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Nick Harvey MPStanding up for North Devon since 1992 |
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About North Devon
North Devon is a large rural constituency noted for beautiful coastline and hilly landscapes. The largest settlements are Barnstaple, Ilfracombe, Braunton and South Molton.
Tourism and agriculture employ significant numbers, as do services, light industry and the retail sector, where Barnstaple has boomed as a sub-regional centre. Employment is slightly higher than average, but wages are among the lowest in the country (c. £17,000 average).
By contrast house prices are very high (c. £260,000 average) pushed up by second home owners and people retiring into the area. There are very few social houses to rent, and long waiting lists. Many households are classed as living in poverty. Ilfracombe and Barnstaple include government priority deprived wards.
The proportion of retired people is way above average. Crime figures are low. Public services are thin as a result of unfair urban-biased funding formulae used by both the current Labour and previous Conservative governments.
Nevertheless, the community enjoys a good quality of life and the area attracts both inward investors and visitors keen to share in it.
Politically the seat was Liberal for more of the 20th century than it was Conservative. Former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe was MP from 1959 to 1979. Nick Harvey recaptured the seat in 1992 and has held it in 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2010.
LOCAL INFORMATION
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