Bexhill and Battle sits on the coast between Hastings and Rye, and includes much of the wooded countryside behind the coast. The constituency is based mainly on the local government district of Rother.
This seat has the second highest proportion of pensioners in the UK - over 34% of the electorate is of pensionable age. Some wards have even higher proportions - 65% of all households in Sackville ward and 59% in Collington ward are of pensionable age.
The Referendum Party made significant inroads here in 1997, taking 3,300 votes and saving its deposit.
Battle is the site of William I’s defeat of the Saxons during the Battle of Hastings and this is now marked by Battle Abbey. The seat includes part of the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Bexhill was the first resort to allow mixed bathing in 1901 and was the location of the first motor race in Britain in 1902, an event that is marked annually on the Spring Bank Holiday with the ‘Bexhill 100’.
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