West Midlands (county)

West Midlands
UTC±00:00 (Greenwich Mean Time)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+01:00 (British Summer Time)
Members of Parliament	14 Conservative 14 Labour 2nd of 48
Density	3,235/km2 (8,380/sq mi)
Ethnicity	61.4% White 22.9% Asian 8.1% Black 4.2% Mixed 3.5% Other [2]
Metropolitan county
Government	West Midlands Combined Authority • Mayor Andy Street (C)
Admin HQ	Birmingham
Area	902 km2 (348 sq mi)
ONS code	2E
ITL	UKG3
Website	wmca.org.uk
Districts
Districts of West Midlands
Districts	Wolverhampton Dudley Walsall Sandwell Birmingham Solihull Coventry

West Midlands is a

The county is sometimes described as the "West Midlands metropolitan area" or the "West Midlands conurbation" or "Greater Birmingham", although these have different, less clearly defined, boundaries. The main conurbation or urban area does not include Coventry, for example. The name "West Midlands" is also used for the much larger West Midlands region, which sometimes causes confusion. Geographically the county is on the eastern side of the region, the western side comprising Shropshire and Herefordshire and the southern side comprising Worcestershire and Warwickshire.

History

Although the modern county has only existed since 1974, the settlements of the West Midlands have long been important centres of commerce and industry as well as developing a good local infrastructure. Coventry was one of England's most important cities during the

• Birmingham, which remained substantially unaltered
• Dudley, which absorbed all Brierley Hill, most of Coseley and Sedgley, and part of Amblecote, Tipton and Rowley Regis
• Solihull, which remained substantially unaltered
• Walsall, which absorbed all Darlaston, most of Willenhall, and parts of Wednesbury, Coseley, Wednesfield and Bilston
• Warley, which was created by amalgamating most of Smethwick, Oldbury and Rowley Regis, and parts of Dudley, Tipton, West Bromwich and Halesowen
• West Bromwich, which absorbed most of Wednesbury and Tipton, and parts of Bilston, Oldbury, Smethwick and Walsall
• Wolverhampton, which absorbed most of Bilston, Wednesfield and Tettenhall, and parts of Sedgley, Coseley and Willenhall

Near the area, three other towns remained separate (

In 1974, the Local Government Act 1972 came into effect, creating the metropolitan county of West Midlands. This area was based on the seven county boroughs and the other non-county boroughs and urban districts around the fringe of the conurbation.

The new area consisted of seven new metropolitan boroughs, with Aldridge-Brownhills added to Walsall; Halesowen and Stourbridge to Dudley and Sutton Coldfield to Birmingham. A new borough of Sandwell was formed by the merger of West Bromwich and Warley. The actual designation of Warley itself was abolished and the three towns of Smethwick, Oldbury and Rowley Regis reinstated as component parts of Sandwell, although these areas formed the Warley postal district. Solihull took in much of the suburban fringe to the east of Birmingham, including the former villages of Chelmsley Wood and Castle Bromwich, also Birmingham Airport, and the area of countryside between Solihull and Coventry, whilst Coventry itself received only small changes and Wolverhampton was unaltered. This led to (apart from in the east, with Coventry and the Meriden Gap) quite a tightly defined metropolitan border, excluding such places as Burntwood, Bromsgrove, Cannock, Kidderminster, Lichfield and Wombourne which had been considered for inclusion in the West Midlands metropolitan area by the Redcliffe-Maud Report.

The 1974 reform created the West Midlands County Council that covered the entire area and dealt with strategic issues. A new West Midlands Police service was formed covering the entire area, with the West Midlands Constabulary and Birmingham City Police abolished, and also taking over responsibility from the county forces.

West Midlands was also established as a new

MB).

post-1974		pre-1974
Metropolitan county	Metropolitan borough	County boroughs	Non-county boroughs	Urban districts	Rural districts
West Midlands is an amalgamation of 14 former local government districts, including eight county boroughs.	Birmingham	Birmingham	Sutton Coldfield	–	–
	Coventry	Coventry	–	–	Meriden (part)[8]
	Dudley	Dudley	Halesowen Stourbridge	–	–
	Sandwell	West Bromwich	–	–	–
	Solihull	Solihull	–	–	Meriden (part)[8] Stratford-on-Avon (part)[8]
	Walsall	Walsall	–	Aldridge-Brownhills
	Wolverhampton	Wolverhampton	–	–	–

West Midlands County Council

Between 1974 and 1986, the county had a two-tier system of local government, and the seven districts shared power with the West Midlands County Council. However, the Local Government Act 1985 abolished the metropolitan county councils, and the West Midlands County Council ceased to exist in 1986. Most of its functions were devolved to the West Midland boroughs, which effectively became unitary authorities, with responsibility for most local authority functions.

Following the abolition of the county council, some county-wide bodies continued to exist, which were administered by various joint-boards of the seven districts, among these were the West Midlands Police, the West Midlands Fire Service and the West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive.

Boundary changes

In 1994, the western/southern shores of

The West Midlands is a landlocked county that borders the counties of Warwickshire to the east, Worcestershire to the south, and Staffordshire to the north and west.

The West Midlands County is one of the most heavily urbanised counties in the UK.

The highest point in the West Midlands is Turners Hill, with a height of 271 m (889 ft).^[12] The hill is a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Barr Beacon is another hill in the West Midlands, located on the border of Birmingham and Walsall, with a height of 227 metres (745 ft).

There are 23 Sites of Special Scientific Interest in the county.^[13] One of these SSSIs is Sutton Park in Sutton Coldfield, which has an area of 970 hectares (2,400 acres).^[14] As a result, it is one of the largest urban parks in Europe, and the largest outside of a capital city in Europe.^{[citation needed]} The park also has national nature reserve status.

There are numerous rivers that pass through the county, including the

Like other metropolitan counties, the West Midlands is divided into districts called metropolitan boroughs. There are seven boroughs in the West Midlands, six of which are named after the largest settlement in their administrative area. The West Midlands is unusual amongst the metropolitan counties in that three of its boroughs have city status; Coventry is a city by ancient prescriptive usage,^[16] Birmingham was granted city status in 1889,^[17] and Wolverhampton in 2000 as a "Millennium City".^[18]

Metropolitan borough		Administrative centre	Other towns
City of Birmingham		Birmingham	Aston, Bournville, Edgbaston, Erdington, Great Barr, Hall Green, Handsworth, Harborne, Northfield, Quinton, Soho, Sutton Coldfield
City of Coventry		Coventry	Stoke, Tile Hill
Dudley		Dudley	Amblecote, Brierley Hill, Coseley, Cradley, Gornal, Halesowen, Kingswinford, Lye, Netherton, Sedgley, Stourbridge, Quarry Bank
Sandwell		Oldbury	Bearwood, Blackheath, Cradley Heath, Great Bridge, Old Hill, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Tipton, Tividale, Wednesbury, West Bromwich
Solihull		Solihull	Balsall Common, Bickenhill, Castle Bromwich, Chelmsley Wood, Dorridge, Elmdon, Hampton in Arden, Kingshurst, Knowle, Marston Green, Meriden, Monkspath, Hockley Heath, Shirley
Walsall		Walsall	Aldridge, Birchills, Bloxwich, Brownhills, Darlaston, Leamore, Palfrey, Pelsall, Pheasey, Shelfield, Streetly, Willenhall
City of Wolverhampton		Wolverhampton	Bilston, Blakenhall, Bushbury, Compton, Ettingshall, Heath Town, Oxley, Penn, Tettenhall, Wednesfield

Demography

Economy

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In Central Birmingham

• The Insolvency Service's Intelligence and Enforcement Directorate.^[19]
• Stamp Duty Land Tax and stamp duty on shares^[20]
• National Debtline^[21]
• The Solicitors Regulation Authority^[22]
• H. Samuel, jewellers.^[23]
• Acme Whistles.^[24]
• Mobico Group and CrossCountry in transport.^[25]

Car manufacturers

• Land Rover main factory^[26]
• Jaguar Cars, Peugeot UK and Citroen UK & Ireland^[27] have a large manufacturing plant at Castle Bromwich Assembly making the XJ, XF and XK.^[28]

Nearest Birmingham

• Cadbury's main plant and Cadbury World remains in Bournville, Birmingham; since 2012.
• B Mason & Sons produce rolled copper and
  submarine communication cables.^[29][30]
• Kiepe Electric UK (former Vossloh-Kiepe)^[31]
• Goodyear Tyres^[32]
• Dunlop Aircraft Tyres manufacture and retread^[33]
• Claire's (accessories) European head office is at Erdington.
• Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents in training, surveying and policy advice.^[34]

Outskirts of County

• HiQ, tyre merchants.
• UK Mail^[35]
• Genting Group UK casinos^[36]
• Dana Traction Technologies make axles (including that of the Ford Transit and Range Rover
  ).
• TIMET
  UK.
• Goodrich Engine Controls make engine control systems for jet engines^[37]
• Pilkington Automotive make Triplex Safety Glass^[38]
• Alcoa plant^[39]
• Small-scale production of
  Nanjing Automobile Group on part of the former MG Rover Group site^[40]
• INA) make timing belts and wheel bearings) for wind turbines, passenger cars and aircraft^[41]
• The Works (retailer) distribution centre, books, puzzles, toys and games^[42]
• The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (former Defence Estates)^[43]
• Eaton Electric make residual-current devices^[44]
• National Traffic Control Centre^[45]
• Ishida Europe makes industrial multihead weighers and food processing equipment^[46]
• Aisin Europe Manufacturing
• Keiper
  UK automotive seating

Near other main towns

• Severn Trent (water)^[47]
• Saint-Gobain UK is based at Binley Business Park.
• Coventry Building Society nearby Jewson, is in the east of the city at Binley.
• Chartered Institute of Housing
• RICS UK^[48]
• Bladon Jets develop micro gas turbines and were the first to develop an axial flow micro example in 1994.^[49]
• Halfords Autocentre^[26]
• Axeon UK distributes lithium-ion batteries^[50]

• Morgan Advanced Materials Composites and Defence Systems, make the British Army's helmet – the Mk 7 helmet and electronics for the Cougar MRAP, as well as body armour for the police.^[51]
• Bystronic UK makes laser cutting equipment^[52]
• Stadco UK design division^[53]
• The Education and Skills Funding Agency, and National Apprenticeship Service.
• Celesio.^[54]
• Sainsbury's: TU clothing distribution.^[54]
• British Chambers of Commerce, a representative and awards-giving corporate membership organisation.
• Walkers (snack foods) within their corn and wheat products ranges^[55]
• Gefco UK (owned by Peugeot);
• Co-op National Distribution Centre for the bulk of England^[56]

The

The UK's

Turner Powertrain Systems is the world market leader for transmissions for backhoe loaders, mini excavators telescopic handlers, and site dumpers is further south, near Dunstall Hill. Tata Steel (former site of British Steel Seamless Tubes until 1995) have their Wednesfield Steelpark (built in 1999) on the Walsall boundary.

Essar Steel UK in west Dudley, is the largest independent steel toll processor in the UK.

Key
	Abbey/Priory/Cathedral
	Accessible open space
	Amusement/Theme Park
	Castle
	Country Park
	English Heritage
	Forestry Commission
	Heritage railway
	Historic House
	Places of Worship
	Museum (free/not free)
	National Trust
	Theatre
	Zoo

Education

The West Midlands contains ten universities, seven of which are located in Birmingham:

• Aston University
• University of Birmingham
• Birmingham City University
• University College Birmingham
• BPP University
• University of Law
• Newman University

Both of Coventry University and the University of Warwick are located in Coventry whilst University of Wolverhampton is located in Wolverhampton with campuses in Telford and Walsall.

Each of the local authorities has at least one further education college for students aged over 16, and since September 1992 all of the local authorities have operated traditional 5–7 infant, 7–11 junior, and 11-16/18 secondary schools for students in compulsory education. This followed the demise of 5–8 first, 8–12 middle and 12-16/18 secondary schools in the Sutton Coldfield area.^[57]

For 18 years before September 1990, Dudley had operated 5–8 first, 8–12 middle, and 12-16/18 secondary schools before then, while Halesowen (September 1972 until July 1982) and Aldridge-Brownhills (September 1972 until July 1986) had both operated 5–9 first, 9–13 middle and 13-16/18 secondary schools.

Many local authorities still have sixth form facilities in secondary schools, though sixth form facilities had been axed by most secondary schools in Dudley since the early 1990s (and in Halesowen in 1982) as the local authorities changed direction towards further education colleges.

All secondary state education in Dudley and Sandwell is mixed comprehensive, although there are a small number of single sex and grammar schools existing in parts of Birmingham, Solihull, Wolverhampton and Walsall.

In August 2009, Matthew Boulton College and Sutton Coldfield College merged to become Birmingham Metropolitan College, one of the largest further and higher education institutions in the country. Plans are afoot for the construction of a new campus in the Perry Barr area of Birmingham.

Media

Television

The area is served by BBC West Midlands and ITV Central which both broadcast from Birmingham, the local based-television station TalkBirmingham also covers the area. Television signals are received from the Sutton Coldfield TV transmitter.^[58]

Radio

BBC Local

In terms of BBC Local Radio, the area is served by BBC Radio WM and BBC CWR covering Coventry.

Commercial

Commercial radio stations include

Community

Community radio stations include:

• The Bridge 102.5 (Stourbridge)
• Big City Radio (Birmingham)
• Radio Plus and Hillz FM in (Coventry)
• WCR FM and Gorgeous Radio (Wolverhampton)
• Black Country Radio (Black Country)

Sport

The West Midlands is home to numerous sports teams. In

In rugby league, the Midlands Hurricanes are the only team from the county playing in the professional ranks, currently in the third tier League 1.

In

The West Midlands is also home to Warwickshire County Cricket Club, who are based at Edgbaston Cricket Ground, which also hosts Test matches and One Day Internationals. The Birmingham Panthers basketball team replaced the Birmingham Bullets and are currently based at a facility provided by the University of Wolverhampton in Walsall.

The West Midlands has its own Quidditch team, West Midlands Revolution (after its part in the Industrial Revolution), which won the Quidditch Premier League in 2017.^[59]

See also

• List of ceremonial counties in England by gross value added
• List of conservation areas in the West Midlands
• Evolution of Worcestershire county boundaries

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to West Midlands (county).

• Photographs of Birmingham and the West Midlands
• Identity in the West Midlands
• West Midlands Joint Committee
• Images of West Midlands Archived 2 October 2012 at the
  English Heritage Archive

West Midlands (county) at

Curlie

52°30′N 1°50′W / 52.500°N 1.833°W / 52.500; -1.833