This constituency varies from the affluent wards of Mapperley and Sherwood to the inexpensive terraced housing of Radford and Forest wards. Most council housing is based in Manvers and Sherwood. Only Greenwood and Basford wards of Nottingham City Council currently have Conservative representation.
Even Mapperley is now Labour. The area has received much money from the New Deal for Communities - £55m for Radford over 10 years - and from the neighbourhood renewal fund. The constituency is also covered by a Health Action Zone and by the DfEE initiative, Excellence in Cities.
At 7.2%, the constituency has the 52nd highest rate of unemployment in the UK (December 2000 figures). It also has a high proportion of manual workers and at least 15.7% of the population are non-white.
The main employment within the constituency is small manufacturing and some textiles, although this has diminished considerably over recent years. Otherwise many people commute out of the constituency borders to work - Boots, Raleigh and two call centres are based nearby. Many people in the constituency used to work in mining.