The West Midlands sometimes referred to as the "West Midlands County" is a metropolitan county in the West Midlands Region, England with a 2020 estimated population of 2,939,927, making it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. It appeared as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, to cover parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The county is a NUTS 2 region within the wider NUTS 1 region of the same name. It embraces seven metropolitan boroughs: the cities of Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton, and the boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall. The county is also a combined authority which is over seen by the West Midlands Combined Authority which covers all seven boroughs and other non-constituent councils on economy, transport and housing.
Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, 6 miles (9.7 km) south-east of Wolverhampton and 10.5 miles (16.9 km) north-west of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley and in 2011 had a population of 79,379. The Metropolitan Borough, which includes the towns of Stourbridge and Halesowen, had a population of 312,900. In 2014 the borough council named Dudley as the capital of the Black Country.
The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley is a metropolitan borough of West Midlands, England. It was created in 1974 following the Local Government Act 1972, through a merger of the existing Dudley County Borough with the municipal boroughs of Stourbridge and Halesowen. The borough borders Sandwell to the east, the city of Birmingham to the south east, Bromsgrove to the south in Worcestershire, South Staffordshire District to the west, and the city of Wolverhampton to the north.
Sandwell Valley is an area of green belt in the county of West Midlands, England, on the border of Birmingham and West Bromwich, with Walsall at its northern end.
Sandwell Valley Country Park is a country park, run by Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, in Sandwell Valley, on the River Tame in the middle of the urban conurbation between Birmingham and West Bromwich in West Midlands, England.
Cradley Heath is a town in the Rowley Regis area of the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies within the Black Country and is situated 2.5 miles (4 km) north of Halesowen, 4 miles (6 km) south of Dudley and 9 miles (14 km) west of central Birmingham. Cradley Heath is often confused with the neighbouring Halesowen district of Cradley, although the two places are separated by the River Stour and have long been in separate local authorities, and until 1966 were in separate counties.
Netherton is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, 1.5 miles (2 km) south of Dudley town centre in the West Midlands of England, but historically in Worcestershire. Part of the Black Country, Netherton is bounded by nature reserves to the east and west, and an industrial area and the Dudley Southern By-Pass to the north.
The County Borough of Dudley was a local government district in the English Midlands from 1865 to 1974. Originally a municipal borough, it became a county borough in 1889, centred on the main town centre of Dudley, along with the suburbs of Netherton and Woodside. Although surrounded by Staffordshire, the borough was associated with Worcestershire for non-administrative purposes, forming an exclave of the county until 1966, when it was transferred to Staffordshire after an expansion of the borough boundaries. Following local government reorganization in 1974, Dudley took in the boroughs of Halesowen and Stourbridge to form the present-day Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the newly formed West Midlands county.
Netherton Tunnel Branch Canal, in the West Midlands county, England, is part of the Birmingham Canal Navigations, (BCN). It was constructed at a 453–foot elevation, the Wednesbury or Birmingham level; it has no locks. The total length of the branch canal is 2.4 miles (3.9 km) and the canal tunnel is 9,081 feet (2,768 m) long.
Cotwall End Valley is a local nature reserve in West Midlands, England. It is about a mile south of Sedgley, in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley.
Haden Hill is a residential area in the West Midlands of England, straddling the border of Halesowen and Cradley Heath townships and the modern boroughs of Dudley and Sandwell.
The present day Bumble Hole Branch Canal and Boshboil Branch surround Bumble Hole, a water-filled clay pit, in Bumble Hole and Warren's Hall Nature Reserve, Rowley Regis, West Midlands, England. They formed a looped part of the original Dudley No. 2 Canal until the opening of the Netherton Tunnel in 1858 when the loop was bypassed by a new cut, in line with the new tunnel. Part of the bypassed canal loop, which surrounds Bumble Hole, is now in-filled giving access to the pool of Bumble Hole. An area next to the Bumble Hole and Dudley canals is the Bumble Hole Local Nature Reserve.
Fens Pools is a 37.6 hectare biological site of Special Scientific Interest in the West Midlands. The site was notified in 1989. under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and is currently managed by the Country Trust.
Sheepwash Urban Park is a Local Nature Reserve (LNR), situated in Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, in the West Midlands conurbation of the United Kingdom. It forms part of the Black Country Urban Forest.
Saltwells Local Nature Reserve is situated in the Netherton area of Dudley Metropolitan Borough in West Midlands, England. The reserve, created in 1981, covers 247 acres and includes Saltwells Wood and part of Netherton Hill within its boundaries. The reserve encloses two Sites of Special Scientific Interest and one scheduled ancient monument.
Warren's Hall Country Park is a local nature reserve situated in Sandwell Metropolitan Borough in the West Midlands of England. It lies next to Bumble Hole Local Nature Reserve. It includes ponds, canals, grassland, small wooded areas and the entrance to Netherton Canal Tunnel.
Barrow Hill Local Nature Reserve is a local nature reserve situated in Pensnett in the county of West Midlands, England. Its most distinctive feature, Barrow Hill, is the eroded remnant of a high level igneous intrusion that was formed 315 million years ago during the Carboniferous period. The reserve was created in 2005.
Buckpool and Fens Pool Local Nature Reserve is situated in the Pensnett area of the West Midlands. The largest area of open water in Dudley Metropolitan Borough, it contains both large and small ponds, one end of the Stourbridge Canal, streams and grassy areas. It was created in 1993.
Bradlaugh Fields is a 60 hectare open space in Northampton. The site is a former golf course. In 1987 it was proposed to build housing on the site, but after a campaign by local residents it was acquired by Northampton Borough Council and opened as a wildlife park in 1998. It was named after Charles Bradlaugh, a leading nineteenth century radical and atheist who was MP for Northampton. Three fields with a total area of 17.5 hectares are managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire as a nature reserve also called Bradlaugh Fields. Hills and Holes is at the southern end and two adjoining meadows, Scrub Field and Quarry Field, are at the northern end. Hills and Holes is an 8.3 hectare Local Nature Reserve (LNR) and Scrub Field is a 5.1 hectare LNR.
Forge Mill Lake is a local nature reserve in Sandwell Valley, near West Bromwich in West Midlands, England. It is within Sandwell Valley Country Park.
