The Borough covers mainly affluent suburbs north-east of Nottingham including Arnold, Carlton and part of Mapperley and the area north of Nottingham into the rural villages of Calverton, Woodborough, Ravenshead and Newstead extending north towards Mansfield. The Borough is one of contrasts: Arnold has a significant amount of council housing, whereas properties in the Newstead Abbey area of the borough often retail at between £1 million and £3 million. The area is split into an urban commuter base and rural farmland. The Bonington Theatre in Arnold is named after the landscape painterRichard Parkes Bonington. The borough's most famous former resident is Lord Byron, who resided at Newstead Abbey. In the older part of Gedling is All HallowsAnglican Church. It dates from the 11th century, with the oldest part of the church dating back to 1089. The Mary Hardstaff Homes were built on Arnold Lane in 1936.
Politics
Council
Gedling Borough Council is elected every four years, with 41 councillors being elected at each election. The Conservative Party controlled the council from the first election in 1973 through to 1995. Since then, both the Conservative and Labour parties have controlled the council, including a period between the 2003 election and the 2007 election when the parties shared power. At the most recent election in 2011Labour gained control from the Conservatives and after a subsequent by-election the council is composed of the following councillors:-
Parliamentary
The borough is covered by two parliamentary constituencies. The more urban part of the borough adjoining Nottingham is in the Gedling constituency, which until 1983 was known as Carlton. This was held by the Conservatives from its creation in 1950 until 1997 when it was taken by the Labour Party. Vernon Coaker has been the Member of Parliament since then. The rural part of the borough, including Calverton and Ravenshead, forms part of the Sherwood constituency, whose MP from 1992 to 2010 was Labour’s Paddy Tipping. It is now is held by Mark Spencer, who won by 214 votes in the 2010 general election. The constituency was created in 1983 and, as the area covered included many ex-mining areas, it was anticipated that it would be an easy target for Labour. However, Andy Stewart, a Conservative, won and held it until 1992. This is perceived to be because the majority of Nottinghamshire miners did not strike during the 1984-85 miners' strike and that the area also contains some of the most affluent areas in the county such as Ravenshead and Newstead Abbey Park.
