The Gower Constituency

Gower is an astonishingly diverse constituency comprising the old fishing village and seaside resort of Mumbles and its invirons to the south of Swansea city centre; the Gower peninsula to its west, the first Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty in Britain and to the north-west and north the Lliw Vlley region has a rich industrial history grounded in coal and steel. Some 76,000 people live in Gower and its population gre by 1.7% between 2001 and 2004. These make up around 31,300 households. The Constituency lies entirely within the borders of the City & County of Swansea. It is by far the biggest Parliamentary constituency of the three that make up the local authority and also has the largest electorate (approx 61,700). About 23% of the population is of retirement age. In 2005/6 63% of Gower pupils achieved five or more GCSE grade A-C compared to an average across wales of 54%. Unemployment claimants numbered 591 in December 2007 (an unemployment rate of 1.8%). In December 1997 there were 1,343 registered unemployed in the Constituency. This makes a reduction of 56%.

Martin Caton