Sherwood Forest (UK Parliament constituency)

Sherwood
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Sherwood in Nottinghamshire
Location of Nottinghamshire within England
County	Nottinghamshire
Electorate	72,111 (December 2010)[1]
Major settlements	Hucknall
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of Parliament	Mark Spencer (Conservative)
Seats	One
Created from	Newark, Carlton, Ashfield

Sherwood is a constituency^{[n 1]} represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Mark Spencer, a Conservative.^{[n 2]}

The constituency is in central Nottinghamshire, covering parts of three local government authorities: the Ashfield district, parts of the Gedling borough, and the western part of the Newark and Sherwood district, the largest geographical area of the seat.

Details

Parliament accepted the Boundary Commission's Fifth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies which slightly altered this constituency for the General Election 2010 since which it has electoral wards:

• Bilsthorpe, Blidworth, Boughton, Clipstone, Edwinstowe, Farnsfield, Ollerton and Rainworth in Newark and Sherwood District
• Hucknall Central, Hucknall East, Hucknall North and Hucknall West in Ashfield District
• Bestwood Village, Calverton, Lambley, Newstead, Ravenshead, and Woodborough in the Borough of Gedling^[2]

The seat is an area of many contrasts such as Ravenshead, home to some of Nottinghamshire's most affluent residents, numerous smaller rural villages, one mining village and many ex-mining villages, and the town of Hucknall, the largest in the constituency, now a commuter town but with a long mining tradition. Thoresby, Edwinstowe contains a large operational coal mine underground, see Coalfield Resources plc.

In Statistics

The constituency consists of Census Output Areas of three local government districts with similar characteristics: a working population whose income is close to the national average and lower than average reliance upon social housing.^[3] At the end of 2012 the unemployment rate in the constituency stood as 3.5% of the population claiming jobseekers allowance, compared to an identical regional average which was below the national average.^[4] Taking Newark and Sherwood that contributes to the seat: a slightly below average 18.6% of its population are without a car, a medium 25.1% of the population are without qualifications and a high 24.2% have level 4 qualifications or above (2011). In terms of tenure 70.2% of homes are owned outright or on a mortgage by occupants as at the 2011 census across that district.^[5]

On the constituency's creation in 1983, Andy Stewart won it for the Conservatives in their landslide victory that year with a majority of just 637. The Nottinghamshire miners drifted further from Labour during the 1984 strike and Stewart was re-elected with an increased majority in 1987. However in 1992 the seat was gained for Labour by Paddy Tipping, who held it until he retired in 2010, when the seat was regained for the Conservatives by Mark Spencer, by a majority of 214.

Election		Member [6]	Party
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1983	Andy Stewart	Conservative
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1992	Paddy Tipping	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" |	2010	Mark Spencer	Conservative

General Election 2010: Sherwood^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Mark Spencer	19,211	39.2	+5.8
	Labour	Emilie Oldknow	18,997	38.8	−10.6
	Liberal Democrats	Kevin Moore	7,283	14.9	+1.4
	BNP	James North	1,754	3.6	N/A
	UKIP	Margot Parker	1,490	3.0	−0.7
	NOTA (None of the Above)	Russ Swan [8]	219	0.4	N/A
Majority			214	0.4	+16.3
Turnout			48,954	68.9	+7.1
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+8.2

General Election 2005: Sherwood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paddy Tipping	22,824	48.4	−5.8
	Conservative	Bruce Laughton	16,172	34.3	+0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Harris	6,384	13.5	+1.6
	UKIP	Moritz Dawkins	1,737	3.7	N/A
Majority			6,652	14.1
Turnout			47,117	62.8	+2.1
	Labour hold		Swing	−3.1

General Election 2001: Sherwood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paddy Tipping	24,900	54.2	−4.3
	Conservative	Brandon Lewis	15,527	33.8	+5.1
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Harris	5,473	11.9	+3.3
Majority			9,373	20.4
Turnout			45,900	60.7	−14.8
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1997: Sherwood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paddy Tipping	33,071	58.5
	Conservative	Roland Spencer	16,259	28.8
	Liberal Democrats	Bruce Moult	4,889	8.6
	Referendum	Lee Slack	1,882	3.3
	BNP	Paul Ballard	432	0.8
Majority			16,812
Turnout				75.6
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Sherwood^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paddy Tipping	29,788	47.5	+9.3
	Conservative	Andy Stewart	26,878	42.9	−3.0
	Liberal Democrats	JW Howard	6,039	9.6	−6.3
Majority			2,910	4.6	−3.0
Turnout			62,705	85.5	+4.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+6.2

General Election 1987: Sherwood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andy Stewart	26,816	45.85
	Labour	William Bach	22,321	38.17
	SDP	SR Thompstone	9,343	15.98
Majority			4,495	7.69
Turnout				81.93
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1983: Sherwood

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Andy Stewart	21,595	41.0	N/A
	Labour	William Bach	20,937	39.7	N/A
	SDP	Margaret E. Cooper	10,172	19.3	N/A
Majority			658	1.3	N/A
Turnout				76.28	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)

• List of Parliamentary constituencies in Nottinghamshire

Notes

References

53°04′N 1°08′W / 53.07°N 1.13°W / 53.07; -1.13