Post by andrewp on Oct 3, 2023 15:10:44 GMT
South West Devon is a bland name for this seat which until 2024 covers the territory immediately to the East of the city of Plymouth. It’s a mixture of comfortable suburbia and rural territory and was formed in the fifth periodic review which was enacted prior to the 1997 general election when the City of Plymouth council area was no longer entitled to 3 constituencies wholly within its boundaries. A constituency needed to be formed with territory from outside of the city boundary. The logical territory from Plymouth City to go into a cross boundary constituency was that East of the River Plym – containing Plympton and Plymstock, independent commuter towns across the River from the City. They were paired with the western half of the affluent South Hams district to make this affluent semi urban semi rural constituency.
The boundary changes that come into force for the 2024 general election are relatively minor but change the geographical shape of this constituency. The main settlements remain Plympton, Plymstock and Ivybridge. About 3500 electors in the east of the constituency around Modbury and Bigbury on Sea in the South Hams are transferred back to the constituency based on Totnes, now named South Devon. In come about 6000 voters immediately to the North of Plymouth city around Yelverton and the South Western edge of Dartmoor and stretching nearly as far as Princetown in the middle of the moor. These are the 2 West Devon district council wards of Buckland Monachorum and Burrator. The geography of this constituency moves therefore more to sit to the North and East of Plymouth rather than purely the East. Both the areas leaving and joining this seat are traditionally politically strongly Conservative and therefore there is no significant change to the notional majority here.
House prices are high compared to the city here, and unlike the city seats, this seat is in the top 100 constituencies nationally for the percentage of people aged over 65’s. This seat is 95.6% white British and is also 78% owner occupied, putting the seat in the top 20 most owner occupied constituencies.
Plympton and Plymstock were quite small villages well into the twentieth century, but have grown into middle class commuter towns, albeit ones with modern shopping precincts as ‘town centres’. They are heavily owner occupied, and more affluent than any of the wards in the city West of the Plym. Plympton had nearly always elected Conservatives to the city council with the exception of Labour winning in their 1995 miracle, a couple of Lib Dem wins in pre coalition years, and then the Greens breaking through in one of the wards- Chaddlewood to win in 2022 and in a January 2023 by election. Plymstock elected Labour councillors in 1995 and 1997, but it too had a solid Conservative history apart from those years. The Conservative local election disaster in Plymouth in 2023 spread as far as Plympton and Plymstock. In Plympton, ex Conservatives standing as Independents comfortably defended their seats in Erle and St Mary Wards. In Plymstock, Labour gained Dunstone, whilst the Conservatives registered their only win in the City in Radford. Labour then gained a second seat in Dunstone in a July 2023 by election caused by the death of a veteran Conservative councillor.
Following the Conservative meltdown in Plymouth, the city councillors from Plympton and Plymstock are currently 7 Conservatives, 2 Labour, 2 Green and 2 Independents, having been a full slate of 13 Conservatives as recently as 2019. The South Hams and West Devon wards elected 10 Liberal Democrats, 3 Conservatives and 2 Independents in 2023.
In general elections Plympton and Plymstock have voted comfortably for the Conservative party with Labour in second place. These two towns have looked in nearly every direction for partners in parliamentary constituencies and have been represented by 2 very colourful MP’s. Prior to 1974, they were part of the Tavistock constituency, which stretched from here at the southern coast almost as far as the north coast of Devon, and was Michael Heseltine’s first constituency. That constituency was effectively abolished in the boundary changes of that year and Heseltine didn’t seek nomination for any of the successor constituencies, preferring to seek a berth nearer London. Plympton and Plymstock were then paired with the eastern Labour inclined wards of Plymouth in the semi marginal Plymouth Sutton seat that sent Alan Clark to parliament for 18 years.
After Plympton and Plymstock, the next largest town here is Ivybridge some nine miles to the East on the A38. Ivybridge is also largely a twentieth century town, growing from a population of 1500 in 1921 to 12,000 today. All three of the largest towns in the seat are newish towns with comfortable but fairly bland suburbia.
The rest of the South Hams section includes the Southern edge of Dartmoor and the Creekside and yachting communities of Newton Ferrers and Noss Mayo. There is serious wealth in this wonderful coastal stretch of the South Hams.
The less colourful Gary Streeter followed Alan Clark as MP for Plymouth Sutton in 1992, and then moved to South West Devon on its inception in 1997. Streeter was originally elected as an SDP councillor in Plymouth in 1986 but defected to the Conservatives whilst serving on the council. He won the inaugural contest in that disastrous year for his party by 7,397. The Conservative majority here has often been boosted by a split opposition- with Labour polling second in Plymstock and Plympton and the Lib Dem’s polling second in the South Hams. Labour was second in 1997 and 2001, the Lib Dems in 2005 and 2010, and Labour again since then. The seat is estimated to have voted 55% leave. Streeter achieved his largest ever vote share of 62% and majority of 21430 in 2019. In the event of a poor or even disastrous result for the Conservatives in the first contest on these new boundaries, its looks likely that they would hold this seat due to the difficulty in another party looking like the obvious sole challenger. Gary Streeter announced his retirement in 2022 and Plymstock councillor Rebecca Smith has been chosen by the Conservatives to defend the seat.
The boundary changes that come into force for the 2024 general election are relatively minor but change the geographical shape of this constituency. The main settlements remain Plympton, Plymstock and Ivybridge. About 3500 electors in the east of the constituency around Modbury and Bigbury on Sea in the South Hams are transferred back to the constituency based on Totnes, now named South Devon. In come about 6000 voters immediately to the North of Plymouth city around Yelverton and the South Western edge of Dartmoor and stretching nearly as far as Princetown in the middle of the moor. These are the 2 West Devon district council wards of Buckland Monachorum and Burrator. The geography of this constituency moves therefore more to sit to the North and East of Plymouth rather than purely the East. Both the areas leaving and joining this seat are traditionally politically strongly Conservative and therefore there is no significant change to the notional majority here.
House prices are high compared to the city here, and unlike the city seats, this seat is in the top 100 constituencies nationally for the percentage of people aged over 65’s. This seat is 95.6% white British and is also 78% owner occupied, putting the seat in the top 20 most owner occupied constituencies.
Plympton and Plymstock were quite small villages well into the twentieth century, but have grown into middle class commuter towns, albeit ones with modern shopping precincts as ‘town centres’. They are heavily owner occupied, and more affluent than any of the wards in the city West of the Plym. Plympton had nearly always elected Conservatives to the city council with the exception of Labour winning in their 1995 miracle, a couple of Lib Dem wins in pre coalition years, and then the Greens breaking through in one of the wards- Chaddlewood to win in 2022 and in a January 2023 by election. Plymstock elected Labour councillors in 1995 and 1997, but it too had a solid Conservative history apart from those years. The Conservative local election disaster in Plymouth in 2023 spread as far as Plympton and Plymstock. In Plympton, ex Conservatives standing as Independents comfortably defended their seats in Erle and St Mary Wards. In Plymstock, Labour gained Dunstone, whilst the Conservatives registered their only win in the City in Radford. Labour then gained a second seat in Dunstone in a July 2023 by election caused by the death of a veteran Conservative councillor.
Following the Conservative meltdown in Plymouth, the city councillors from Plympton and Plymstock are currently 7 Conservatives, 2 Labour, 2 Green and 2 Independents, having been a full slate of 13 Conservatives as recently as 2019. The South Hams and West Devon wards elected 10 Liberal Democrats, 3 Conservatives and 2 Independents in 2023.
In general elections Plympton and Plymstock have voted comfortably for the Conservative party with Labour in second place. These two towns have looked in nearly every direction for partners in parliamentary constituencies and have been represented by 2 very colourful MP’s. Prior to 1974, they were part of the Tavistock constituency, which stretched from here at the southern coast almost as far as the north coast of Devon, and was Michael Heseltine’s first constituency. That constituency was effectively abolished in the boundary changes of that year and Heseltine didn’t seek nomination for any of the successor constituencies, preferring to seek a berth nearer London. Plympton and Plymstock were then paired with the eastern Labour inclined wards of Plymouth in the semi marginal Plymouth Sutton seat that sent Alan Clark to parliament for 18 years.
After Plympton and Plymstock, the next largest town here is Ivybridge some nine miles to the East on the A38. Ivybridge is also largely a twentieth century town, growing from a population of 1500 in 1921 to 12,000 today. All three of the largest towns in the seat are newish towns with comfortable but fairly bland suburbia.
The rest of the South Hams section includes the Southern edge of Dartmoor and the Creekside and yachting communities of Newton Ferrers and Noss Mayo. There is serious wealth in this wonderful coastal stretch of the South Hams.
The less colourful Gary Streeter followed Alan Clark as MP for Plymouth Sutton in 1992, and then moved to South West Devon on its inception in 1997. Streeter was originally elected as an SDP councillor in Plymouth in 1986 but defected to the Conservatives whilst serving on the council. He won the inaugural contest in that disastrous year for his party by 7,397. The Conservative majority here has often been boosted by a split opposition- with Labour polling second in Plymstock and Plympton and the Lib Dem’s polling second in the South Hams. Labour was second in 1997 and 2001, the Lib Dems in 2005 and 2010, and Labour again since then. The seat is estimated to have voted 55% leave. Streeter achieved his largest ever vote share of 62% and majority of 21430 in 2019. In the event of a poor or even disastrous result for the Conservatives in the first contest on these new boundaries, its looks likely that they would hold this seat due to the difficulty in another party looking like the obvious sole challenger. Gary Streeter announced his retirement in 2022 and Plymstock councillor Rebecca Smith has been chosen by the Conservatives to defend the seat.
