Aldridge and Brownhills are two distinct towns on the edge of the West Midlands conurbation. The more working-class Brownhills was once a mining and industrial town. The mines are long gone and it has become more suburban in character. Aldridge was always more middle class and has expanded through the development of private housing. In the south east, separated from the rest of the constituency, is Streetley, a more exclusive residential area overlooking Sutton Park.
The 1991 census returns show that the population is almost exclusively white. The census also revealed that almost one third of the population is middle-aged. Only the seats of Chesham and Amersham and Beaconsfield have a higher proportion of voters in their 40s and 50s.
There have been some major investments in the seat in recent years including major technology companies and industrial parks, although the split between Aldridge and Brownhills persists even here, partially because of the exclusion of the latter from the Black Country Regeneration Area.
This is the westernmost constituency in the Conservative semi-circle of Birmingham - a city which is otherwise entirely held by Labour. It was created in 1974 and was a Labour marginal until 1979. Since then, the Conservative vote only fell below 50% once - and then only just - in 1997.
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