Post by John Chanin on Aug 6, 2023 9:23:05 GMT
Perry Barr is the north-west seat in Birmingham. It is divided into 2 distinct and very different halves. The larger is the inner city, with its high proportion of ethnic minorities (white only around 10%), low level of educational qualifications, and high levels of deprivation. The smaller is suburban, much better off and ethnically mixed, unlike most of Birmingham. The boundary changes have shifted the balance between the two halves, with more of the inner city coming into the seat, in the form of Aston, and some of the suburban component moving into Erdington. This has changed the character of the seat, but not its safe Labour status.
The inner city can be divided into two distinct areas. On the western boundary of the city is Handsworth, north of the main Soho Road with its shopping centre, and clustered round its fine Victorian park. This, together with Birchfield to the east, is the heart of the long settled Caribbean community in Birmingham. However today there is a larger asian population here, mostly muslim, but with a sizeable sikh component spilling over from their black country stronghold. This has spread out from an early settlement area in the cramped terraces of Lozells, at the south of the seat. Handsworth is characterised by lots of streets with small terraced housing dating back to the beginning of the last century. Matthew Boulton’s (of the £50 note) original manufactury was in Handsworth. To the east of a railway line is Aston. The southern ward of Lozells wins the prize for the lowest white percentage in the city (6.2%). This area was the centre of the 2004 riots, when tensions between the long-settled black population, and the incoming muslim population, came to a head around rumours of a rape of a young black girl. Birchfield is more prosperous and has some larger houses, as well as the ubiquitous terraces of small houses, and higher levels of owner-occupation. It is noticeably more suburban in the north, with inter-war semis, as it borders Handsworth Wood. The famous athletics club, Birchfield Harriers, is actually based in Perry Barr on the other side of the railway line. There is little council housing here - the significant levels of social housing are mostly housing association. Locally speaking like the rest of the inner city this area is overwhelmingly Labour. Newly coming in from Ladywood is Aston ward, famous for the Villa Park football ground. Opposite is the wonderful Jacobean mansion of Aston Hall. In the north, alongside the river Tame, Witton is low-lying old terraced housing liable to flooding. The streets of private housing to the west and south west of the football ground consist of old and inter-war terraced houses - this is a solidly asian muslim area. The southern end of the ward is formed of a large modern low-rise council estate. With its asian owner-occupiers Aston is lower for deprivation. Aston provides some political variety as it has a history of Liberal Democrat representation, and they won a surprise victory here at the 2022 council elections. It was also the epicentre of the 2004 ballot rigging scandal which saw elected Labour councillors disqualified.
Handsworth Wood to the north is very different. This is an expansive suburban area on the south and east side of Handsworth golf course, which forms part of the Sandwell valley with its country park (and the M5), which separates the boroughs here, and gave its name to Sandwell borough. Next to Handsworth are larger houses on tree lined streets. Further north there are inter war semis, and further north still there are a lot of post-war developments in the Hamstead area. The majority of the housing is owner-occupied, but the main feature of the area is the large Sikh population - around a quarter, and higher than the muslim population. Handsworth Wood is unusual in a very segregated city, for being very mixed. It is a favoured destination for black families made good, moving out of the inner city, and increasingly too for Kashmiris and Pakistanis, while retaining a significant though declining white population. This area would have formed the majority of the Conservative vote in the old Handsworth seat, once the safe base of senior Conservative minister Edward Boyle. However immigration and the decline of Chamberlain conservatism had turned it Labour before the incorporation of most of it into Perry Barr in 1997. The present ward is safely Labour, without being as overwhelmingly so as Handsworth.
Handsworth Wood is separated from Perry Barr and Great Barr by the river Tame, and the railway to Walsall which runs alongside it, and there is just one road connecting the areas. Perry Barr is the southern part, running northwards from the shopping mall, greyhound track, and the new wholesale markets by Perry Barr station on the border with the inner city. The housing forms a narrow corridor between the flood plain of the Tame, and Perry Park, which contains the Alexander Stadium, now redeveloped for the Commonwealth Games into the country’s main purpose built athletics stadium. A large new residential area is growing up south of the park on what was to be the athletes village. The existing housing is pleasant tree-lined streets of inter-war semis. North of the Tame Valley canal the housing is similar but mostly post-war, particularly to the west of the Walsall Road which bisects the ward. The only real variety is part of the immediate post-war low-rise Perry Beeches council estate alongside the M6. The ward continues up to the largely invisible boundary with the disconnected area of Sandwell, known generically as Great Barr, by the Scott Arms shopping centre. Perry Barr is solidly owner-occupied, with virtually no social housing. It is not however particularly wealthy, with a high level of intermediate occupations. Like Handsworth Wood this is a mixed area - around 40% white with significant both black and asian populations. All in all it is a modestly prosperous suburban area, which has been a Liberal Democrat stronghold since the beginning of the century, despite losing their Great Barr base over the border in Sandwell. Lastly, north of the M6, which forms another major barrier, is Oscott. Only part of the ward is now in Perry Barr. It has a short border with Sutton Coldfield in the north, and a long one on the north-west with with the Walsall ward of Pheasey, which is geographically speaking an extension of Birmingham, with open country between it and other parts of Walsall. The area contains modest terraced and semi-detached housing with little post-war development, mostly owner-occupied. The ward is marginal and represents the only Conservative area of strength in the constituency.
Nationally this very heterogeneous seat has been safely Labour since it took on roughly its present form in 1983. The swap of Handsworth Wood for Kingstanding in 1997 made little political difference, although substantially increasing both the ethnic minority share, and the proportion in managerial jobs. The latest change further increases the ethnic minority preponderance, and this is now the third least white constituency in the whole country, and one of the most working class. The MP is Kashmir born Khalid Mahmood, first elected in 2001 when he was the first muslim MP in England.
Census data: Owner-occupied 53% (483/575 in England & Wales), private rented 24% (124th), social rented 23% (84th).
: White 21%(573rd), Black 17%(26th), South Asian 49%(6th), Mixed 4%(139th), Other 9%(73rd)
: Managerial & professional 26% (556th), Routine & Semi-routine 40% (25th)
: Degree 25% (493rd), Minimal qualifications 40% (8th)
: Students 13% (50th), Over 65: 11% (530th)
: Muslim 43% (9th), Sikh 9.5% (9th)
Boundaries: The new seat is made up of 80% from Perry Barr, and 20% from Ladywood
83% of the old Perry Barr seat is in the new one, with 17% going to Erdington
The inner city can be divided into two distinct areas. On the western boundary of the city is Handsworth, north of the main Soho Road with its shopping centre, and clustered round its fine Victorian park. This, together with Birchfield to the east, is the heart of the long settled Caribbean community in Birmingham. However today there is a larger asian population here, mostly muslim, but with a sizeable sikh component spilling over from their black country stronghold. This has spread out from an early settlement area in the cramped terraces of Lozells, at the south of the seat. Handsworth is characterised by lots of streets with small terraced housing dating back to the beginning of the last century. Matthew Boulton’s (of the £50 note) original manufactury was in Handsworth. To the east of a railway line is Aston. The southern ward of Lozells wins the prize for the lowest white percentage in the city (6.2%). This area was the centre of the 2004 riots, when tensions between the long-settled black population, and the incoming muslim population, came to a head around rumours of a rape of a young black girl. Birchfield is more prosperous and has some larger houses, as well as the ubiquitous terraces of small houses, and higher levels of owner-occupation. It is noticeably more suburban in the north, with inter-war semis, as it borders Handsworth Wood. The famous athletics club, Birchfield Harriers, is actually based in Perry Barr on the other side of the railway line. There is little council housing here - the significant levels of social housing are mostly housing association. Locally speaking like the rest of the inner city this area is overwhelmingly Labour. Newly coming in from Ladywood is Aston ward, famous for the Villa Park football ground. Opposite is the wonderful Jacobean mansion of Aston Hall. In the north, alongside the river Tame, Witton is low-lying old terraced housing liable to flooding. The streets of private housing to the west and south west of the football ground consist of old and inter-war terraced houses - this is a solidly asian muslim area. The southern end of the ward is formed of a large modern low-rise council estate. With its asian owner-occupiers Aston is lower for deprivation. Aston provides some political variety as it has a history of Liberal Democrat representation, and they won a surprise victory here at the 2022 council elections. It was also the epicentre of the 2004 ballot rigging scandal which saw elected Labour councillors disqualified.
Handsworth Wood to the north is very different. This is an expansive suburban area on the south and east side of Handsworth golf course, which forms part of the Sandwell valley with its country park (and the M5), which separates the boroughs here, and gave its name to Sandwell borough. Next to Handsworth are larger houses on tree lined streets. Further north there are inter war semis, and further north still there are a lot of post-war developments in the Hamstead area. The majority of the housing is owner-occupied, but the main feature of the area is the large Sikh population - around a quarter, and higher than the muslim population. Handsworth Wood is unusual in a very segregated city, for being very mixed. It is a favoured destination for black families made good, moving out of the inner city, and increasingly too for Kashmiris and Pakistanis, while retaining a significant though declining white population. This area would have formed the majority of the Conservative vote in the old Handsworth seat, once the safe base of senior Conservative minister Edward Boyle. However immigration and the decline of Chamberlain conservatism had turned it Labour before the incorporation of most of it into Perry Barr in 1997. The present ward is safely Labour, without being as overwhelmingly so as Handsworth.
Handsworth Wood is separated from Perry Barr and Great Barr by the river Tame, and the railway to Walsall which runs alongside it, and there is just one road connecting the areas. Perry Barr is the southern part, running northwards from the shopping mall, greyhound track, and the new wholesale markets by Perry Barr station on the border with the inner city. The housing forms a narrow corridor between the flood plain of the Tame, and Perry Park, which contains the Alexander Stadium, now redeveloped for the Commonwealth Games into the country’s main purpose built athletics stadium. A large new residential area is growing up south of the park on what was to be the athletes village. The existing housing is pleasant tree-lined streets of inter-war semis. North of the Tame Valley canal the housing is similar but mostly post-war, particularly to the west of the Walsall Road which bisects the ward. The only real variety is part of the immediate post-war low-rise Perry Beeches council estate alongside the M6. The ward continues up to the largely invisible boundary with the disconnected area of Sandwell, known generically as Great Barr, by the Scott Arms shopping centre. Perry Barr is solidly owner-occupied, with virtually no social housing. It is not however particularly wealthy, with a high level of intermediate occupations. Like Handsworth Wood this is a mixed area - around 40% white with significant both black and asian populations. All in all it is a modestly prosperous suburban area, which has been a Liberal Democrat stronghold since the beginning of the century, despite losing their Great Barr base over the border in Sandwell. Lastly, north of the M6, which forms another major barrier, is Oscott. Only part of the ward is now in Perry Barr. It has a short border with Sutton Coldfield in the north, and a long one on the north-west with with the Walsall ward of Pheasey, which is geographically speaking an extension of Birmingham, with open country between it and other parts of Walsall. The area contains modest terraced and semi-detached housing with little post-war development, mostly owner-occupied. The ward is marginal and represents the only Conservative area of strength in the constituency.
Nationally this very heterogeneous seat has been safely Labour since it took on roughly its present form in 1983. The swap of Handsworth Wood for Kingstanding in 1997 made little political difference, although substantially increasing both the ethnic minority share, and the proportion in managerial jobs. The latest change further increases the ethnic minority preponderance, and this is now the third least white constituency in the whole country, and one of the most working class. The MP is Kashmir born Khalid Mahmood, first elected in 2001 when he was the first muslim MP in England.
Census data: Owner-occupied 53% (483/575 in England & Wales), private rented 24% (124th), social rented 23% (84th).
: White 21%(573rd), Black 17%(26th), South Asian 49%(6th), Mixed 4%(139th), Other 9%(73rd)
: Managerial & professional 26% (556th), Routine & Semi-routine 40% (25th)
: Degree 25% (493rd), Minimal qualifications 40% (8th)
: Students 13% (50th), Over 65: 11% (530th)
: Muslim 43% (9th), Sikh 9.5% (9th)
Boundaries: The new seat is made up of 80% from Perry Barr, and 20% from Ladywood
83% of the old Perry Barr seat is in the new one, with 17% going to Erdington
2017 | % | 2019 | % | Notional | % | |
Labour | 30,109 | 68.1 | 26,594 | 63.1 | 31,907 | 68.0 |
Conservative | 11,726 | 26.5 | 11,277 | 26.8 | 9,582 | 20.4 |
Liberal Democrat | 1,080 | 2.4 | 1,901 | 4.5 | 3,062 | 6.5 |
Brexit | 1,382 | 3.3 | 1,333 | 2.8 | ||
Green | 591 | 1.3 | 845 | 2.0 | 883 | 1.9 |
Other | 691 | 1.5 | 148 | 0.4 | 148 | 0.3 |
| Majority | 18,383 | 41.6 | 15,317 | 36.3 | 22,325 | 47.6 |
