Post by YL on Aug 5, 2023 10:53:20 GMT
There is more than one River Rother, but the one whose valley has given its name to a Yorkshire Parliamentary constituency since 1918 is the one which rises in north east Derbyshire and flows through Chesterfield and then east of Sheffield to join the River Don at Rotherham. The constituency named after its valley has changed its boundaries quite significantly over the years, but since 1983 it has referred to the southern part of the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, south of that town and east of the city of Sheffield. It also contains a small part of the town of Rotherham. The most recent round of boundary changes made only minor alterations, but removed the parts of Bramley and the new Waverley development which were included (including the site of the Orgreave coking works) and slightly extends the part of Rotherham town included.
This is a mixed area of mining communities with more traditional rural villages and commuter elements; overall it is a constituency with demographics which are quite working class, with proportions in managerial and professional jobs and with degree level qualifications below average, but with quite high home ownership and less deprived than many former mining areas. It also has an older than average population, with the proportion in every age group over 50 being above average. Areas with this sort of demographics have moved more towards the Conservative Party in recent years, and indeed looking at both Westminster and local election results this is now the strongest part of South Yorkshire for that party. Labour did win the seat in 2024, but only narrowly.
The best known of the mining communities is Maltby, in the north-east of the constituency, the town which produced Fred Trueman. Memories of mining are more recent here than elsewhere, as Maltby Main colliery lasted as late as 2013. Much of the town, roughly corresponding to Maltby East ward, has a deprived and working class population, with several Lower Super Output Areas in the most deprived decile in England and Wales and very low proportions in middle class occupations and degrees. However, Maltby is not uniformly poor: the western part of the town, in Hellaby & Maltby West ward, is a bit better off and looks more like the rest of the constituency demographically.
South of Maltby, Dinnington is another town which owes most of its growth to mining. It also has a very deprived core in the areas where the original miners' housing was, but is generally a bit better off than Maltby, with more of a commuter element. Its urban area extends south to include the formerly separate villages of North and South Anston, which are one of the more middle class parts of the constituency. Their ward also contains the village of Woodsetts and a rural area near the Nottinghamshire border which includes Lindrick golf course, venue for the 1957 Ryder Cup, and the ward as a whole has a particularly high elderly population, with a lot of bungalows.
The south-west of the constituency is the part actually closest to the Rother and includes the Rother Valley Country Park; this is also the closest part to Sheffield, making it attractive to some commuters. East of the Country Park are the communities of Wales and Kiveton Park, and to the north is the small urban area of Aston-cum-Aughton, also including Swallownest. Although most of the area once known as Orgreave has gone, the small parish which retains the name, effectively a part of the Sheffield suburb of Woodhouse, is still in this constituency and forms its westernmost extension. There are also smaller villages, including Todwick, which is warded with Aston, and Harthill, which is in Wales ward.
North-west of Dinnington is Thurcroft. This is another mining village, and one of the most deprived parts of the constituency. However its ward is now something of a shotgun marriage, as the other part is the southern part of the suburban community of Wickersley, which is one of the more middle class parts of Rotherham borough, with particularly high areas of owner occupation, and overall the ward's demographics are quite typical of the constituency. The rest of the Wickersley area is not in this constituency.
Finally, since 2010 the constituency has included the ward called Sitwell, which is essentially the southern part of the town of Rotherham and includes Whiston and parts of Broom, Moorgate and, since the last ward boundary changes, Herringthorpe. This area is, together with neighbouring areas not in this constituency, essentially Rotherham town's middle class quarter and has traditionally been the Conservative Party's bastion in the area. The Moorgate and Broom areas of Sitwell ward are also the one part of this constituency with a notable non-white population.
Before 2012 the usual pattern in local elections was for the Conservatives to win in Sitwell and sometimes in the former Hellaby ward (which included southern Wickersley as well as much of the current Hellaby & Maltby West), while in very good years for them (such as 2008) they could make breakthroughs elsewhere. In 2014 they were completely supplanted as the opposition to Labour in Rotherham by UKIP, but more recently the shift of UKIP votes to the Conservatives has strengthened them. In the 2021 Rotherham election the Conservatives broke through, with only Wales ward not electing at least one Conservative with them even winning the two seats in Maltby East. In the 2024 local elections the Conservatives slipped back a little, but by the standards of that year they held up well, still winning the majority of seats in the constituency. (For comparison, on the same day in Penistone & Stocksbridge, another South Yorkshire constituency won by them in 2019, they failed to win a single seat.) Labour won both seats in Aughton & Swallownest, one out of two in each of Aston & Todwick and Maltby East and one out of three in Dinnington. Ex-Labour Independents won both seats in Wales, another Independent won one seat in Sitwell and the Lib Dems took one seat in Anston & Woodsetts, with all remaining seats being Conservative.
As far as Westminster elections are concerned, the constituency had voted Labour consistently since 1918, though under rather different boundaries before 1983. In 2010 unfavourable boundary changes (the addition of the Sitwell and south Wickersley areas) and the general swing saw Kevin Barron's majority reduced to just under 6000. UKIP took second place from the Tories in 2015, but then as in the local elections the UKIP votes shifted to the Conservatives. Barron retired in 2019, and the Labour vote fell sharply, with Alexander Stafford winning by over 6000 to become the constituency's first Conservative MP. Although he did end up being a one-term MP, the majority of the new Labour MP Jake Richards was only 998. The demographics are quite favourable to the modern Conservative Party and their strong local results and the close 2024 result suggest that this area not only can no longer be thought of as a safe Labour seat but perhaps even leans a little bit to the blue side.
2019 notional result (Rallings & Thrasher):
Con 20975 (46.1%)
Lab 14840 (32.6%)
Brexit Party 5314 (11.7%)
Lib Dem 2195 (4.8%)
Green 1124 (2.5%)
Other 1040 (2.3%)
Con majority 6135 (13.5%)
2024 result:
Jake Richards (Lab) 16023 (38.5%)
Alexander Stafford (Con) 15025 (36.1%)
Tony Harrison (Reform UK) 7679 (18.5%)
Paul Martin (Green) 1706 (4.1%)
Colin Taylor (Lib Dem) 1175 (2.8%)
This is a mixed area of mining communities with more traditional rural villages and commuter elements; overall it is a constituency with demographics which are quite working class, with proportions in managerial and professional jobs and with degree level qualifications below average, but with quite high home ownership and less deprived than many former mining areas. It also has an older than average population, with the proportion in every age group over 50 being above average. Areas with this sort of demographics have moved more towards the Conservative Party in recent years, and indeed looking at both Westminster and local election results this is now the strongest part of South Yorkshire for that party. Labour did win the seat in 2024, but only narrowly.
The best known of the mining communities is Maltby, in the north-east of the constituency, the town which produced Fred Trueman. Memories of mining are more recent here than elsewhere, as Maltby Main colliery lasted as late as 2013. Much of the town, roughly corresponding to Maltby East ward, has a deprived and working class population, with several Lower Super Output Areas in the most deprived decile in England and Wales and very low proportions in middle class occupations and degrees. However, Maltby is not uniformly poor: the western part of the town, in Hellaby & Maltby West ward, is a bit better off and looks more like the rest of the constituency demographically.
South of Maltby, Dinnington is another town which owes most of its growth to mining. It also has a very deprived core in the areas where the original miners' housing was, but is generally a bit better off than Maltby, with more of a commuter element. Its urban area extends south to include the formerly separate villages of North and South Anston, which are one of the more middle class parts of the constituency. Their ward also contains the village of Woodsetts and a rural area near the Nottinghamshire border which includes Lindrick golf course, venue for the 1957 Ryder Cup, and the ward as a whole has a particularly high elderly population, with a lot of bungalows.
The south-west of the constituency is the part actually closest to the Rother and includes the Rother Valley Country Park; this is also the closest part to Sheffield, making it attractive to some commuters. East of the Country Park are the communities of Wales and Kiveton Park, and to the north is the small urban area of Aston-cum-Aughton, also including Swallownest. Although most of the area once known as Orgreave has gone, the small parish which retains the name, effectively a part of the Sheffield suburb of Woodhouse, is still in this constituency and forms its westernmost extension. There are also smaller villages, including Todwick, which is warded with Aston, and Harthill, which is in Wales ward.
North-west of Dinnington is Thurcroft. This is another mining village, and one of the most deprived parts of the constituency. However its ward is now something of a shotgun marriage, as the other part is the southern part of the suburban community of Wickersley, which is one of the more middle class parts of Rotherham borough, with particularly high areas of owner occupation, and overall the ward's demographics are quite typical of the constituency. The rest of the Wickersley area is not in this constituency.
Finally, since 2010 the constituency has included the ward called Sitwell, which is essentially the southern part of the town of Rotherham and includes Whiston and parts of Broom, Moorgate and, since the last ward boundary changes, Herringthorpe. This area is, together with neighbouring areas not in this constituency, essentially Rotherham town's middle class quarter and has traditionally been the Conservative Party's bastion in the area. The Moorgate and Broom areas of Sitwell ward are also the one part of this constituency with a notable non-white population.
Before 2012 the usual pattern in local elections was for the Conservatives to win in Sitwell and sometimes in the former Hellaby ward (which included southern Wickersley as well as much of the current Hellaby & Maltby West), while in very good years for them (such as 2008) they could make breakthroughs elsewhere. In 2014 they were completely supplanted as the opposition to Labour in Rotherham by UKIP, but more recently the shift of UKIP votes to the Conservatives has strengthened them. In the 2021 Rotherham election the Conservatives broke through, with only Wales ward not electing at least one Conservative with them even winning the two seats in Maltby East. In the 2024 local elections the Conservatives slipped back a little, but by the standards of that year they held up well, still winning the majority of seats in the constituency. (For comparison, on the same day in Penistone & Stocksbridge, another South Yorkshire constituency won by them in 2019, they failed to win a single seat.) Labour won both seats in Aughton & Swallownest, one out of two in each of Aston & Todwick and Maltby East and one out of three in Dinnington. Ex-Labour Independents won both seats in Wales, another Independent won one seat in Sitwell and the Lib Dems took one seat in Anston & Woodsetts, with all remaining seats being Conservative.
As far as Westminster elections are concerned, the constituency had voted Labour consistently since 1918, though under rather different boundaries before 1983. In 2010 unfavourable boundary changes (the addition of the Sitwell and south Wickersley areas) and the general swing saw Kevin Barron's majority reduced to just under 6000. UKIP took second place from the Tories in 2015, but then as in the local elections the UKIP votes shifted to the Conservatives. Barron retired in 2019, and the Labour vote fell sharply, with Alexander Stafford winning by over 6000 to become the constituency's first Conservative MP. Although he did end up being a one-term MP, the majority of the new Labour MP Jake Richards was only 998. The demographics are quite favourable to the modern Conservative Party and their strong local results and the close 2024 result suggest that this area not only can no longer be thought of as a safe Labour seat but perhaps even leans a little bit to the blue side.
2019 notional result (Rallings & Thrasher):
Con 20975 (46.1%)
Lab 14840 (32.6%)
Brexit Party 5314 (11.7%)
Lib Dem 2195 (4.8%)
Green 1124 (2.5%)
Other 1040 (2.3%)
Con majority 6135 (13.5%)
2024 result:
Jake Richards (Lab) 16023 (38.5%)
Alexander Stafford (Con) 15025 (36.1%)
Tony Harrison (Reform UK) 7679 (18.5%)
Paul Martin (Green) 1706 (4.1%)
Colin Taylor (Lib Dem) 1175 (2.8%)
