The name ‘Redditch County' was created in 2010 following parliamentary boundary changes owing to the numerous villages that were added to the constituency at that time, designating it as a ‘County Constituency’ as opposed to a ‘Borough Constituency’.
Borough constituencies are predominantly urban while county constituencies are predominantly rural. There is no definitive statutory criterion for the distinction; the Boundary Commission for England has stated that, “as a general principle, where constituencies contain more than a small rural element they should normally be designated as county constituencies. Otherwise they should be designated as borough constituencies.”
The Redditch County constituency comprises the town of Redditch, as well as the surrounding villages including Feckenham, Hanbury, Inkberrow and The Lenches.
The Redditch seat was created in 1997, taking the town out of the Mid-Worcestershire constituency at the time. The first MP for the new constituency in 1997 was Jacqui Smith who went on to become the country’s first female Home Secretary. From 2010 to 2017, the seat was represented by Karen Lumley. From 2017 the seat has been represented by Rachel Maclean. This means the constituency has only ever been represented in Parliament by women.