car plant, which provided thousands of jobs in this corner of the city in its heyday. The plant was surrounded by council estates for its workers, and with work being well paid, the majority of homes were sold under right to buy, prior to closure of the car works in 2005. The site of the old factory now contains a lot of brand new housing, mostly owner-occupied, and this has swung the ward towards the Conservatives. East of Longbridge is West Heath - a council estate of older vintage and rather down market. Further to the east, along the southern boundary of the city, is Kings Norton. To the south there are more modern peripheral estates at Hawkesley and Walkers Heath, and this area was gained by the Greens at the last council elections. North of the Redditch Road is Kings Norton proper, which includes the old Tudor buildings around the Green, restored thanks to the BBC Restoration programme. It is predominantly low-rise inter-war owner-occupied housing.
The seat extends north up the Bristol Road through Northfield. This is distinctly different middle-class territory, with up market Victorian housing, some quite substantial, to the east of the main suburban shopping centre (now bypassed) along the Bristol Road. To the west alongside the North Worcestershire golf course is more recent private housing. Further north is a salient extending towards the city centre along the west side of the Bristol Road. Between Merritts Brook and the Bourn Brook (two tributaries of the river Rea) is Weoley. This is mainly low-rise inter war housing, mixed private and council, with more private renting close to the hospital complex at Selly Oak. In the far north-west corner is Birmingham’s only castle - ruined unfortunately.
Less than a third of households now live in social housing, although the council estate ambience is still predominant. This is a working class area with more routine than managerial workers, high intermediate workers, and low educational qualifications. It has a very low proportion of ethnic minorities by Birmingham standards, with more black residents than asian - also unusual for Birmingham. However the number has risen substantially between the 2011 and 2021 censuses. Politically the whole seat is marginal. Northfield used to be fairly safely Conservative, and the peripheral estates fairly safely Labour, but recent social trends have equalised this out. All the new wards were marginal in 2022, Labour coming out slightly on top, and all the four old wards changed hands between the parties earlier in the century. This has also been reflected in the parliamentary seat. Conservative in the 1980s (with Bartley Green rather than Kings Norton), the seat has been Labour subsequently although rarely safely. The recent trend has been away from Labour, and this is one of the seats that fell to the Conservatives in 2019 as MP Richard Burden, who won the seat from the Conservatives in 1992, lost to Gary Sambrook, a councillor whose indefatigable campaigning turned a council estate ward in the north of the city to the Conservatives. The seat voted 62% Leave at the referendum, and this undoubtedly had an effect.
The boundary review leaves the seat effectively unaltered, with only very minor realignment to new ward boundaries. In order to achieve this, rather curiously the Boundary Commission has chosen to split Weoley & Selly Oak ward along much the same lines as the old ward boundaries.
Census data: owner-occupied 56% (449/575 in England & Wales), private rented 15% (427th), social rented 29% (37th).
: White 78%(427th), Black 8%(87th), South Asian 4%(235th), Mixed 6%(41st), Other 5%(154th)
: Managerial & professional 34% (417th), Routine & Semi-routine 35% (119th)
: Degree 27% (418th), Minimal qualifications 34% (82nd)
: Students 7.2% (181st), Over 65: 17% (392nd)
Boundaries: The new seat is made up of 98% from Northfield and 2% from Edgbaston.
99% of the old Northfield seat is in the new one, with 1% going to Selly Oak.
2017 | % | 2019 | % | Notional | % | |
Conservative | 18,929 | 42.7 | 19,957 | 46.3 | 20,135 | 46.1 |
Labour | 23,596 | 53.2 | 18,317 | 42.5 | 18,657 | 42.7 |
Liberal Democrat | 959 | 2.2 | 1,961 | 4.6 | 2,013 | 4.6 |
Brexit | 1,909 | 4.4 | 1,661 | 3.8 | ||
Green | 864 | 1.9 | 954 | 2.2 | 972 | 2.2 |
Other | 254 | 0.6 | ||||
| Majority | -4,667 | -10.5 | 1,640 | 3.8 | 1,478 | 3.4 |