Post by bungle on Jan 7, 2024 11:10:36 GMT
Harrogate and Knaresborough
Harrogate and Knaresborough as a name has existed for parliamentary purposes since 1997 when Knaresborough was granted equal billing, despite its much smaller population (15,000). Before then Harrogate (pop 75,000) had sole billing from 1950 when an eponymous seat was carved out from the sprawling Ripon county constituency. These two towns of Harrogate and Knaresborough – both quite different in origin – have been connected for parliamentary purposes since 1885. They are only 4 miles apart and they provide the bulk of the electorate for this seat, which makes it geographically quite compact for a North Yorkshire constituency.
It is a prosperous and very middle-class seat situated about 15 miles directly north of Leeds with plenty of pleasant amenities and good social infrastructure. Here there is a strong tradition of providing professional families with suitable homes and strong commuter transport links to both Leeds and York plus easy access to the well-connected and fast A1(M) motorway. The general attractiveness and accessibility in this area has driven more housing and population growth in the past 20 years. Over the decades since 1950s this has resulted in less rural hinterland required for inclusion in a Harrogate-focused seat (although the 2010 review slightly reversed that trend). As this rural area shrank, so did the notional Conservative majority. The Liberal Democrats had already established themselves as the only realistic challenger to the Tories in the 1970s: there is no Labour tradition or activism here at all. So it was no surprise when the propitious anti-Tory circumstances of 1997 resulted in a vigorous Liberal Democrat campaign in this seat with the result that Lib Dem Phil Willis gained a 6,000 majority over former Chancellor of the Exchequer Norman Lamont (whose own seat of Kingston-upon-Thames had been abolished). Willis won two further contests somewhat handsomely before Andrew Jones for the Conservatives narrowly gained the seat in 2010 when Willis retired. Since then the fortunes of both parties here mirror certain seats a long way distant from this part of Yorkshire. It is now set for another lively and competitive contest in 2024 between Jones and Lib Dem Tom Gordon, who won his spurs turning a safe Labour ward in Knottingley (Wakefield MBC) into a Lib Dem success story.
Harrogate urban area (it still lacks a town council) is a relatively modern creation from the spa boom of the Georgian and early Victorian age where wealthy people could be imparted to spend both time and money in large quantities. Land was effectively made available for development via the enclosure of the Knaresborough Forest in the 1770s (although 200 acres were reserved as public common which still exist today - The Stray - adjacent to the town centre). Like a smaller version of Bath, the combination of health-giving waters and a tabula rasa of land led to numerous opulent buildings that could attract and sustain the attention of the well-to-do set and this moulded Harrogate’s genteel trajectory as a place to visit for respectable leisure. The housing from this period is equally substantial and roomy and remains very popular for purchase at astronomical prices. Although the spa boom had passed by the turn of the 20th century, Harrogate could still rely on tourism and with its high volume of hotels this enabled a new line of economic activity hosting conferences and exhibitions. The Harrogate international Centre is one of the largest conference venues in the UK (and used by political parties from time to time); it also saw conversion into a Nightingale Hospital during the Covid period. Allied to HIC are the Great Yorkshire Showground, Pavilions and Betty's Tea Rooms which all result in much activity throughout the year to bring visitors – and their money - to the town.
At the turn of the century, Victoria Wood wrote a parody of the film Brassed Off which included the immortal line “Tony Blair is worried about the North/South divide so he’s making everywhere the South. In 10 minutes this’ll be Surrey”. Whilst this would undoubtedly cause much angst across Yorkshire, in Harrogate this would probably cause a ripple of excitement and approval. To its detractors, Harrogate isn’t proper Yorkshire – it is a piece of the Home Counties relocated up north where the only phrase to be used when visiting is “’ow much?!!’. The comfortable but dull shopping and leisure options here could be interchanged with somewhere like Guildford or Tunbridge Wells. The property values in Harrogate also have a Home Counties feels to them – the average price is well in excess of surrounding areas. Politically too, Harrogate seems to ape some of its far-away neighbours where the Lib Dems prospered in the 1990s/early 2000s (think Guildford or Surrey South West) then saw them falter as Cameron Conservatism overcame the ‘nasty Tories’ reputation. Like such places ‘down south’ Harrogate Borough (which also included much rural hinterland) was one of only 3 local authority areas in Yorkshire to vote Remain (and it is easy to conclude the votes in urban Harrogate were therefore strongly Remain). 2015 and 2017 were awful years for the Lib Dems in these type of seats as the Coalition memory loomed large. Tory majorities soared (18,000 here in Harrogate) but 2019 saw a considerable bounce back against the national swing. Here in Harrogate and Knaresborough the Tory majority was cut to under 10,000 on a swing of 7.6%. These places are now the so-called Lib Dem ‘Blue Wall’ which are firmly in Ed Davey’s sights: this seat is on the list. The 2022 local elections saw good progress for the Lib Dems in Harrogate winning 6 divisions compared to 3 for the Tories – they won only 1 back in 2017.
Knaresborough to the east is far more historic than Harrogate. Situated on an attractive gorge of the River Nidd and with Mother Shiptons Cave it is a visitor destination in its own right. High over the gorge is the remains of Knaresborough Castle which was a significant site from Norman times to the Civil War. As a result this was also a market town from the medieval period onwards with a clear urban identity. It meant parliamentary representation as well with two MPs still being returned in 1832 despite a pretty egregious rotten borough situation. The town lost its sole parliamentary representative in 1885 when it was rightly merged into the wider Ripon CC and connected itself with Harrogate for the first time. In the 20th century the town has developed as a comfortable residential area with good railway connections allowing it to be a commuter base. The Liberal Democrats have always had a stronger profile here and regularly would win the old Harrogate BC wards covering Knaresborough and the liminal suburb of Starbeck. They duly won both divisions in 2022 relatively comfortably.
The remainder of the seat consists of what rural hinterland is needed to make up the numbers. This was the case in 2010 when the compact urban area of both towns only provided some 65,000 electors. Additions that year were Killinghall and Hampsthwaite to the north west of Harrogate which are both affluent villages that provide good levels of Conservative votes. Similarly, to the north and east of Knaresborough are a smattering of villages in the old Claro ward which do the same. Completing the 2010 changes was the inclusion of the strongly Tory small town of Boroughbridge. The electorate swelled to 74,000 and the additional voters proved decisive as the Tories won by 1,039.
Since then the western fringes of Harrogate and the eastern end of Knaresborough have seen considerable new housing estates emerge. As a result the existing constituency exceeds the 5% variance and needs to revert to smaller boundaries. There was another huge row about this, just as for the 2010 changes. The 3,000 electors in old Claro ward were initially placed into the new Wetherby and Easingwold CC. There was actually enough flexibility for discretion as to which seat these electors should be part of and in the end Harrogate and Knaresborough won out. That is where the good news for the Conservatives ends as Boroughbridge (3,000 electors) must depart, along with its Tory voters.. There are also a few minor boundary tidy-ups resulting in the villages of Ripley (site of another castle) and Nidd being removed to Skipton and Ripon CC with Burton Leonard coming the other way. The seat also gained a few hundred electors around Goldsborough and Allerton to the east of Knaresborough. Overall the boundary changes will have reduced the Tory majority by around 1,500-2,000 votes.
