Devon Central
2010 Results:
Conservative: 27737 (51.49%)
Labour: 3715 (6.9%)
Liberal Democrat: 18507 (34.35%)
UKIP: 2870 (5.33%)
Green: 1044 (1.94%)
Majority: 9230 (17.14%)
Notional 2005 Results:
Conservative: 19843 (42.4%)
Liberal Democrat: 18099 (38.7%)
Labour: 5020 (10.7%)
Other: 3858 (8.2%)
Majority: 1744 (3.7%)
New seat: The extra Devon seat takes areas from Teignbridge, Tiverton and Honiton, Devon West and Torridge, Totnes and Devon North. The provisional proposals had included the Western suburbs of Exeter, but these were removed in the revised recommendations.
Profile: A large rural seat in the centre of Devon, includes small towns such as Bovey Tracey, Crediton, Okehampton, Chudleigh, Ashburton and Buckfastleigh. To the West the constituency includes part of Dartmoor.
Current MP: Mel Stride (Conservative) Educated at Portsmouth Grammar School and Oxford University. Entrepreneur.
Mel Stride (Conservative) Educated at Portsmouth Grammar School and Oxford University. Entrepreneur.Moira Macdonald (Labour) Born South Africa. Coordinator and speaker for Fawcett Devon.Phil Hutty (Liberal Democrat)Colin Matthews (Green) Born 1977. Managing director of a recycling co-operative. Contested Tiverton and Honiton 2005.Bob Edwards (UKIP) Born 1946, Surrey. Educated at Wellington College. Former Royal Marines Officer. Contested Devon 1989 European elections for the continuing SDP. Contested South West England 1999 European elections, West Devon 2001, Tiverton and Honiton 2005 for UKIP.2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 81858
Male: 48.5%
Female: 51.5%
Under 18: 21.4%
Over 60: 25.7%
Born outside UK: 3.9%
White: 77.3%
Mixed: 0.3%
Other: 0.2%
Christian: 74.6%
Full time students: 1.8%
Graduates 16-74: 21.1%
No Qualifications 16-74: 26.3%
Owner-Occupied: 75%
Social Housing: 10.1% (Council: 7.2%, Housing Ass.: 2.9%)
Privately Rented: 10.9%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 15.2%
Went to hustings at QECC in Crediton tonight with all the candidates (except Green must have run out of carbon quota) Hutty floundered on the economics question and forgot what he was talking about and the chairman had to remind him. Macdonald was heckled and did not understand the countryside or todays unemployment figurers. Edwards 5 time mayor of Crediton well liked but not a serious contender. Stride impressive performance – out classed the rest!
I make this seat too close to call, especially given the LibDem bounce and a local UKIP PPC.
A shame that Alan Hope isn’t around to stand.Monster Rving Loonies.But an interesting seat which could go either way.Gut feeling this time is that Tory Win on the Cards as it’s very rural.
It’s irrelevant where Mel Stride comes from. Over the past four years, and his helpers, have been everywhere — listening to the voters and doing their best to solve their problems. Conservative literature pops through the letter box on a regular basis.
I have never seen or heard from any local Liberal Democrat candidate in the last four years. Phil Hutty is a name I have only become familiar with lately. His first piece of literature this campaign arrived today.
In terms of visibility and drive he is way, way behind Mel Stride. The result next week is a foregone conclusion.
I agree this wil be very close, and depends on how good the notional calculations are. Could depnd on a good squeeze of the labour vote
LD but by less than 1000
Always difficult to predict a newly created seat. If I am forced, I would take LD by 1%!
CON HOLD
CON 3300
Mel Stride’s has worked in the community consistently over the last 4 years and been involved in campaigns locally where as Sally Morgan stood down and has a late replacement. This coupled with the Lib Dem internal problems in the constituency will see this as a Conservative win by 4,500
Con by 2000 here.
as i predicted about six months ago a majority of 9000. great result mel. you have worked very hard for this seat
Well, a good win or was it a disastrous loss? Previous LD PPC did not a lot and now has worked hard in N.A. – guess for what result?
Will the LDs ever learn? Good PR is what it’s all about and it looks like this has been very lacking in Cen Dev.
What with air quality, hospitals and alledged “tenant harrassment” plus a last minute presence in Oke, whatever next.
Mel deserves to win but what a give-a-way over 51% of vote!
I never believed this was anything other than a conservative seat really – Mostly rural
So you were lying upthread then, Chris when you predicted “LD but by less than 1000″.
Perhaps you should have made the predictions that you actually thought might happen instead of using the site to push the party wishlist!
What are the most populous towns in this seat?
It looks that Crediton and Okehampton are the largest towns, followed by Ashburton, Chudleigh and Buckfastleigh.
pre-election : now you see him
post-election : now you don’t !
Where is the MP for Central Devon ? On his Thames house boat?
Do you live in Devon Central or Newton Abbot? And are you really a floating voter?
@Floating Voter.
You’ll find that, along with every other MP he’s in Westminster during the week and doing surgeries in the constituency every weekend. Do you have a problem with this..?
Floating Voter you can’t be in the same constituency as me when Mel Stride is not in Westminster he seems to be all over Central Devon at events, on visits to schools and colleges etc. and holding surgeries, just take a look in the local papers.
Has Buckfastleigh been in
Tavistock 1868-1918
South Molton 1918-50
Torrington 1950-74
Devon West 1974-83
Devon West and Torridge 1983-2010?
Buckfastleigh was in Totnes from 1885 to 1983 and again from 1997 to 2010. Between 1997 and 2010 it was in Teignbridge.
Apart from that you’re spot on
‘Buckfastleigh was in Totnes from 1885 to 1983 and again from 1997 to 2010. Between 1997 and 2010 it was in Teignbridge’
Thanks Pete, but I presume you mean it was in Teignbridge from 1983 to 1997?
‘Buckfastleigh was in Totnes from 1885 to 1983 and again from 1997 to 2010. Between 1997 and 2010 it was in Teignbridge’
Thanks Pete, but I assume you mean it was in Teignbridge from 1983 to 1997?
In this article Mel Stride claims Central Devon is “the only constituency in the country that has no conurbation of more than 10,000″:
htttp://bit.ly/pVzfx8
I think he’s incorrect about that. I’m pretty sure that is true of Arundel & South Downs for starters. I’m sure there may be others
Pete – you’re right. Plus, I can think of a couple in Scotland and Wales.
I think most of the Highlands and Islands seats are lacking a population centre with at least 10,000 people.
As we know, this seat was an entirely new one created in 2010, with bits of quite a lot of former Devon constituencies. I wonder how much resemblance it has to the South Molton division which existed until 1950? (I know that South Molton itself is part of North Devon & I think has been ever since that seat was formed in 1950.)
Just over half the current electorate are in areas which would have been in South Molton – basically those parts of West Devon (around Okehampton) and Mid Devon (around Crediton). The part of the seat which is in Teignbridge district would have been mostly in the Totnes seat with a bit in Tiverton (along with the small part of this seat which is in East Devon district)
Both the rural north-eastern constituencies on the border are almost in that category but not quite.
Berwick upon Tweed is about 11,000, while in the Hexham constituancy both Hexham and Ponteland also scrape over the 10,000 mark.
Thanks Pete, I knew I could rely on you for an accurate & informative answer.
South Norfolk is another since Wymondham was removed