Local Election Maps

[joevsimp]

It's going to look rather different next year, methinks.

Southwark? It's gonna look like Newham!

Hopefully Jenny will get her seat back though

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Lewisham 2010. Lab 39 (+13) LD 12 (-5) C 2 (-1) Grn 1 (-5).

Having previously mapped Lambeth and Southwark, the list of deprived inner-city authorities on the south bank of the Thames is completed with the London Borough of Lewisham, on the Kent side of the old Surrey/Kent county boundary.  The modern borough combines Lewisham with Deptford, an old industrial and dock town on the riverbank; Lewisham itself is further inland along the south eastern main line, and claims to be home to Europe's largest police station.  The borough is entirely built up, with the last remaining gaps in the south of the borough filled by LCC council housing in the 1930s.  Deptford had an unusual practice of naming wards after historical people associated with the borough, of which only Evelyn ward survives; Grinling Gibbons ward was abolished in the last boundary review, while Drake, Marlowe and Pepys wards got more standardised geographical names at the same time (Brockley, New Cross and Telegraph Hill respectively).

That boundary review, which was implemented in 2002, reduced the size of the council from 67 to 54 members, and there was a good reason for this: Lewisham is the only south London borough to have adopted the elected mayoral system of running a council.  The mayor is Labour's Sir Steve Bullock who is now well into his third term having been in situ since 2002; at the 2010 election he easily defeated the Lib Dems' Chris Maines by 59-41 in the runoff, increasing his majority from four years before.  His council colleagues have had less success; after years of almost total dominance of the council the Labour vote fell off a cliff in 2006 and the party lost its majority.  The Lib Dems were the main beneficiaries, doing particularly well in the Lewisham East constituency on the back of success in local by-elections (there were at least three by-elections in 2002-6 in Lee Green ward alone), while the Greens gained seats from Labour in Brockley and the Socialist Alternative councillor in Telegraph Hill got a running-mate elected.  Labour got their majority back in 2010, and with holding the mayoralty and at least one councillor in every ward except Downham it would not take much of a swing in 2014 for Labour to pick up lots more seats.  The Tories are confined to the commuter ward of Grove Park, while former London mayoral candidate Darren Johnson has lost his council group but still holds a seat for himself.

2010 map:


Cartogram of the 2010 results (showing each ward in proportion to its voting power):


Split wards in 2010 were:
Blackheath: 2LD/1Lab
Brockley: 2Lab/1Grn
Crofton Park: 2Lab/1LD
Forest Hill: 2LD/1Lab
Grove Park: 1Lab/2C
Lee Green: 2LD/1Lab
Whitefoot: 1Lab/2LD

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Bexley 2010. C 52 (-2) Lab 11 (+2).

Much further out in Kentish London is Bexley, which occupies the space on the south of the Thames, and for some distance inland, between Woolwich and Dartford.  Much of this is commuter area along the three railway lines between London and Dartford, with semi-detached housing extending as far as the eye can see.  The main districts are Bexley itself, Crayford, Erith (an old port on the Thames) and Sidcup.  Bexley also contains half of the deprived Thamesmead development on the Erith marshes, a New Town in all but name which has become a magnet for immigration from west Africa; Thamesmead East ward has the second largest Black African population of any ward in England and Wales, 34.9%.  (The only ward with a higher Black African population is the other Thamesmead ward, which is part of Greenwich borough.)

Despite the presence of half of Thamesmead, which anchors a fairly safe Labour parliamentary seat in Erith and Thamesmead, this borough is mostly comfortable suburbia with a long history of Tory voting (Edward Heath was one of the MPs here for many years).  Despite this, the Tories managed to contrive, while polling the most votes, to lose the 2002 borough elections to Labour, who won several wards away from their strongest areas on the riverfront, particularly in the marginal Bexleyheath and Crayford constituency which had been successfully defended by Labour in the previous year's general election.  In 2006 there was a huge swing to the Tories, who polled over half of the vote and won an enormous majority on the council, confining Labour to the riverfront wards and even splitting representation in some of those wards.  That pattern was essentially unchanged in 2010.

2010 map:


Cartogram of the 2010 results (showing each ward in proportion to its voting power):


The only split ward in 2010 was Belvedere (2Lab/1C).

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Bromley 2010. C 53 (+4) LD 4 (-3) Lab 3 (-1).

London's largest and perhaps most rural borough, Bromley is essentially all much of a muchness: comfortable suburbia which eventually fizzles out into Kent countryside.  The main districts are Bromley itself, Beckenham, Chislehurst, Orpington and Penge.

The borough contains three Conservative parliamentary seats, although all of them have had quite famous by-elections to give the Tories some worry.  Bromley and Chislehurst, the most recent, was nearly lost to the Lib Dems in late 2006; Beckenham was nearly lost to Labour both in the 1997 landslide and in a by-election later that year after the Tory MP resigned over a sex scandal; and most famously although a lot further back, Orpington was lost to the Liberals in a famous 1962 by-election.  Orpington has been the subject of a rather more recent Lib Dem hotspot, Chris Maines having four goes at the parliamentary seat between 1992 and 2005 and coming up each time just short of the Conservatives' John Horam.  The high point for the Bromley Lib Dems came in the 1998 borough elections, in which the Tories lost the majority they had held since the borough was created, the Lib Dems and Labour forming a coalition which, due to by-election losses and defections, failed to last the full four-year term.  The Tories were back in control in the summer of 2001, and it's all been plain sailing since.  Maines has moved on to Lewisham and the Lib Dem vote in Orpington has faded away; they now hold just one council seat in the constituency.  The main reboubt for the Lib Dems and Labour now is Penge and Crystal Palace, the closest part of Bromley to the inner city and part of a Labour parliamentary seat (Lewisham West and Penge).

2010 map:


Cartogram of the 2010 results (showing each ward in proportion to its voting power):


Split wards in 2010 were:
Clock House: 2C/1LD
Cray Valley East: 2C/1LD

[minionofmidas]

Though Penge was, of course, in Beckenham back when Labour came close there. Couldn't have happened otherwise, the Beckenham part of Beckenham is ultraposh IIRC.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

To risk understatement, yes.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Harold Macmillan was MP for Bromley when he was PM.

[Serenity Now]

This is the local authority I was originate from, as I was born at Farnborough Hospital and lived in Penge when I was very young

With regards to the Beckenham constituency, the removal of Penge in the most recent boundary review made it notionally the safest Tory seat in the country IIRC.

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Wandsworth 2010. C 47 (-4) Lab 13 (+4)

This is Wandsworth.  Normal political rules do not apply.

2010 map:


Cartogram of the 2010 results (showing each ward in proportion to its voting power):


The only split ward in 2010 was Roehampton and Putney Heath: 2C/1Lab.

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Greenwich 2010. Lab 40 (+4) C 11 (-2) LD 0 (-2).

2010 map:


Cartogram of the 2010 results (showing each ward in proportion to its voting power):


The only split ward in 2010 was Blackheath Westcombe: 1Lab/2C.

[Leftbehind]

Even better than your carpentry.

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Merton 2010. Lab 28 (+1) C 27 (-2) Merton Park Ward Ind Residents 3 LD 2 (+2).

2010 map:


Cartogram of the 2010 results (showing each ward in proportion to its voting power):


Split wards in 2010 were:
Abbey: 2C/1Lab
West Barnes: 2LD/1C

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Kingston upon Thames 2010. LD 27 (+2) C 21 Lab 0 (-2).

2010 map:


Cartogram of the 2010 results (showing each ward in proportion to its voting power):


Split wards in 2010 were:
Alexandra: 1LD/2C
Berrylands: 2LD/1C
Canbury: 1LD/2C
Chessington North and Hook: 2LD/1C

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Richmond upon Thames 2010. C 30 (+12) LD 24 (-12).

2010 map:


Cartogram of the 2010 results (showing each ward in proportion to its voting power):


Split wards in 2010 were:
Hampton North: 2LD/1C
Heathfield: 2LD/1C
Kew: 2C/1LD
St Margarets and North Twickenham: 2LD/1C
Whitton: 2LD/1C

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Bigger map (PDF)

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Bigger map (PDF)

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Excellence

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Let's try and reactivate this thread, shall we?

Scarborough 2011.  C 25 (+2) Ind 14 (-1) Lab 6 (+2) LD 3 (-3) Grn 2. 

Oh, we do like to be beside the seaside.  Scarborough is Yorkshire's premier seaside resort, but the borough contains a lot more than that; to the north is the beautiful North York Moors coast (including the beauty spot of Robin Hood's Bay and the rather less beautiful Fylingdales radar station); the port and resort of Whitby, with its Captain Cook/whaling/Bram Stoker/goth associations; and the remote villages of the Esk Valley, while to the south is Filey, which by all accounts is a retirement ghetto.  The Tories generally clean up in the rural areas and have started making inroads in Whitby, while Scarborough voting is a godawful mess with lots of support for independents, minor parties (there is a Green group, and UKIP have won a by-election or two) and so on.  Anybody who knows how to pronounce Streonshalh - answers on a postcard please.

Changes based on 2007:

C gain from Grn
Stepney (1)

C gain from Ind
North Bay (1)
Streonshalh (1)
Weaponness (1)
Whitby West Cliff (1)

C gain from LD
Streonshalh (1)

Grn gain from C
Hertford (1)

Ind gain from C
Cayton (1)
Seamer (1)

Ind gain from LD
Falsgrave Park (1)
Ramshill (1)

Lab gain from C
Castle (1)

Lab gain from Ind
North Bay (1)

Map:


Cartogram (showing each ward in proportion to its voting power):


Split wards in 2011 were:
Castle: Ind/Lab
Cayton: C/Ind
Derwent Valley: C/Ind
Falsgrave Park: Ind/Lab
Filey: 2Ind/1C
Hertford: Grn/C
Mulgrave: C/Ind
Newby: 2Ind/1C
North Bay: Lab/C
Ramshill: Ind/C
Seamer: C/Ind
Stepney: Grn/C
Woodlands: Ind/Lab

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I have very fond memories of Scarborough.

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Stroud 2012.  I'll admit to not knowing much about Stroud, although it has a longstanding reputation for radical politics and was the first council to have a significant Green Party group.  Much of this is beautiful countryside with an industrial past.  The Green vote is concentrated in Stroud proper, although they lost a seat to Labour in the town in 2011; Labour generally are on an upsurge in the borough, although I have no idea how they managed to gain the rural Berkeley ward (which is known for two things: Edward Jenner, the founder of vaccination, and a long-closed nuclear power station).  Of the other towns in the district, Stonehouse is a safe Labour ward (although the Tories managed to win it in 2008) and Labour also do well in the surrounding villages, Cam has support for all three main parties and Dursley is transforming from an unpredictable three-way marginal into a good Labour ward.  Wotton-under-Edge is closely fought between the Tories and Lib Dems, who can also pick off the occasional rural ward from the Tories.

Changes based on 2008:

C gain from Grn
Nailsworth

Lab gain from C
Berkeley
Rodborough
The Stanleys
Stonehouse

Lab gain from LD
Dursley

Grey wards not up for election.  Coaley and Uley was a by-election.  Map:


Cartogram (showing each ward in proportion to its voting power):


Split wards are (not taking account of by-elections or defections):
Berkeley is C/Lab and the Conservatives are defending in May.
Cam West is Lab/LD and Labour are defending in May.
Dursley is 2Lab/1LD and the Liberal Democrats are defending in May.
The Stanleys is (or are?) C/Lab and the Conservatives are defending in May.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Given that it's Gloucestershire, the answer is probably that the Labour candidate knew everyone in the ward and was liked by about three quarters of them.

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

St Helens 2012.  A working-class town for working-class people, Sentelens is another of those large towns in south Lancashire that just seem to merge into one another.  Unlike many of the South Lancashire towns which essentially tied their fortunes to one industry, St Helens diversified rather; it was a centre of the Lancashire coalfield (the last Lancashire colliery to close was Parkside, near Newton-le-Willows), it was a centre for pharmaceuticals (Beechams, among whose offshoots was the orchestral conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, one of the controlling family) and it was, and remains, one of the world's most important centres for glass.  Pilkington's factory produces the UK's entire output of plate glass and hence has been instrumental in turning modern architecture into the acres of glass and metal that we know and love today.  On the other hand, even they are thinking of moving out. 

The smaller towns in the district are just as varied; Haydock is best known for its racecourse, Newton-le-Willows is an ex-pit town which is very slowly turning into a commuter area for the entire North West, while Rainford is essentially for middle-class Scouse exiles who can't afford to live in Sefton.  Rainford is not to be confused with Rainhill, which is the place where intercity railway travel started, with the victory of Rocket in the Liverpool and Manchester Railway's 1829 locomotive trials. 

The modern stars of St Helens are just as working-class as the town's reputation; one big lad from the town won one flavour of the darts world championship last weekend, the town's rugby league team is one of the best in the world, and, er, Johnny Vegas.  Contrary to popular belief, Napoleon was never here.

Continuously Labour-controlled from 1973 until the 21st century, by 2000 the Lib Dems had emerged as the major challengers, with an interesting patchwork of wards having developed with Labour and the Lib Dems having strong wards all over the place, the Tories confined to semi-rural Rainford and the more mixed Windle ward.  Labour lost their majority at the 2004 election and in 2006 the Lib Dems took control in a coalition with the Conservatives.  Labour got overall control back in 2010, and since then - well - there's nowhere the Lib Dem vote has melted away since 2010 quite so spectacularly as Merseyside.  So now the Tories are confined to Rainford, the Lib Dems are confined to the posh village of Eccleston (which they do not look like losing any time soon) and everything else is Labour.

Changes based on 2008:

Lab gain from C
Windle

Lab gain from LD
Moss Bank
Newton
Sutton
Town Centre

Map:


Cartogram (showing each ward in proportion to its voting power):


Split wards are (not taking account of by-elections or defections):
Newton is 2Lab/1LD and the Liberal Democrats are defending in May.
Sutton is 2Lab/1LD and the Liberal Democrats are defending in May.

And, as a bonus, you can have the previously undrawn (by me) map for 2002 and 2003:

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Purbeck 2012.  Here we have the tiny local government district of the Isle of Purbeck, one of those Islands that isn't actually an island; Purbeck is a peninsula enclosing the southern half of Poole Harbour.  This is a spectacularly beautiful part of England; in particular, the southern coast of the district has been designated as the Jurassic Coast World Heritage site, thanks to its spectacular cliffs and interesting geology.  Off the other coast is Brownsea Island in Poole Harbour, the site of the first ever scout camp.  This being the sort of area southerners like to go on holiday to, tourism is now one of the main drivers for the local economy, which traditionally has been based on quarrying.  The only towns of any size are Swanage, a seaside resort at the end of the peninsula; the mediaeval town of Wareham which is the district's railhead and administrative centre; and the twin villages of Lytchett Minster and Upton which are effectively Poole suburbs.

Much of the district is a Conservative/Lib Dem battleground, with the various Lytchetts, Wareham and Wool being quite closely fought; Swanage is a Tory stronghold.  As befits a very rural area there is the occasional independent (particularly councillor Peter Wharf in Bere Regis ward who has yet to face a contested re-election this century).

No changes based on 2008.

Grey wards not up for election.  Map:


Cartogram (showing each ward in proportion to its voting power):


No split wards (not taking account of by-elections or defections).

[Khunanup]

St Helens 2012.  A working-class town for working-class people, Sentelens is another of those large towns in south Lancashire that just seem to merge into one another.  Unlike many of the South Lancashire towns which essentially tied their fortunes to one industry, St Helens diversified rather; it was a centre of the Lancashire coalfield (the last Lancashire colliery to close was Parkside, near Newton-le-Willows), it was a centre for pharmaceuticals (Beechams, among whose offshoots was the orchestral conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, one of the controlling family) and it was, and remains, one of the world's most important centres for glass.  Pilkington's factory produces the UK's entire output of plate glass and hence has been instrumental in turning modern architecture into the acres of glass and metal that we know and love today.  On the other hand, even they are thinking of moving out. 

The smaller towns in the district are just as varied; Haydock is best known for its racecourse, Newton-le-Willows is an ex-pit town which is very slowly turning into a commuter area for the entire North West, while Rainford is essentially for middle-class Scouse exiles who can't afford to live in Sefton.  Rainford is not to be confused with Rainhill, which is the place where intercity railway travel started, with the victory of Rocket in the Liverpool and Manchester Railway's 1829 locomotive trials. 

The modern stars of St Helens are just as working-class as the town's reputation; one big lad from the town won one flavour of the darts world championship last weekend, the town's rugby league team is one of the best in the world, and, er, Johnny Vegas.  Contrary to popular belief, Napoleon was never here.

Continuously Labour-controlled from 1973 until the 21st century, by 2000 the Lib Dems had emerged as the major challengers, with an interesting patchwork of wards having developed with Labour and the Lib Dems having strong wards all over the place, the Tories confined to semi-rural Rainford and the more mixed Windle ward.  Labour lost their majority at the 2004 election and in 2006 the Lib Dems took control in a coalition with the Conservatives.  Labour got overall control back in 2010, and since then - well - there's nowhere the Lib Dem vote has melted away since 2010 quite so spectacularly as Merseyside.  So now the Tories are confined to Rainford, the Lib Dems are confined to the posh village of Eccleston (which they do not look like losing any time soon) and everything else is Labour.

Changes based on 2008:

Lab gain from C
Windle

Lab gain from LD
Moss Bank
Newton
Sutton
Town Centre

Map:


Cartogram (showing each ward in proportion to its voting power):


Split wards are (not taking account of by-elections or defections):
Newton is 2Lab/1LD and the Liberal Democrats are defending in May.
Sutton is 2Lab/1LD and the Liberal Democrats are defending in May.

And, as a bonus, you can have the previously undrawn (by me) map for 2002 and 2003:

As a St Helens RL fan, I must point out it's Sint'elens by local vernacular. The other interesting things is that the accent on the West of the town is more Merseyside, the East more Lancashire. Therefore you can tell where people are from just by how they speak

Everything else is (unfortunately) entirely correct...

[Chancellor of the Duchy of Little Lever and Darcy Lever]

Worcestershire 2013.  This being the rump of Worcestershire after various urban bits like Dudley were amalgamated into the West Midlands.

The main towns in the county are the city of Worcester, which is politically mixed and a bellwether marginal; the new town of Redditch (ditto); the spa town of Great Malvern under its namesake hills, which is traditionally Lib Dem but saw a collapse in their vote in 2013; and Kidderminster, whose voting patterns have never been the same since the late nineties and the rise of the Health Concern movement protesting against the withdrawal of services at Kidderminster Hospital.  Smaller towns include Bromsgrove and Droitwich, which can vote Labour although Bromsgrove in particular is a Birmingham commuter area, and Evesham which is more agricultural in nature.  The rural areas are generally as Tory as you would expect, although the Lib Dems can win a seat or two (Beacon division is not a rural area; it's Birmingham overspill).

Map:


Cartogram (showing each ward in proportion to its voting power):