Pretty Maps

[manchesterman]

Mar 10, 2019 23:16:13 GMT yorkshireluke said:

53: Woking Borough Council, Surrey, South East.



Woking, a very close council and yet despite that it may end up being a disappointment in terms of changes. Last year's results would see the Conservatives and Lib Dem trade a councillor resulting in no change. If the Lib Dems can defend however, then it will go NOC. My bet.



The Conservatives need to avoid a net loss of 1 to keep their majority.



My prediction: NOC GAIN from Conservative.

That Labour ward looks weird (gerrymander??)

[yorkshireluke]

Mar 12, 2019 21:26:09 GMT manchesterman said:

Mar 10, 2019 23:16:13 GMT yorkshireluke said:

53: Woking Borough Council, Surrey, South East.



Woking, a very close council and yet despite that it may end up being a disappointment in terms of changes. Last year's results would see the Conservatives and Lib Dem trade a councillor resulting in no change. If the Lib Dems can defend however, then it will go NOC. My bet.



The Conservatives need to avoid a net loss of 1 to keep their majority.



My prediction: NOC GAIN from Conservative.

That Labour ward looks weird (gerrymander??)

No as you can see here, it's merely the neighbourhood in between the railway line and the common.

[Chris from Brum]

Mar 12, 2019 21:33:21 GMT yorkshireluke said:

Mar 12, 2019 21:26:09 GMT manchesterman said:

That Labour ward looks weird (gerrymander??)

No as you can see here, it's merely the neighbourhood in between the railway line and the common.

It's actually the town centre plus areas to the NE. It includes my company's head office, at the SW end of this area.

[andrewteale]

Southampton 2016. Changes based on 2012:

Ind gain from Lab
Coxford

C gain from Lab
Sholing

Lab gain from C
Portswood



Southampton 2018. Changes based on 2014:

C gain from Lab
Bitterne
Millbrook
Peartree

Lab gain from C
Freemantle
Portswood
Swaythling



Split wards are (not taking account of by-elections or defections):
Bitterne is 2Lab/1C and Labour are defending in May.
Freemantle is 2Lab/1C and the Conservatives are defending in May.
Millbrook is 2Lab/1C and Labour are defending in May.
Peartree is 2C/1Lab and the Conservatives are defending in May.
Portswood is 2Lab/1C and the Conservatives are defending in May.
Swaythling is 2C/1Lab and the Conservatives are defending in May.

[bjornhattan]

Mar 12, 2019 21:26:09 GMT manchesterman said:

Mar 10, 2019 23:16:13 GMT yorkshireluke said:

53: Woking Borough Council, Surrey, South East.



Woking, a very close council and yet despite that it may end up being a disappointment in terms of changes. Last year's results would see the Conservatives and Lib Dem trade a councillor resulting in no change. If the Lib Dems can defend however, then it will go NOC. My bet.



The Conservatives need to avoid a net loss of 1 to keep their majority.



My prediction: NOC GAIN from Conservative.

That Labour ward looks weird (gerrymander??)

It's a very politically distinct neighbourhood though, being much more diverse than typical for Woking (its predecessor Maybury and Sheerwater was 37% White British and 46% Asian, possibly due to having the country's oldest mosque), being predominantly working class, and also not having a big commuter population (ironically, it contains Woking station).

[londonseal80]

Woking is the kind of place that Labour should do a lot better in. The fact it is in Surrey perhaps hinders them a fair bit.

[The Bishop]

Mar 13, 2019 10:29:11 GMT londonseal80 said:

Woking is the kind of place that Labour should do a lot better in. The fact it is in Surrey perhaps hinders them a fair bit.

Labour used to do quite a bit better in Surrey generally than they have in recent years.

[greenchristian]

Mar 12, 2019 20:17:48 GMT yorkshireluke said:

Rutland is up for election this year, despite being a county council it is unitary and has elections now instead of with the rest of the counties. Almost definitely will be a Conservative hold.

I was under the impression that Rutland County Council was technically a unitary district, rather than a unitary county.

[Pete Whitehead]

Maybury & Sheerwater was a merger of two safe Labour wards - the first the heavily Asian Central & Maybury ward and the second a large council estate which is one of the most deprived in Surrey. It could have been considered a packed gerrymander I suppose, though Labour managed to lose it in the later Blair years when the voting behaviour there became erratic even by the standards of Asian dominated wards. The boundary changes which converted that ward into Canalside should in theory have made it less secure for Labour as it removed the Maybury estate to the south of the railway (absorbed by Pyrford where it can do no harm) and added some quite wealthy areas north of the canal from Horsell East.
There used to be lots of Labour support in Old Woking and in Kingsfield which together now form the Hoe Valley ward but they were supplanted by the Lib Dems in the early years of this century. Goldsworth Park (which includes the Lakeview Estate would be another area of potential Labour support but the Lib Dems replaced them there even earlier - in the 1980s

[Davıd Boothroyd]

I think you may be missing something significant in the history of Maybury and Sheerwater ward.

[Pete Whitehead]

Mar 13, 2019 13:10:35 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

I think you may be missing something significant in the history of Maybury and Sheerwater ward.

No I remember but it was covered by the rather broad 'erratic behaviour' comment

[J.G.Harston]

Mar 13, 2019 13:03:28 GMT greenchristian said:

Mar 12, 2019 20:17:48 GMT yorkshireluke said:

Rutland is up for election this year, despite being a county council it is unitary and has elections now instead of with the rest of the counties. Almost definitely will be a Conservative hold.

I was under the impression that Rutland County Council was technically a unitary district, rather than a unitary county.

I'm fairly certain you're right, it's a unitary district with the name "County", just like there's a couple of parish councils with the name "City".

Rutland is a district that took on county functions, the opposite of Isle of Wight where the county took on district functions.

[Chris from Brum]

Mar 13, 2019 16:43:39 GMT J.G.Harston said:

Mar 13, 2019 13:03:28 GMT greenchristian said:

I was under the impression that Rutland County Council was technically a unitary district, rather than a unitary county.

I'm fairly certain you're right, it's a unitary district with the name "County", just like there's a couple of parish councils with the name "City".

Rutland is a district that took on county functions, the opposite of Isle of Wight where the county took on district functions.

Before 1974, Rutland was a county with a county council. After that, it became a district of Leicestershire, until it was set free again. However, having been a district, as a new unitary its a district taking on county functions, no matter how much it likes to pretend otherwise.

[J.G.Harston]

Mar 13, 2019 19:44:34 GMT Chris from Brum said:

Mar 13, 2019 16:43:39 GMT J.G.Harston said:

I'm fairly certain you're right, it's a unitary district with the name "County", just like there's a couple of parish councils with the name "City".

Rutland is a district that took on county functions, the opposite of Isle of Wight where the county took on district functions.

Before 1974, Rutland was a county with a county council. After that, it became a district of Leicestershire, until it was set free again. However, having been a district, as a new unitary its a district taking on county functions, no matter how much it likes to pretend otherwise.

Doesn't the current council have some clumsy name like County Of Rutland District Council or something?

[Foggy]

Mar 13, 2019 20:01:38 GMT J.G.Harston said:

Mar 13, 2019 19:44:34 GMT Chris from Brum said:

Before 1974, Rutland was a county with a county council. After that, it became a district of Leicestershire, until it was set free again. However, having been a district, as a new unitary its a district taking on county functions, no matter how much it likes to pretend otherwise.

Doesn't the current council have some clumsy name like County Of Rutland District Council or something?

No. You may be thinking of Huntingdonshire (whose council still really does only have the powers of a district). As you say, there are sometimes equally strange constructions in the official titles of councils at parish/community level.

[andrewteale]

Huntingdonshire's not like that, but Herefordshire is ("County of Herefordshire District Council"): www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/187/contents/made

[Chris from Brum]

Mar 14, 2019 8:47:31 GMT andrewteale said:

Huntingdonshire's not like that, but Herefordshire is ("County of Herefordshire District Council"): www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2002/187/contents/made

Herefordshire is an edge case - split out of Hereford and Worcester county, but made up of a combination of whole and part districts from that county.  I'd have classed it as a county, but clearly it went the other way.

[Chris from Brum]

Mar 14, 2019 1:41:30 GMT Foggy said:

As you say, there are sometimes equally strange constructions in the official titles of councils at parish/community level.

Such as the City of Wells, which is a parish council within Mendip district, and the City of Ripon, again a parish within Harrogate district.  I was looking at St David's, but the community there is called "St David's and the Cathedral Close".  Nevertheless, St David's is a city.

[Davıd Boothroyd]

There is technically a difference between a unitary county and a unitary district (thought I'm not sure if it makes any difference in practice). About the only distinction I've found is that unitary counties have electoral divisions, while unitary districts have wards. For the record, the unitary counties are:

Cornwall
Durham
Isle of Wight
Northumberland
Shropshire
Wiltshire

To be joined by Buckinghamshire in 2020.

[ColinJ]

Mar 13, 2019 13:10:35 GMT Davıd Boothroyd said:

I think you may be missing something significant in the history of Maybury and Sheerwater ward.

A most fascinating read, although the misprints in the record are somewhat surprising but nevertheless irksome. Judge Mawrey's paragraphs 280 and 282 are priceless, but beaten by the final paragraph 286: "And here we are again."