Post by John Chanin on Aug 4, 2023 19:30:01 GMT
Edgbaston has a reputation of being the least deprived and most middle-class of constituencies in Birmingham proper. This is not entirely undeserved, but there is rather more to the seat than that. Certainly Harborne and Edgbaston are very middle-class with high levels of managerial jobs and educational qualifications. Along with neighbouring Moseley these areas on the top of the range of low hills south of the city centre have even higher proportions of managerial workers than Sutton Coldfield. But there is quite a lot of social housing here, and lots of private renting, in Edgbaston particularly by students. Quinton is much more mixed, and Bartley Green on the far side of the Woodgate Country Park is a different world entirely. Noticeably this part of the city has a relatively low Muslim population.
Edgbaston forms the east end of the seat, running from the city centre at Five Ways down to the Bourn Brook. The south is entirely taken up with the enormous campus of Birmingham University, including its art gallery (the Barber Institute), a geology museum, and the mansion of Winterbourne House with its botanic garden. The campus includes some student housing, but most of the students live outside the seat in Bournbrook, or north of the main Hagley Road. Edgbaston also includes the main Birmingham Botanical Gardens, and the famous cricket ground on the banks of the river Rea, which traditionally formed the eastern boundary (although a segment by the river has been hived off into Ladywood). It has many fine large Victorian houses, as well as up market flats on the Calthorpe estate, favoured by professionals working in the city centre. Birmingham’s 2 blocks of mansion flats are in the ward, and there are a number of private schools. Rather counter-intuitively it also includes Birmingham’s red light district along the Hagley Road. There are also a number of ex-council blocks of flats close to the city centre, now run by a co-operative. Despite tiny majorities the Conservatives still consistently win the ward locally.
To the west of Edgbaston is Harborne. This is traditionally the most Conservative ward in Birmingham proper, the home of managers, business people, and professionals. It is also full of fine Victorian housing, particularly in the Beech Lanes area which sits opposite Warley Woods, with a smart high street which serves this part of Birmingham. However with private renting rising, and political change among the well educated, Harborne has turned increasingly Labour in local elections, and they won both seats here in 2022. This is the sort of middle class territory that used to be safely Conservative but is now the subject of close contest between Labour and Conservative as alignments change. Middle class people that choose to live in the inner city suburbs, although well off, and able to buy expensive houses, are increasingly Labour inclined, and those that aren’t tend to choose to live in suburbs on the edge of the city and commuter villages outside. Further west is Quinton, stretching out to the M5, which is a more ordinary slice of Birmingham, mostly inter-war, with higher owner-occupation, less managerial workers, and a more traditional form of political marginality. There is a significant amount of council housing, mostly quite pleasant, but also the recently improved Welsh House Farm estate, which appalled the consultants brought in to recommend a future for Birmingham’s council housing after the rejection of stock transfer.
Bartley Green, separated from the rest of the seat by the Woodgate Country Park, is one of Birmingham’s council estate wards, still over a third social housing despite decades of right to buy, with only half the managerial workers of Harborne. It has been one of the safest Conservative wards in Birmingham, demonstrating how politics have changed over the last 20 years, but also reflecting hard campaigning over a long period by the Lines family. Appropriately under the Conservative-Liberal coalition that ran the council between 2004 and 2012, John Lines was Chair of Housing. His retirement in 2022 led to a sharp swing to Labour, returning the ward to marginality, and demonstrating that there has always been a sizeable Labour vote here at general elections. There is also recent private housing here in Woodgate, jammed up against the M5, and the ward has more in common with Northfield, socially and geographically, which it formed part of prior to 1997, when it was added to the Edgbaston seat. Like the Northfield wards it is over two-thirds white. To the south is Bartley reservoir, and open country between here and Frankley.
Added to the undersized Edgbaston seat at the latest boundary review is the North Edgbaston ward. The name of this ward is a misnomer. It bears little resemblance to Edgbaston on the other side of the Hagley Road, the main road running west from the city centre. However it does contain the Edgbaston reservoir, and the area to the south of the reservoir is already in Edgbaston constituency. The Boundary Commission has a huge reluctance to split wards which share a place name, while gaily splitting communities where the ward names are distinctive without giving the matter a second thought. This area is again a different world, with high levels of private renting, students, and multi-occupation, and only 29% white. On the border with Smethwick is Bearwood - an area with a large Sikh population. North of the reservoir in the Rotton Park area there are streets of early 20th century terraces of small houses. There is modern low-rise housing in the north-eastern section around Icknield Port Road (the old port being on the Birmingham canal). Like the rest of the inner city, of which this area is part, there is a large Muslim population. The ward also includes half of Winson Green, north of the Dudley Road, with its African-Caribbean community. The addition of this area will push the seat further away from the Conservatives.
Overall despite Bartley Green, and the new addition from the inner city, this is a predominantly middle-class seat which has been swinging Labour forever. It was never Labour prior to 1997, and as recently as 1983 the Conservatives polled more than twice the votes of Labour. Even in 1966 they won comfortably. Bartley Green may have helped Labour nationally in 1997, despite its local vote for Conservatives, and German born Gisela Stuart won the seat for Labour. She continued to hold on at all subsequent elections, the Conservative hopes being ever dashed, but as perhaps the most prominent anti-EU campaigner on the Labour benches decided to stand down in 2017 before she was pushed. The new MP is former social worker Preet Gill, a Sikh, recently appointed as shadow spokesperson for International Development. The seat now looks unlikely to return to the Conservatives.
Census data: Owner-occupied 51% (496/575 in England & Wales), private rented 25% (108th), social rented 24% (73rd).
: White 54%(526th), Black 11%(44th), South Asian 18%(51st), Mixed 6%(43rd), Other 11%(55th)
: Managerial & professional 44% (148th), Routine & Semi-routine 28% (302nd)
: Degree 39% (125th), Minimal qualifications 27% (309th)
: Students 15% (39th), Over 65: 15% (450th)
: Muslim 16%(60th)
Boundaries: The new seat is made up of 91% from Edgbaston, and 9% from Ladywood
97% of the old Edgbaston seat is in the new one, with 2% going to Northfield, and 1% to Ladywood
Edgbaston forms the east end of the seat, running from the city centre at Five Ways down to the Bourn Brook. The south is entirely taken up with the enormous campus of Birmingham University, including its art gallery (the Barber Institute), a geology museum, and the mansion of Winterbourne House with its botanic garden. The campus includes some student housing, but most of the students live outside the seat in Bournbrook, or north of the main Hagley Road. Edgbaston also includes the main Birmingham Botanical Gardens, and the famous cricket ground on the banks of the river Rea, which traditionally formed the eastern boundary (although a segment by the river has been hived off into Ladywood). It has many fine large Victorian houses, as well as up market flats on the Calthorpe estate, favoured by professionals working in the city centre. Birmingham’s 2 blocks of mansion flats are in the ward, and there are a number of private schools. Rather counter-intuitively it also includes Birmingham’s red light district along the Hagley Road. There are also a number of ex-council blocks of flats close to the city centre, now run by a co-operative. Despite tiny majorities the Conservatives still consistently win the ward locally.
To the west of Edgbaston is Harborne. This is traditionally the most Conservative ward in Birmingham proper, the home of managers, business people, and professionals. It is also full of fine Victorian housing, particularly in the Beech Lanes area which sits opposite Warley Woods, with a smart high street which serves this part of Birmingham. However with private renting rising, and political change among the well educated, Harborne has turned increasingly Labour in local elections, and they won both seats here in 2022. This is the sort of middle class territory that used to be safely Conservative but is now the subject of close contest between Labour and Conservative as alignments change. Middle class people that choose to live in the inner city suburbs, although well off, and able to buy expensive houses, are increasingly Labour inclined, and those that aren’t tend to choose to live in suburbs on the edge of the city and commuter villages outside. Further west is Quinton, stretching out to the M5, which is a more ordinary slice of Birmingham, mostly inter-war, with higher owner-occupation, less managerial workers, and a more traditional form of political marginality. There is a significant amount of council housing, mostly quite pleasant, but also the recently improved Welsh House Farm estate, which appalled the consultants brought in to recommend a future for Birmingham’s council housing after the rejection of stock transfer.
Bartley Green, separated from the rest of the seat by the Woodgate Country Park, is one of Birmingham’s council estate wards, still over a third social housing despite decades of right to buy, with only half the managerial workers of Harborne. It has been one of the safest Conservative wards in Birmingham, demonstrating how politics have changed over the last 20 years, but also reflecting hard campaigning over a long period by the Lines family. Appropriately under the Conservative-Liberal coalition that ran the council between 2004 and 2012, John Lines was Chair of Housing. His retirement in 2022 led to a sharp swing to Labour, returning the ward to marginality, and demonstrating that there has always been a sizeable Labour vote here at general elections. There is also recent private housing here in Woodgate, jammed up against the M5, and the ward has more in common with Northfield, socially and geographically, which it formed part of prior to 1997, when it was added to the Edgbaston seat. Like the Northfield wards it is over two-thirds white. To the south is Bartley reservoir, and open country between here and Frankley.
Added to the undersized Edgbaston seat at the latest boundary review is the North Edgbaston ward. The name of this ward is a misnomer. It bears little resemblance to Edgbaston on the other side of the Hagley Road, the main road running west from the city centre. However it does contain the Edgbaston reservoir, and the area to the south of the reservoir is already in Edgbaston constituency. The Boundary Commission has a huge reluctance to split wards which share a place name, while gaily splitting communities where the ward names are distinctive without giving the matter a second thought. This area is again a different world, with high levels of private renting, students, and multi-occupation, and only 29% white. On the border with Smethwick is Bearwood - an area with a large Sikh population. North of the reservoir in the Rotton Park area there are streets of early 20th century terraces of small houses. There is modern low-rise housing in the north-eastern section around Icknield Port Road (the old port being on the Birmingham canal). Like the rest of the inner city, of which this area is part, there is a large Muslim population. The ward also includes half of Winson Green, north of the Dudley Road, with its African-Caribbean community. The addition of this area will push the seat further away from the Conservatives.
Overall despite Bartley Green, and the new addition from the inner city, this is a predominantly middle-class seat which has been swinging Labour forever. It was never Labour prior to 1997, and as recently as 1983 the Conservatives polled more than twice the votes of Labour. Even in 1966 they won comfortably. Bartley Green may have helped Labour nationally in 1997, despite its local vote for Conservatives, and German born Gisela Stuart won the seat for Labour. She continued to hold on at all subsequent elections, the Conservative hopes being ever dashed, but as perhaps the most prominent anti-EU campaigner on the Labour benches decided to stand down in 2017 before she was pushed. The new MP is former social worker Preet Gill, a Sikh, recently appointed as shadow spokesperson for International Development. The seat now looks unlikely to return to the Conservatives.
Census data: Owner-occupied 51% (496/575 in England & Wales), private rented 25% (108th), social rented 24% (73rd).
: White 54%(526th), Black 11%(44th), South Asian 18%(51st), Mixed 6%(43rd), Other 11%(55th)
: Managerial & professional 44% (148th), Routine & Semi-routine 28% (302nd)
: Degree 39% (125th), Minimal qualifications 27% (309th)
: Students 15% (39th), Over 65: 15% (450th)
: Muslim 16%(60th)
Boundaries: The new seat is made up of 91% from Edgbaston, and 9% from Ladywood
97% of the old Edgbaston seat is in the new one, with 2% going to Northfield, and 1% to Ladywood
2017 | % | 2019 | % | Notional | % | |
Labour | 24,124 | 55.3 | 21,217 | 50.1 | 23,858 | 52.3 |
Conservative | 17,207 | 39.5 | 15,603 | 36.9 | 16,167 | 35.5 |
Liberal Democrat | 1,564 | 3.6 | 3,349 | 7.9 | 3,306 | 7.3 |
Brexit | 1,047 | 2.5 | 1,096 | 2.4 | ||
Green | 562 | 1.3 | 1,112 | 2.6 | 1,172 | 2.6 |
Other | 155 | 0.4 | ||||
| Majority | 6,917 | 15.9 | 5,614 | 13.3 | 7,691 | 16.9 |