This seat is overwhelmingly residential, white and middle-class - in the 1991 census 51% were classed as professional or managerial/technical. It had one of the highest levels of owner-occupation (85%) and only nearby Sutton Coldfield had a lower level of unskilled people in England and Wales. In the west it borders Birmingham near the International Airport.
Despite its residential character, the seat is home to a number of large companies. The most important of these is Land Rover - until recently a division of BMW but now owned by Ford. It was the only consistently profitable part of the old Rover Group and unlike the other parts is in no danger of closure. It employs about 10,000 people in the constituency at its Lode Lane plant.
Conservatives took control of the council in the local elections last year.