Wells and Mendip Hills
Nov 12, 2023 12:18:59 GMT
Pete Whitehead, Robert Waller, and 3 more like this
Post by andrewp on Nov 12, 2023 12:18:59 GMT
With credit to @peoplelikewe for the original Wells profile which forms the basis for this one
The constituency of Wells in the North West of the county of Somerset existed from 1295 to 1868 as a two seat borough constituency and was then revived again in 1885 as a single member constituency albeit in different guises to it’s current state. It is a constituency that stretches from the northern edges of the flat marshlands of the Somerset levels in the centre of the county northwards into the Mendip Hills. It is mainly a rural constituency and becomes more rural in the boundary changes that will come into force for the 2024 general election.
The largest settlement in the constituency is indeed the city of Wells ( population 12000) which of course is known for its famous cathedral. It is often described as England’s smallest city but is actually second as that honour goes to the City of London. To the North of Wells you have the Mendip Hills, amongst the foothills of which are the settlements of Axbridge, famous for King John’s Hunting Lodge which is now a museum and Cheddar known for the Cheddar Gorge on the Northern edge of the village, caves and of course it’s name has been given to the famous cheese. Wookey Hole caves are also found in this constituency.
To the east of Wells you have the second largest town in the constituency - the less affluent Shepton Mallet ( population 11000).The town lies in the southern foothills of the Mendip Hills, and grew on the back of the wool trade in the 17th Century. To the West of Wells is Wedmore, known sometimes as the Isle of Wedmore as the village is situated on a ( slightly!) higher stretch of land than the surrounding levels. Wedmore is a lovely place to live and recently was found to have the highest house prices in Somerset.
The site of the Glastonbury music and arts festival, at Pilton, and which is nearer to Shepton Mallet than Glastonbury, is in this constituency and brings 250,000 people onto the fields in most Junes. Would the festival have grown like it has if it had more accurately been named as Shepton Mallet rather than Glastonbury?!
The boundaries of the Wells constituency have remained largely unchanged since 1983 but that is about to change. Somerset’s constituencies are all a little on the large side so change was required. The most obvious change here is the change of name from plain Wells to Wells and Mendip Hills. Now, the casual observer or reader may have noticed that the constituency already contained quite a lot of the Mendip Hills so is this just one of those sops to local opinion to mention everywhere? Well, yes and no. It may surprise some people than only just over half ( 52.4%) of the electorate in the ‘old’ Wells constituency is in this new one.
Two sizeable chunks of electorate containing most of the larger towns in the old Wells constituency are removed. Firstly about 20,000 voters along the Bristol Channel coast in Burnham on Sea, Highbridge, Berrow and Brean are lost to the Bridgwater constituency. In addition the towns of Glastonbury and Street ( combined population 17,000) are lost to the Glastonbury and Somerton constituency.
The remaining half of the Wells constituency is then topped up by firstly crossing local authority borders into North Somerset. About 30% of this new constituency ( or 20000 electors) is new territory drawn broadly from the other ( North) side of the Mendip Hills and broadly containing a strip of territory, between Weston Super Mare and Bristol and containing the large commuter villages of Yatton ( population 7500) and Congresbury (3500) who move from the Weston Super Mare and North Somerset constituencies. The inclusion of Mendip Hills in the constituency title is an attempt to recognise the inclusion of this area. Mendip Hills is an ill fitting name for this area, although ‘ Wells and some villages near Weston’ probably wouldn’t fly. Finally around 4000 electors come into this seat from Bridgwater from the affluent villages in the Polden Hills which now form the Southern boundary of this constituency.
Politically, almost all of these boundary changes favour the Conservatives over the Liberal Democrats. Glastonbury and Street were probably the strongest part of the Wells constituency for the Liberal Democrats. Burnham and Highbridge, which depart, would vote Conservative at general elections, although not overwhelmingly so. All of the territory joining the constituency would have favoured the Conservatives in 2019. The net of these changes should be worth at least 4000 votes to the Conservative majority here.
Demographically, this is a very nice part of rural England. Tourism, agriculture, retail, transportation and retail are the main forms of employment within the constituency. 26.7% of the constituency is aged over 65 and a further 23.2% are in the 50- 64 age group, placing this constituency in the top 50 nationwide for both of those age groups. It is also in the top 50 nationally for owner occupation with 76.4% of properties being owner occupied and the constituency is 97.2% white. This is a more affluent constituency than neighbouring Weston-super-Mare.
The constituency now spreads across two Unitary authorities. Most of the constituency ( 70%) is now part of the Somerset unitary authority. At the first elections to that authority in 2022, the Liberal Democrats did very well and some of their best results in the county were in the divisions in this constituency. They beat the Conservatives by over 2:1 in Wells itself where Tessa Munt, ex MP and current Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, was re elected and they also won in Cheddar. They won in the rural Mendip Hills division, Mendip West and the King Alfred division, which is based on Wedmore. Some of these were won by the party for the first time in a long time. The Conservatives won in the rural divisions of Brent and Huntspill. Shepton Mallet split its representation between the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives. In the 2023 elections to North Somerset council, the Conservatives fared even worse in the wards new to this constituency. The Greens won Banwell & Winscombe and Congresbury. The Liberal Democrats won Blagdon & Churchill and Yatton elected an Independent and a Liberal Democrat.
The constituency has nearly always elected Conservative MPs in it’s modern guise aside from 1906 to January 1910, 1923-1924 and 2010-2015 where Liberal and in it’s current guise Liberal Democrat MPs were elected. The current MP is James Heappey who is Minister for the Armed Forces and since his election in 2015 has managed to boost his majority albeit slowly from 7,585 in 2015 to 9,991 in 2019. The former MP and the Liberal Democrat candidate at each election since 2005 Tessa Munt does have a personal vote, and has pushed hard to reclaim her position as MP and is a known figure in the area.
The Wells constituency has been one of the longest running continuous Conservative/ Liberal Democrat marginals, Since February 1974 whilst the Liberal Democrats have only won once, in 2010, the Conservative majority has also only exceeded 10,000 once in that period - in 1979. The story here has often been of narrow Conservative wins and frustrated dashed Liberal Democrat hopes. One noteworthy psephological fact is that in the 10 general elections since 1983, the Liberal/ Liberal Democrat vote here has been in the remarkably narrow band of between 37.6% and 39% in 8 of those 10 elections. Remarkable consistency, but not quite enough to win. It rose to 44% for Tessa Munt to achieve her only victory to date in 2010 and fell to 33.8% in their disaster of 2015.
Labour have been the third party in the constituency since the February 1974 General Election, and despite having a celebrity candidate in 1997 with Michael Eavis, the founder of the Glastonbury Festival, they have never really threatened here. Although Eavis winning 10,000 votes in 1997 almost certainly cost the Liberal Democrat’s victory here that year, and Wells was one of the most marginal seats that the Conservatives managed to hold in that landslide. The Liberal Democrats are unlikely to have Eavis( now 88) as a fly in their ointment here in 2024 but they do have the Boundary commission and an approximately 14000 or 26% majority does likely mean that they will require the Conservatives to have a much worse meltdown than 1997 in order to win here.
The constituency of Wells in the North West of the county of Somerset existed from 1295 to 1868 as a two seat borough constituency and was then revived again in 1885 as a single member constituency albeit in different guises to it’s current state. It is a constituency that stretches from the northern edges of the flat marshlands of the Somerset levels in the centre of the county northwards into the Mendip Hills. It is mainly a rural constituency and becomes more rural in the boundary changes that will come into force for the 2024 general election.
The largest settlement in the constituency is indeed the city of Wells ( population 12000) which of course is known for its famous cathedral. It is often described as England’s smallest city but is actually second as that honour goes to the City of London. To the North of Wells you have the Mendip Hills, amongst the foothills of which are the settlements of Axbridge, famous for King John’s Hunting Lodge which is now a museum and Cheddar known for the Cheddar Gorge on the Northern edge of the village, caves and of course it’s name has been given to the famous cheese. Wookey Hole caves are also found in this constituency.
To the east of Wells you have the second largest town in the constituency - the less affluent Shepton Mallet ( population 11000).The town lies in the southern foothills of the Mendip Hills, and grew on the back of the wool trade in the 17th Century. To the West of Wells is Wedmore, known sometimes as the Isle of Wedmore as the village is situated on a ( slightly!) higher stretch of land than the surrounding levels. Wedmore is a lovely place to live and recently was found to have the highest house prices in Somerset.
The site of the Glastonbury music and arts festival, at Pilton, and which is nearer to Shepton Mallet than Glastonbury, is in this constituency and brings 250,000 people onto the fields in most Junes. Would the festival have grown like it has if it had more accurately been named as Shepton Mallet rather than Glastonbury?!
The boundaries of the Wells constituency have remained largely unchanged since 1983 but that is about to change. Somerset’s constituencies are all a little on the large side so change was required. The most obvious change here is the change of name from plain Wells to Wells and Mendip Hills. Now, the casual observer or reader may have noticed that the constituency already contained quite a lot of the Mendip Hills so is this just one of those sops to local opinion to mention everywhere? Well, yes and no. It may surprise some people than only just over half ( 52.4%) of the electorate in the ‘old’ Wells constituency is in this new one.
Two sizeable chunks of electorate containing most of the larger towns in the old Wells constituency are removed. Firstly about 20,000 voters along the Bristol Channel coast in Burnham on Sea, Highbridge, Berrow and Brean are lost to the Bridgwater constituency. In addition the towns of Glastonbury and Street ( combined population 17,000) are lost to the Glastonbury and Somerton constituency.
The remaining half of the Wells constituency is then topped up by firstly crossing local authority borders into North Somerset. About 30% of this new constituency ( or 20000 electors) is new territory drawn broadly from the other ( North) side of the Mendip Hills and broadly containing a strip of territory, between Weston Super Mare and Bristol and containing the large commuter villages of Yatton ( population 7500) and Congresbury (3500) who move from the Weston Super Mare and North Somerset constituencies. The inclusion of Mendip Hills in the constituency title is an attempt to recognise the inclusion of this area. Mendip Hills is an ill fitting name for this area, although ‘ Wells and some villages near Weston’ probably wouldn’t fly. Finally around 4000 electors come into this seat from Bridgwater from the affluent villages in the Polden Hills which now form the Southern boundary of this constituency.
Politically, almost all of these boundary changes favour the Conservatives over the Liberal Democrats. Glastonbury and Street were probably the strongest part of the Wells constituency for the Liberal Democrats. Burnham and Highbridge, which depart, would vote Conservative at general elections, although not overwhelmingly so. All of the territory joining the constituency would have favoured the Conservatives in 2019. The net of these changes should be worth at least 4000 votes to the Conservative majority here.
Demographically, this is a very nice part of rural England. Tourism, agriculture, retail, transportation and retail are the main forms of employment within the constituency. 26.7% of the constituency is aged over 65 and a further 23.2% are in the 50- 64 age group, placing this constituency in the top 50 nationwide for both of those age groups. It is also in the top 50 nationally for owner occupation with 76.4% of properties being owner occupied and the constituency is 97.2% white. This is a more affluent constituency than neighbouring Weston-super-Mare.
The constituency now spreads across two Unitary authorities. Most of the constituency ( 70%) is now part of the Somerset unitary authority. At the first elections to that authority in 2022, the Liberal Democrats did very well and some of their best results in the county were in the divisions in this constituency. They beat the Conservatives by over 2:1 in Wells itself where Tessa Munt, ex MP and current Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate, was re elected and they also won in Cheddar. They won in the rural Mendip Hills division, Mendip West and the King Alfred division, which is based on Wedmore. Some of these were won by the party for the first time in a long time. The Conservatives won in the rural divisions of Brent and Huntspill. Shepton Mallet split its representation between the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives. In the 2023 elections to North Somerset council, the Conservatives fared even worse in the wards new to this constituency. The Greens won Banwell & Winscombe and Congresbury. The Liberal Democrats won Blagdon & Churchill and Yatton elected an Independent and a Liberal Democrat.
The constituency has nearly always elected Conservative MPs in it’s modern guise aside from 1906 to January 1910, 1923-1924 and 2010-2015 where Liberal and in it’s current guise Liberal Democrat MPs were elected. The current MP is James Heappey who is Minister for the Armed Forces and since his election in 2015 has managed to boost his majority albeit slowly from 7,585 in 2015 to 9,991 in 2019. The former MP and the Liberal Democrat candidate at each election since 2005 Tessa Munt does have a personal vote, and has pushed hard to reclaim her position as MP and is a known figure in the area.
The Wells constituency has been one of the longest running continuous Conservative/ Liberal Democrat marginals, Since February 1974 whilst the Liberal Democrats have only won once, in 2010, the Conservative majority has also only exceeded 10,000 once in that period - in 1979. The story here has often been of narrow Conservative wins and frustrated dashed Liberal Democrat hopes. One noteworthy psephological fact is that in the 10 general elections since 1983, the Liberal/ Liberal Democrat vote here has been in the remarkably narrow band of between 37.6% and 39% in 8 of those 10 elections. Remarkable consistency, but not quite enough to win. It rose to 44% for Tessa Munt to achieve her only victory to date in 2010 and fell to 33.8% in their disaster of 2015.
Labour have been the third party in the constituency since the February 1974 General Election, and despite having a celebrity candidate in 1997 with Michael Eavis, the founder of the Glastonbury Festival, they have never really threatened here. Although Eavis winning 10,000 votes in 1997 almost certainly cost the Liberal Democrat’s victory here that year, and Wells was one of the most marginal seats that the Conservatives managed to hold in that landslide. The Liberal Democrats are unlikely to have Eavis( now 88) as a fly in their ointment here in 2024 but they do have the Boundary commission and an approximately 14000 or 26% majority does likely mean that they will require the Conservatives to have a much worse meltdown than 1997 in order to win here.
