516 Responses to “Ilford North”

1. Andy JS

   The London borough elections in 15 months time will be fascinating.

   February 2nd, 2013 at 2:07 pm
2. Laurence Davies

   I have read with interest the recent comments regarding Ilford North and the wards within it. I would hope that the following observations may be of interest.

   Joe James B you make reference to Chadwell ward (31/01@12:55 am which was within the boundaries of Ilford North until 1997. I was one of the Tory Cllrs for the Ward between 1990-94. The ward on the council boundaries that existed up to 1998 was monolithically Tory in May 1982. In the next four years the Liberals won two by elections, In 1986 in a very bitter election the Tories ousted the two Liberals. The Liberals did little between then and early 1991 and put most of their fire power into Church End and Roding Wards. In early 1991 an extremely active Lib Dem Team including the ex Lib Councillor who did not contest the seat in 1990 worked almost full time in the Ward and the rest is history. Labour ceded second place and the Lib Dems swept in. The Labour vote was always there but was never really exploited by the Party until more recently

   I would also like to put forward some possible reasons for drift to the Conservatives in Fairlop and Hainault since the 1970′s one would be the sale of Council properties but more recently since the late 1990′s the development of the old Claybury Hospital site in in Fairlop Ward leading probably building in 300/400 Conservative advantage plus in Hainault the growing factor of the BNP from 2000 onwards.

   I note mention is also made in other posts of Fullwell ward which I represented from 1998 until I stood down in 2006 a very diverse and interesting ward even then encompassing comfortable and fairly wealthy households together with social housing estates. However discussion of that ward and others and their future political direction can wait for another time as I will bore not only readers, if I have not already done so but myself!

   Finally Barnaby I remember well your second cousin Arnold Kinzley who on many occasions before his sad death in 1993 assisted me by guiding me through the minefield of Council business.

   February 2nd, 2013 at 10:50 pm
3. Andy JS

   Thanks for that interesting post Laurence.

   February 2nd, 2013 at 11:08 pm
4. Pete Whitehead

   “However discussion of that ward and others and their future political direction can wait for another time as I will bore not only readers..”

   No danger of that here!

   February 2nd, 2013 at 11:53 pm
5. Joe James B

   Laurence – thank you very much for that post, and I’m glad you look at the site and offer more details.
   Please post again…

   I had no idea the Liberals had a presence in Chadwell earlier on – interesting the Tories actually ousted them in 1986.

   It is incredible that the
   The Tories held Redbridge with 45 councillors even in mid-term in 1986.

   February 3rd, 2013 at 12:11 am
6. LBernard

   I think the Tories have done very well to hold on here and still be competitive. I think that is partly because there were/are a large number of Indian/Tamil families here who are Conservative voting. These large groups of voters have allowed the Tories to outpoll Labour in many of the wards. However, Redbridge is seeing a gradual change in its ethnic minority population from long established Indians to less well integrated Pakistanis and Bengalis. These two groups are heavy Labour voters which is why the scales are tipping in places in places like Clayhall and Aldborough. These two groups are much less likely to vote Conservative. As Pakistanis and Bengalis are moving into Ilford, British Indians are moving out further into Essex and many Jews have moved away to Epping Forest and a great deal more to Hertsmere.

   Redbridge also attracts Caribbean and African in much larger numbers than before (especially Africans) which again will eventually give Labour an advantage.

   One thing that works in the Tories favour here is their handling of the schools. The borough has very good schools and still has Grammar schools present which may mean some people may vote Tory locally purely to keep up the standard of the schools.

   February 4th, 2013 at 10:44 am
7. Andy JS

   Census results – Jewish, 2001 / 2011:

   Aldborough: 12.6% / 6.0%
   Barkingside: 21.1% / 10.5%
   Bridge: 2.3% / 2.2%
   Clayhall: 19.9% / 9.2%
   Fairlop: 7.1% / 8.2%
   Fullwell: 11.5% / 8.9%
   Hainault: 3.5% / 3.7%
   Roding: 3.4% / 2.5%

   TOTAL:
   2001: 9,261 / 89,806 = 10.3%
   2011: 6,627 / 102,589 = 6.5%

   February 7th, 2013 at 1:18 am
8. LBernard

   Thanks for those figures Andy.

   The drop in Clayhall is extremely large and may go some way to explain how Labour managed to gain a seat in the ward in 2010. The shift in population in Clayhall is very much Jewish people moving out while more Asian people are moving in – mainly Muslims rather than Hindus/Sikhs.

   Barkingside is something I’m a little more shocked about. I didn’t think the Jewish population in that ward had decreased as much as the figures suggest.

   February 7th, 2013 at 8:23 am
9. Barnaby Marder

   The rise in the Jewish population in both Hainault & Fairlop surprises me considerably more than that. Maybe they were trying to move to Chigwell, but didn’t quite get that far?

   February 7th, 2013 at 9:59 am
10. richard

    Different sort of area but it doesn’t surprise me because I think I’ve seen something similar.

    Namely people moving from middle suburbia to pit villages.

    Which would have been unheard of a generation ago but not any more.

    Key factors being:

    1) Much greater ethnic change in middle suburbia than pit villages.

    2) Middle suburbia having more aged and so more faded properties than pit villages especially so with new property developments in the pit villages.

    Now Hainault isn’t a pit village but perhaps it shares some of the associations of them.

    February 7th, 2013 at 10:29 pm
11. richard

    To a person of a certain age and televison watching preference Chigwell will always be regarded as the sterotypically Jewish.

    Anyone baffled?

    February 7th, 2013 at 10:45 pm
12. Barnaby Marder

    I’m certainly not baffled. Chigwell does obviously have Jewish residents but not to the extent that e.g. Elstree or Hendon do. The writers of Birds of a Feather are Jewish & made sure that there was only one Jewish character in it, not claiming that it was a heavily Jewish area. I thought it was a pretty crap sitcom.

    February 8th, 2013 at 8:33 am
13. LBernard

    Looking into Redbridge a bit more confirms what I thought. The Indian population grew by a small amount. The Pakistani community doubled, as did the Bangladeshi community.

    All other minority groups have grown except Irish and Black Caribbean which both declined.

    I think it is very clear that White Britsh, Irish, Caribbean and Indian voters are leaving the borough while Muslim voters are moving in.

    http://www2.redbridge.gov.uk/cms/the_council/about_the_council/about_redbridge/2011_census/diversity.aspx

    February 8th, 2013 at 3:36 pm
14. Andy JS

    I was interested to know whether the Hindu and Sikh populations have increased in Redbridge as well as the Muslim:

    Hindu:
    2001: 18,661 / 238,635 = 7.8%
    2011: 31,699 / 278,970 = 11.4%

    Sikh:
    2001: 13,022 / 238,635 = 5.5%
    2011: 17,377 / 278,970 = 6.2%

    Muslim:
    2001: 28,487 / 238,635 = 11.9%
    2011: 64,999 / 278,970 = 23.3%

    February 8th, 2013 at 3:50 pm
15. LBernard

    Very modest rises in Hindus and Sikhs while the Muslim population doubled.

    February 8th, 2013 at 4:14 pm
16. Andy JS

    Graeme Archer in the Telegraph:

    “Let’s talk about the exodus of 600,000 whites from London:
    It is not wrong to discuss the cultural changes that large-scale immigration can cause, such as ‘white flight’ from certain areas in London”:

    ht tp://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/9888310/Lets-talk-about-the-exodus-of-600000-whites-from-London.html

    February 22nd, 2013 at 8:44 pm