Post by John Chanin on Oct 5, 2023 10:19:45 GMT
This constituency is based on Malvern Hills District Council, but this is not large enough for a seat of its own, and therefore has to be topped up by the south-west corner of Wychavon District. This amounts to about 20% of the seat and can be divided into 2 roughly equal parts. One is the town of Pershore. This is not a large town, but it is the headquarters of Wychavon District, and consequently has quite a few public sector workers. It also has quite a lot of social housing, and less managerial workers than average for both the District and the parliamentary seat. At a local level it is something of a Liberal Democrat stronghold. The other half is rural. Most of it consists of Bredon Hill - an outlier of the Jurassic Cotswolds with its hillfort and its folly on the summit, surrounded by plush villages like Elmley Castle, Overbury, Ashton-under-hill, and Bredon itself. These look to Evesham, and are a bit out of place in this constituency although they have been in it continuously. Like most such areas they are solidly middle-class, and solidly Conservative.
Almost half of the Malvern Hills section consists of the sprawling urban area of Malvern, tucked in to the east of the Precambrian ridge of the Malvern Hills themselves, which form the boundary with Herefordshire. This can be divided into three distinct parts - to the north Malvern Link, in the centre Great Malvern, and to the south the satellites of Malvern Common, Wyche, and Malvern Wells, with the large Three Counties Showground nearby. Malvern Link is best known as the home of Morgan motors, with its retro sports cars. To the south-east Pickersleigh ward is home to a large council estate, and is the only part of the seat where routine workers exceed managerial, and those with minimal qualifications exceed those with degrees. Great Malvern is the town centre, and site of the old spa, based on its 11th century priory, along with a statue of composer Edward Elgar, who came from Worcestershire. All three sections are decidedly up market as they climb up the steep slopes of the hills. This urban area has tended to the Liberal Democrats locally, with some recent activity from the Greens, and the Conservatives now have no local councillors in the town.
To the east of the town is the extensive flood plain of the river Severn flowing through the Triassic Vale of Worcester. This contains the small market town of Upton, with its history of flooding, and a string of villages in agricultural countryside. To the south is a remote and sparsely populated area bisected by the M50, which borders the Forest of Dean. To the north is a rural section containing many Worcester commuters, and in the far north-west, and a very long way from Bredon Hill is another small market town in the form of Tenbury Wells. As usual all these rural areas are mostly owner-occupied, and with middle-class demographics, and traditionally vote Conservative nationally and locally, although dissatisfaction with the council has led to most of the area now being represented by independents. Only the Tenbury area has stayed faithful to the Conservatives at a local level.
As the census figures show this is a well-educated middle-class constituency, wholly white, with a surprisingly high proportion of over 65s, and with little internal variation. It is a very safe Conservative seat, where the Liberal Democrats normally form the main opposition, although falling behind Labour in the post-coalition disaster. Historically (under the name of Bewdley, no longer in the seat) it was the base for former Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin before the war. The current MP, banker Harriet Baldwin, first elected in 2010, is no relation. Later the constituency, now named South Worcestershire, was represented by the eccentric Gerald Nabarro, who concealed his modest origins by being a parody of a toff. Evesham was removed to the new Mid Worcestershire constituency in 1983, leading to the present renaming. Worcestershire provided an unusually easy task for the Boundary Commission as the only change required was to move two wards from Mid Worcestershire to Redditch. This seat is entirely unchanged.
Census data: Owner-occupied 72% (115/575 in England & Wales), private rented 13% (520th), social rented 14% (315th).
: White 97%(78th), Black 0%(506th), South Asian 1%(486th), Mixed 1%(447th), Other 1%(504th)
: Managerial & professional 44% (157th), Routine & Semi-routine 22% (452nd)
: Degree level 38%(140th), Minimal qualifications 23%(443rd)
: Students 5% (436th), Over 65: 28% (21st)
Boundaries : The seat is unchanged
Almost half of the Malvern Hills section consists of the sprawling urban area of Malvern, tucked in to the east of the Precambrian ridge of the Malvern Hills themselves, which form the boundary with Herefordshire. This can be divided into three distinct parts - to the north Malvern Link, in the centre Great Malvern, and to the south the satellites of Malvern Common, Wyche, and Malvern Wells, with the large Three Counties Showground nearby. Malvern Link is best known as the home of Morgan motors, with its retro sports cars. To the south-east Pickersleigh ward is home to a large council estate, and is the only part of the seat where routine workers exceed managerial, and those with minimal qualifications exceed those with degrees. Great Malvern is the town centre, and site of the old spa, based on its 11th century priory, along with a statue of composer Edward Elgar, who came from Worcestershire. All three sections are decidedly up market as they climb up the steep slopes of the hills. This urban area has tended to the Liberal Democrats locally, with some recent activity from the Greens, and the Conservatives now have no local councillors in the town.
To the east of the town is the extensive flood plain of the river Severn flowing through the Triassic Vale of Worcester. This contains the small market town of Upton, with its history of flooding, and a string of villages in agricultural countryside. To the south is a remote and sparsely populated area bisected by the M50, which borders the Forest of Dean. To the north is a rural section containing many Worcester commuters, and in the far north-west, and a very long way from Bredon Hill is another small market town in the form of Tenbury Wells. As usual all these rural areas are mostly owner-occupied, and with middle-class demographics, and traditionally vote Conservative nationally and locally, although dissatisfaction with the council has led to most of the area now being represented by independents. Only the Tenbury area has stayed faithful to the Conservatives at a local level.
As the census figures show this is a well-educated middle-class constituency, wholly white, with a surprisingly high proportion of over 65s, and with little internal variation. It is a very safe Conservative seat, where the Liberal Democrats normally form the main opposition, although falling behind Labour in the post-coalition disaster. Historically (under the name of Bewdley, no longer in the seat) it was the base for former Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin before the war. The current MP, banker Harriet Baldwin, first elected in 2010, is no relation. Later the constituency, now named South Worcestershire, was represented by the eccentric Gerald Nabarro, who concealed his modest origins by being a parody of a toff. Evesham was removed to the new Mid Worcestershire constituency in 1983, leading to the present renaming. Worcestershire provided an unusually easy task for the Boundary Commission as the only change required was to move two wards from Mid Worcestershire to Redditch. This seat is entirely unchanged.
Census data: Owner-occupied 72% (115/575 in England & Wales), private rented 13% (520th), social rented 14% (315th).
: White 97%(78th), Black 0%(506th), South Asian 1%(486th), Mixed 1%(447th), Other 1%(504th)
: Managerial & professional 44% (157th), Routine & Semi-routine 22% (452nd)
: Degree level 38%(140th), Minimal qualifications 23%(443rd)
: Students 5% (436th), Over 65: 28% (21st)
Boundaries : The seat is unchanged
2017 | % | 2019 | % | |
Conservative | 34,703 | 61.5 | 34,909 | 60.7 |
Labour | 13,375 | 23.7 | 9,496 | 16.5 |
Liberal Democrat | 5,307 | 9.4 | 10,410 | 18.1 |
UKIP | 1,401 | 2.6 | ||
Green | 1,605 | 2.8 | 2,715 | 4.7 |
| Majority | 21,328 | 37.8 | 24,499 | 42.6 |