Post by John Chanin on Aug 4, 2023 9:50:04 GMT
The Selly Oak seat in its present incarnation is largely a suburban seat on the southern edge of the city. Although the name was unchanged, the seat was heavily altered in 2010 to contain only half of the seat that previously carried the name. Out went Kings Norton and Moseley, and in from the abolished Hall Green seat came most of Kings Heath, Billesley, Maypole, and Monyhull. Although Birmingham wards are still large, the reduction in size in the middle of the last decade makes the Boundary Commission’s job much easier in creating sensible constituencies without crossing ward boundaries. However although there are many ways of dividing Birmingham, the Commission has chosen to adhere as closely as possible to the existing pattern of seats in south Birmingham, splitting wards in order to do so. In this seat the Commission has split not one, but two, wards in its attempt to achieve this. The ward and district of Kings Heath remains split, although the boundary is a little further to the south. And the Weoley & Selly Oak ward has been split exactly on the old line to keep Selly Oak in this seat (and prevent the Boundary Commission from having to find a new name). These are the only changes other than some minor realignment, and so the seat is effectively unaltered.
At the north-west corner of the seat is the brand new Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and the surrounding area of Selly Oak proper is high on private renting by hospital staff and students. To the east of the Birmingham-Worcester canal and the cross-city railway line, is Bournbrook. This is essentially now student housing - it sits just to the south of the sprawling campus of Birmingham University, and 64% of the residents of Bournbrook & Selly Park ward are students, mostly crammed into shared two storey terraced housing. As a result the parliamentary seat as a whole is among the top 20 in the country for students. In the north-east corner Selly Park is part of the old middle-class inner city suburbs. It contains larger owner-occupied houses, and is paranoid about student infiltration. The seat slopes down to the river Rea on its eastern boundary where there is some small terraced housing liable to flooding. The students thin out to the south where Bournville sits, surrounding the famous Cadbury chocolate factory. The estate built by the Cadbury family for their workers - Bournville Village - is still rented, and managed by a Trust, and still has no pubs in line with the temperance views of its Quaker founders. South of the factory is smart middle-class housing with plenty of green spaces, and solidly owner-occupied. Further south is the separate area of Cotteridge with its shopping centre around Kings Norton station, which is owner-occupied but down market of leafy Bournville proper.To the east is Stirchley, stretching along both sides of the river Rea - an area of modest owner-occupied housing, with some council estates in the east.
A map will show a narrow neck formed by the Camp Hill railway line (shortly to re-open to passenger traffic after a hiatus of some 75 years). To the east of this, and adjoining Stirchley is Kings Heath, or at least the southern end of it, as the shopping centre is in Hall Green. This is mostly inter-war owner-occupied housing, modestly prosperous. South of the Stratford canal is Monyhull, with a large new area of private housing on the site of the old mental hospital, as well as older owner-occupied housing in the corner between the canals. On the city border, next to open country, is the miserably deprived Druids Heath estate - the worst of Birmingham’s peripheral estates, with extensive tower blocks in a rundown state. Redevelopment is however in progress and the towers are coming down. In the south east corner is Billesley alongside the river Cole. This is a classic area of working class owner-occupation, in inter-war and immediate post-war terraced housing, interspersed with council housing, and a higher asian population than elsewhere in the seat, as it neighbours Hall Green. Billesley ward is the median for deprivation in Birmingham - by definition a very average slice of the city. Moseley Rugby Club sits on semi-wild Billesley Common here. South of the Chinn Brook are Warstock and Highters Heath. Unlike further west this is not however the edge of the built-up area, as the commuter village of Hollywood lies to the south of Highters Heath, and the up market district of Solihull Lodge lies to the south of Warstock. This area is a curious mixture of pleasant middle-class suburban housing and rundown council estates.
As can be seen from the census data below, this is overall a very average urban seat - the second whitest in Birmingham proper after neighbouring Northfield, although scarcely high in national terms, but with rather more social housing typical of a big city. Politically it reflects this, all 4 of the old wards regularly changing hands at local elections. Bournville, one of the least deprived areas in the city, was historically more Conservative, and Billesley more Labour, with the Liberal Democrats holding Selly Oak when the students were voting for them. In 2018 and 2022 all of the new wards voted Labour except for Highters Heath, which was safely Conservative, and Druids Heath, where the Greens exploited the disaffection of the council tenants, and the lack of history of the new residents of Monyhull to win a surprise victory in 2018. This does represent a change historically. In parliamentary terms the old Selly Oak was Conservative until 1992, but the current seat is safely Labour, more due to changing politics and demography of city areas generally, than any change in boundaries. The MP is Steve McCabe - a Scot first elected in 1997 for Hall Green, who followed the bulk of his old seat into this constituency in 2010. He is a former social worker and low key backbencher.
Census data: owner-occupied 56% (451/575 in England & Wales), private rented 23% (144th), social rented 21% (126th).
: White 69%(472nd), Black 6%(115th), South Asian 13%(78th), Mixed 6%(50th), Other 7%(111th)
: Managerial & professional 40% (243rd), Routine & Semi-routine 30% (240th)
: Degree 32% (277th), Minimal qualifications 26% (363rd)
: Students 22% (16th), Over 65: 14% (469th)
Boundaries: The new seat is made up of 98% from Selly Oak, 2% from Hall Green, and 1% from Northfield
96% of the old Selly Oak seat is in the new one, with 4% going to Hall Green & Moseley.
At the north-west corner of the seat is the brand new Queen Elizabeth Hospital, and the surrounding area of Selly Oak proper is high on private renting by hospital staff and students. To the east of the Birmingham-Worcester canal and the cross-city railway line, is Bournbrook. This is essentially now student housing - it sits just to the south of the sprawling campus of Birmingham University, and 64% of the residents of Bournbrook & Selly Park ward are students, mostly crammed into shared two storey terraced housing. As a result the parliamentary seat as a whole is among the top 20 in the country for students. In the north-east corner Selly Park is part of the old middle-class inner city suburbs. It contains larger owner-occupied houses, and is paranoid about student infiltration. The seat slopes down to the river Rea on its eastern boundary where there is some small terraced housing liable to flooding. The students thin out to the south where Bournville sits, surrounding the famous Cadbury chocolate factory. The estate built by the Cadbury family for their workers - Bournville Village - is still rented, and managed by a Trust, and still has no pubs in line with the temperance views of its Quaker founders. South of the factory is smart middle-class housing with plenty of green spaces, and solidly owner-occupied. Further south is the separate area of Cotteridge with its shopping centre around Kings Norton station, which is owner-occupied but down market of leafy Bournville proper.To the east is Stirchley, stretching along both sides of the river Rea - an area of modest owner-occupied housing, with some council estates in the east.
A map will show a narrow neck formed by the Camp Hill railway line (shortly to re-open to passenger traffic after a hiatus of some 75 years). To the east of this, and adjoining Stirchley is Kings Heath, or at least the southern end of it, as the shopping centre is in Hall Green. This is mostly inter-war owner-occupied housing, modestly prosperous. South of the Stratford canal is Monyhull, with a large new area of private housing on the site of the old mental hospital, as well as older owner-occupied housing in the corner between the canals. On the city border, next to open country, is the miserably deprived Druids Heath estate - the worst of Birmingham’s peripheral estates, with extensive tower blocks in a rundown state. Redevelopment is however in progress and the towers are coming down. In the south east corner is Billesley alongside the river Cole. This is a classic area of working class owner-occupation, in inter-war and immediate post-war terraced housing, interspersed with council housing, and a higher asian population than elsewhere in the seat, as it neighbours Hall Green. Billesley ward is the median for deprivation in Birmingham - by definition a very average slice of the city. Moseley Rugby Club sits on semi-wild Billesley Common here. South of the Chinn Brook are Warstock and Highters Heath. Unlike further west this is not however the edge of the built-up area, as the commuter village of Hollywood lies to the south of Highters Heath, and the up market district of Solihull Lodge lies to the south of Warstock. This area is a curious mixture of pleasant middle-class suburban housing and rundown council estates.
As can be seen from the census data below, this is overall a very average urban seat - the second whitest in Birmingham proper after neighbouring Northfield, although scarcely high in national terms, but with rather more social housing typical of a big city. Politically it reflects this, all 4 of the old wards regularly changing hands at local elections. Bournville, one of the least deprived areas in the city, was historically more Conservative, and Billesley more Labour, with the Liberal Democrats holding Selly Oak when the students were voting for them. In 2018 and 2022 all of the new wards voted Labour except for Highters Heath, which was safely Conservative, and Druids Heath, where the Greens exploited the disaffection of the council tenants, and the lack of history of the new residents of Monyhull to win a surprise victory in 2018. This does represent a change historically. In parliamentary terms the old Selly Oak was Conservative until 1992, but the current seat is safely Labour, more due to changing politics and demography of city areas generally, than any change in boundaries. The MP is Steve McCabe - a Scot first elected in 1997 for Hall Green, who followed the bulk of his old seat into this constituency in 2010. He is a former social worker and low key backbencher.
Census data: owner-occupied 56% (451/575 in England & Wales), private rented 23% (144th), social rented 21% (126th).
: White 69%(472nd), Black 6%(115th), South Asian 13%(78th), Mixed 6%(50th), Other 7%(111th)
: Managerial & professional 40% (243rd), Routine & Semi-routine 30% (240th)
: Degree 32% (277th), Minimal qualifications 26% (363rd)
: Students 22% (16th), Over 65: 14% (469th)
Boundaries: The new seat is made up of 98% from Selly Oak, 2% from Hall Green, and 1% from Northfield
96% of the old Selly Oak seat is in the new one, with 4% going to Hall Green & Moseley.
2017 | % | 2019 | % | Notional | % | |
Labour | 30,386 | 62.9 | 27,714 | 56.0 | 26,936 | 55.7 |
Conservative | 15,629 | 31.9 | 15,300 | 30.9 | 15,291 | 31.6 |
Liberal Democrat | 1,644 | 3.4 | 3,169 | 6.4 | 3,018 | 6.2 |
Brexit | 1,436 | 2.9 | 1,319 | 2.7 | ||
Green | 876 | 1.8 | 1,848 | 3.7 | 1,783 | 3.7 |
| Majority | 15,207 | 31.0 | 12,414 | 25.1 | 11,645 | 24.1 |