The West Midlands is a ceremonial county, metropolitan county and combined authority area in west-central England with a 2019 estimated population of 2,928,592. This makes it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. It was created in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972 to cover parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The county is a NUTS 2 region within a wider NUTS 1 region of the same name. It covers seven metropolitan boroughs: Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall.
The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. The region consists of the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire. The largest city in the region is Birmingham.
The University of Wolverhampton is a public university located on four campuses across the West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire in England. The roots of the university lie in the Wolverhampton Tradesmen's and Mechanics' Institute founded in 1827 and the 19th-century growth of the Wolverhampton Free Library (1870), which developed technical, scientific, commercial and general classes. This merged in 1969 with the Municipal School of Art, originally founded in 1851, to form the Wolverhampton Polytechnic.
The regional chambers of England were a group of indirectly elected regional bodies that were created by the provisions of the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998. There were eight regional chambers, one for each of the regions of England except Greater London, which had opted for an elected mayor and assembly in 1998. All eight regional chambers had adopted the title "regional assembly" or "assembly" as part of their name, though this was not an official status in law. The chambers were abolished over a two-year period between 31 March 2008 and 31 March 2010 and some of their functions were assumed by newly established Local authority leaders' boards.
The West Midlands region straddles the historic borders between the counties of Warwickshire, Staffordshire in the north, and Worcestershire in the south.
In the United Kingdom, regional development agencies (RDAs) were nine non-departmental public bodies established for the purpose of development, primarily economic, of England's Government Office regions between 1998 and 2010. There was one RDA for each of the NUTS level 1 regions of England. Similar activities were carried out in Wales by the Welsh Government Department of Economy and Transport, in Northern Ireland by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment and in Scotland by Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Sushanta Kumar Bhattacharyya, Baron Bhattacharyya, was a British-Indian engineer, educator and government advisor. In 1980, he became Professor of Manufacturing Systems at the University of Warwick and founded the Warwick Manufacturing Group. In 2004 he was made a Life Peer and became a member of the House of Lords.
The West Northamptonshire Development Corporation (WNDC) was an urban Development Corporation to secure the regeneration of the Urban Development Areas of Daventry, Towcester and Northampton in Northamptonshire, England.
Simon Francis Murphy is a British charity executive and former politician who was a Labour Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1994 to 2004.
The East Midlands Regional Assembly was the regional chamber for the East Midlands region of the England. It was based at Melton.
The South West of England Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) was one of the nine Regional Development Agencies set up by the United Kingdom government in 1999. Its purpose was to lead the development of a sustainable economy in South West England, investing to unlock the region's business potential. It was abolished along with all the other RDAs on 31 March 2012, with some of its functions being replaced by local enterprise partnerships.
Yorkshire Forward was the regional development agency (RDA) for the Yorkshire and the Humber region of the United Kingdom. It supported the development of business in the region by encouraging public and private investment in education, skills, environment and infrastructure. It was abolished on 31 March 2012 following the public spending review announced in 2010.
i54 South Staffordshire is a 239-acre UK technology-based business park located at Junction 2 on the M54 Motorway in the West Midlands, on the boundary of South Staffordshire and Wolverhampton.
WMnet is the tag name for the West Midlands Regional Broadband Consortium, an association of local councils in the West Midlands of England created under the aegis of the Department for Education and Skills National Grid for Learning Programme in 2001.
Jaguar Land Rover Automotive PLC is the holding company of Jaguar Land Rover Limited, and is a British multinational automotive company which produces luxury vehicles and sport utility vehicles. Jaguar Land Rover is a part of Indian automotive company Tata Motors Limited and has its root office at Whitley, Coventry, England. The principal activity of Jaguar Land Rover Limited is the design, development, manufacture and sale of vehicles bearing the Jaguar and Land Rover marques.
Local authority leaders' boards are voluntary regional associations of council leaders that have been established in England outside of Greater London to replace certain functions of the now abolished regional chambers. The establishment of the boards was part of the UK Government's Review of Sub-National Economic Development and Regeneration. which brought forward the Government's plans to alter the structure of regional governance in England and was mandated by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. In June 2010, the new Conservative-LibDem coalition government announced plans to remove funding from the new boards and to remove their statutory functions. It was indicated that the boards might continue as voluntary associations of council leaders.
The North of England Inward Investment Agency is a UK government sponsored agency that represents two regional development agencies (RDAs) in North England: Northwest Regional Development Agency (NWDA), One NorthEast (ONE) and Yorkshire Forward (YF). NoE’s primary function is to work as an ambassador to businesses and therefore attract targeted inward investment to the North of England region.
The Leeds City Region is a city region in Northern England which is centred on the City of Leeds and covers northern parts of the former West Riding of Yorkshire, as opposed to the Sheffield City Region covering southern parts. The activities of the city region are coordinated by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority since 2012, previously the Leeds City Region Partnership, and Leeds City Region Leaders Board, since April 2007 strategic local governance decisions have been made by the joint committee.
The Manufacturing Advisory Service is a former government agency in England and Scotland that advised manufacturing companies.
The West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) is a combined authority for the West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom. It was established by statutory instrument under the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. It is a strategic authority with powers over transport, economic development and regeneration. The authority formally came into being on 17 June 2016.
