A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
West Midlands | |
|---|---|
 West Midlands within England | |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Constituent country | England |
| Region | West Midlands |
| Established | 1 April 1974 |
| Established by | Local Government Act 1972 |
| Time zone | UTC+0 (GMT) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) |
| UK Parliament | 28 MPs |
| Police | West Midlands Police |
| Ceremonial county | |
| Lord Lieutenant | John Crabtree, OBE |
| High Sheriff | Wade Lyn, CBE[1] (2020–21) |
| Area | 902 km2 (348 sq mi) |
| • Rank | 42nd of 48 |
| Population (2022)[2] | 2,953,816 |
| • Rank | 2nd of 48 |
| Density | 3,276/km2 (8,480/sq mi) |
| Ethnicity |
|
| Metropolitan county | |
| Government | West Midlands Combined Authority • Mayor Richard Parker (L) |
| Admin HQ | Birmingham |
| Area | 902 km2 (348 sq mi) |
| ITL | TLG3 |
| Website | wmca |
| Districts | |
 Districts of West Midlands | |
| Districts | |
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West Midlands is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the larger West Midlands region of England. A landlocked county, it is bordered by Staffordshire to the north and west, Worcestershire to the south, and is surrounded by Warwickshire to the east. The largest settlement is the city of Birmingham.
The county is almost entirely urban, with an area of 902 km2 (348 sq mi) and a population of 2,919,600, making it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. After Birmingham (1,144,919) the largest settlements are the cities of Coventry (345,324) and Wolverhampton (263,700), Solihull (126,577), and Sutton Coldfield (109,899). Nearly all of the county's settlements belong to the West Midlands and Coventry built-up areas, though the 'Meriden Gap' between them is rural. For local government purposes West Midlands comprises seven metropolitan boroughs: Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, and Wolverhampton. They collaborate through the West Midlands Combined Authority. The county was historically part of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and Worcestershire.
The west of the county encloses the valley of the River Tame and its tributaries; the highest point of the surrounding area is Turners Hill, at 271 metres (889 ft). West Midlands contains the Sutton Park Site of Special Scientific Interest, which has an area of 970 hectares (2,400 acres) and is one of the largest urban parks in Europe. The area between Solihull and Coventry is part of the Forest of Arden, and the rivers Sowe and Sherbourne flow through Coventry.
Status
The metropolitan county exists in law, as a geographical frame of reference,[4][5][6] and as a ceremonial county. As such it has a Lord Lieutenant[7] and a High Sheriff.[8] Between 1974 and 1986, the West Midlands County Council was the administrative body covering the county; this was abolished on 31 March 1986, and the constituent metropolitan boroughs effectively became unitary authorities. A new administrative body for the county (and some of the district surrounding it as Non-Constituent members), the West Midlands Combined Authority, was created in June 2016. Since May 2017, the authority has been headed by a directly elected Mayor of the West Midlands, a position currently held by Richard Parker of the Labour Co-op. Other county-wide bodies include the West Midlands Police, the West Midlands Fire Service and Transport for West Midlands.
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 Middle Ages, with its prosperity built upon wool and cloth manufacture. Birmingham and Wolverhampton have a tradition of industry dating back to the 16th century, when small metal-working industries developed. Birmingham was known for its manufacture of small arms, whereas Wolverhampton became a centre of lock manufacture and brass working. The coal and iron ore deposits of the Black Country area provided a ready source of raw materials. The area grew rapidly during the Industrial Revolution, and by the 20th century had grown into one large conurbation. Coventry was slower to develop, but by the early 20th century it had become an important centre of bicycle and car manufacture.
1966 saw a substantial reform in the local government of the area as the patchwork of county boroughs with municipal boroughs and urban district councils in between was replaced by a core of county boroughs covering a contiguous area, roughly as follows:
- 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 (Halesowen, Stourbridge and Sutton Coldfield), while Aldridge and Brownhills joined to form a single unit, called Aldridge-Brownhills. In the same year, a single West Midlands Constabulary was formed for the Black Country county boroughs, whilst Birmingham retained its Birmingham City Police and Solihull continued being policed by the Warwickshire Constabulary. The West Midlands Passenger Transport Authority was established in 1968.
County creation
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 ceremonial county, with the offices of Lord Lieutenant and High Sheriff created. Its constituent components had previously been, for ceremonial purposes, under the equivalent offices of Warwickshire (Birmingham CB, Coventry CB, Solihull CB, Sutton Coldfield MB and Meriden RD), Staffordshire (Wolverhampton CB, Walsall CB, West Bromwich CB, Dudley CB and Aldridge-Brownhills UD) and Worcestershire (Warley CB, Stourbridge MB and Halesowen 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)[9] | |
| Dudley | Dudley | – | – | ||
| Sandwell | – | – | – | ||
| Solihull | Solihull | – | – |
| |
| 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 Chasewater, plus the adjacent Jeffreys Swag, were transferred from the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall to the District of Lichfield, Staffordshire.[10] Further boundary changes came into effect in 1995, when part of the Hereford and Worcester parish of Frankley (including the south-west part of Bartley Reservoir) was transferred to Birmingham and became part of the county.
West Midlands Combined Authority
On 17 June 2016, a new administrative body, the West Midlands Combined Authority was created for the county, under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009, which created several other combined authorities in England. The new body has powers over transport, economic development, skills and planning. A new directly elected position of Mayor of the West Midlands was created in 2017 to chair the new body.[11] The first Mayoral election was held in May 2017, and the position was won by Andy Street of the Conservative Party.
Geography
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. Birmingham, Wolverhampton, the Black Country and Solihull together form the third most populous conurbation in the United Kingdom with a combined population of around 2.44 million.[12] However, the West Midlands is not entirely urban; Coventry is separated from the West Midlands conurbation by a stretch of green belt land approximately 13 miles (21 km) across, known as the "Meriden Gap", which retains a strongly rural character. A smaller piece of green belt between Birmingham, Walsall and West Bromwich includes Barr Beacon and the Sandwell Valley.
The highest point in the West Midlands is Turners Hill, with a height of 271 m (889 ft).[13] 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.[14] One of these SSSIs is Sutton Park in Sutton Coldfield, which has an area of 970 hectares (2,400 acres).[15] 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 River Tame. The river basin is the most urbanised basin in the United Kingdom, with approximately 42% of the basin being urbanised.[16] The River Tame is fed by the River Rea, River Anker, and the River Blythe, which in turn is fed by the River Cole. The River Sowe and River Sherbourne both flow through Coventry. The River Stour flows through the west of the West Midlands county.
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,[17] Birmingham was granted city status in 1889,[18] and Wolverhampton in 2000 as a "Millennium City".[19]
Demography
| Ethnic Group | 1971 estimations[20] | 1981 estimations[21] | 1991 census[22] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Number | % | Number | % | Number | % | |
| White: Total | – | 93.2% | 2,371,072 | 88.7% | 2,237,135 | 85.1% |
| White: British | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| White: Irish | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| White: Gypsy or Irish Traveller[a] | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| White: Roma | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| White: Other | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Asian or Asian British: Total | – | – | 206,289 | 7.7% | 276,162 | 10.5% |
| Asian or Asian British: Indian | – | – | 118,101 | 148,320 | ||
| Asian or Asian British: Pakistani | – | – | 65,985 | 93,426 | ||
| Asian or Asian British: Bangladeshi | – | – | 11,006 | 19,131 | ||
| Asian or Asian British: Chinese[b] | – | – | 4,543 | 6119 | ||
| Asian or Asian British: Other Asian | – | – | 6,654 | 9,166 | ||
| Black or Black British: Total | – | – | 80,412 | 3% | 96,384 | 3.7% |
| Black or Black British: African | – | – | 3,602 | 4,134 | ||
| Black or Black British: Caribbean | – | – | 63,597 | 75,612 | ||
| Black or Black British: Other Black | – | – | 13,213 | 16,638 | ||
| Mixed: Total | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Mixed: White and Black Caribbean | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Mixed: White and Black African | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Mixed: White and Asian | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Mixed: Other Mixed | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Other: Total | – | – | 15,327 | 0.5% | 19,719 | 0.7% |
| Other: Arab[a] | – | – | – | – | Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=County_of_West_Midlands||