The West Midlands is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in western-central England with a 2014 estimated population of 2,808,356, making it the second most populous county in England after Greater London. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The county itself is a NUTS 2 region within the wider NUTS 1 region of the same name. The county consists of seven metropolitan boroughs: the City of Birmingham, the City of Coventry and the City of Wolverhampton, as well as the boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull and Walsall.
The metropolitan counties are a type of county-level administrative division of England. There are six metropolitan counties, which each cover large urban areas, typically with populations of 1.2 to 2.8 million. They were created in 1974 and are each divided into several metropolitan districts or boroughs.
The Midlands is an area of central England that borders the South East, South West, North West, East of England and Yorkshire and the Humber. Its largest city is Birmingham. Broadly corresponding to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia, it was important in the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries. For statistical purposes, the Midlands is divided between the West Midlands and East Midlands.
Transport for West Midlands (TfWM) is the public body responsible for co-ordinating transport services in the West Midlands metropolitan county in England. It is an executive body of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), with bus franchising and highway management powers similar to Transport for London. TfWM's policies and strategy are set by the Transport Delivery Committee of the WMCA.
The BT Tower, formerly known as the Post Office Tower and the GPO Tower is a famous landmark and telecommunications tower in Birmingham, England, and is also the tallest structure in the city. Its Post Office code was YBMR.
The North Midlands is a loosely defined area of England. It is typically held to include the counties of Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, and the northern parts of Lincolnshire and Staffordshire. A combined authority area for the North Midlands was proposed during 2016 for Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire, however the devolution deal for it collapsed later in the year.
The Local Government Association (LGA) is an organisation which comprises local authorities in England and Wales. The LGA seeks to promote better local government; it maintains communication between officers in different local authorities to develop best practice. It also represents the interests of local government to national government. 435 authorities are members of the LGA as of 2016, including 349 English councils and the 22 Welsh councils via the Welsh LGA, as well number of smaller authorities including fire authorities and national parks. The Chief Executive is Mark Lloyd.
Pelsall railway station is a disused railway station in Pelsall, West Midlands that formerly was Walsall-Lichfield section of the South Staffordshire Line.
Brownhills railway station is a disused railway station in Brownhills, West Midlands that formerly was Walsall-Lichfield section of the South Staffordshire Line.
Darlaston James Bridge railway station was a station built on the Grand Junction Railway in 1837, serving the James Bridge area in the east of the town centre of Darlaston, near the junction of Walsall Road and Bentley Mill Way.
Willenhall Bilston Street railway station was a station built on the Grand Junction Railway in 1837. It served the town of Willenhall, and was located just to the south of the town centre. It was one of two railway stations in the town - the other being Willenhall Stafford Street.
Alrewas railway station was a station on the South Staffordshire Railway, which operated in the West Midlands county of Staffordshire, in England. The station was located next to a level crossing, although the road, now the A513, currently crosses over the still extant line on a bridge in Alrewas.
The boundaries of Worcestershire, England have been fluid for over 150 years since the first major changes in 1844. There were many detached parts of Worcestershire in the surrounding counties, and conversely there were islands of other counties within Worcestershire. The 1844 Counties Act began the processing of eliminating these, but the process was not completed until 1966, when Dudley was absorbed into Staffordshire.
Deborah Ann Cadman OBE was born on 11 February 1963 in Birmingham, UK. She is the first permanent Chief Executive of the newly created West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA). Cadman's appointment was announced in June 2017 and she took on the role in September of the same year.
The West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive (WMPTE) was the public body responsible for public transport in the West Midlands metropolitan county in the United Kingdom from 1969 until 2016. The organisation operated under the name Centro from 1990, and was publicly branded as Network West Midlands from 2005.
The inaugural West Midlands mayoral election was held on 4 May 2017 to elect the Mayor of the West Midlands, with subsequent elections to be held every four years from May 2020. The election took place alongside five elections for English metro mayors and other local elections, and ahead of the general election on 8 June 2017.
The Mayor of the West Midlands is a directly elected political post responsible for the metropolitan county of the West Midlands in the United Kingdom. The mayor chairs the West Midlands Combined Authority, and covers the Birmingham metropolitan area and Coventry. The first election took place on Thursday 4 May 2017. Andy Street, the inaugural mayor, will hold office for three years, with the term length being four years thereafter.
The second West Midlands mayoral election will be held in May 2020 to elect the Mayor of the West Midlands.
Coventry Very Light Rail (CVLR) is a planned light rail tram system to operate in Coventry, England. In 2019 it was announced that the first line of the system was planned to be operational by 2024.
