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 (889ft). West Midlands contains the Sutton ParkSite 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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
Map of West Midlands,showing urban areas in grey and metropolitan district boundariesPopulation density map
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 highest point in the West Midlands is Turners Hill,with a height of 271m (889ft).[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 (745ft).
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]
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.[51]
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.
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.[66]
↑ In 2001, listed under the 'Chinese or other ethnic group' heading.
Related Research Articles
Sandwell is a metropolitan borough of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council defines the borough as the six amalgamated towns of Oldbury, Rowley Regis, Smethwick, Tipton, Wednesbury and West Bromwich. Rowley Regis includes the towns of Blackheath and Cradley Heath.
Oldbury is a market town in the metropolitan borough of Sandwell, in the county of the West Midlands, England. It is the administrative centre of the borough. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 13,606, while the 2017 population of the wider built-up area was estimated at 25,488. Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, which defines Oldbury Town as consisting of the wards of Bristnall, Langley, Oldbury, and Old Warley, gave the population as 50,641 in 2011.
The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of International Territorial Level for statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area known traditionally as the Midlands. The region consists of the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire. The region has seven cities: Birmingham, Coventry, Hereford, Lichfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton and Worcester.
The West Midlands conurbation is the large conurbation in the West Midlands region of England. The area consists of two cities and numerous towns: to the east, the city of Birmingham, along with adjacent towns of Solihull and Sutton Coldfield; and to the west, the city of Wolverhampton and the area called the Black Country, containing the towns of Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Oldbury, Willenhall, Bilston, Darlaston, Tipton, Smethwick, Wednesbury, Rowley Regis, Stourbridge and Halesowen.
The Metropolitan Borough of Walsall is a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England. It is named after its largest settlement, Walsall, but covers a larger area which also includes Aldridge, Bloxwich, Brownhills, Darlaston, Pelsall and Willenhall.
Warley was a short-lived county borough and civil parish in the geographical county of Worcestershire, England, forming part of the West Midlands conurbation. It was formed in 1966 by the combination of the existing county borough of Smethwick with the municipal boroughs of Oldbury and Rowley Regis, by recommendation of the Local Government Commission for England. It was abolished just 8 years later in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, with its area passing to the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell.
Birmingham, a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands, England, is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom.
Streetly is an area in the county of West Midlands, England which lies around 7 miles (11 km) to the north of Birmingham City Centre. It is uniquely located within the borders of Birmingham, Lichfield and Walsall district authorities, and is part of the West Midlands conurbation. It is adjacent to, New Oscott, Great Barr, Four Oaks, Little Aston and Aldridge.
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 West Midlands region straddles the historic borders between the counties of Warwickshire, Staffordshire in the north, and Worcestershire in the south.
A civil parish is a subnational entity, forming the lowest unit of local government in England. There are 21 civil parishes in the ceremonial county of West Midlands, most of the county being unparished; Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton are completely unparished. At the 2001 census, there were 89,621 people living in the parishes, accounting for 3.5 per cent of the county's population.
The Sutton Park line is a freight-only railway line running from Walsall to Castle Bromwich and Water Orton in the West Midlands, England. It is an important and strategic route, as it enables most freight trains to avoid congestion at Birmingham New Street station. It gets its name as it runs through Sutton Park at Sutton Coldfield, West Midlands.
Scouting in West Midlands provides an overview of Scouting activities in the governmental region of the West Midlands. The largest number of Scouts and volunteer leaders in the region is linked to the Scout Association of the United Kingdom, while there is also a presence of traditional Scouting groups, such as the Baden-Powell Scouts' Association. The Scout Association administers the region through 8 Scout Counties, overseen by a regional commissioner, which follow the boundaries of the ceremonial counties they exist within. There are also a number of Scouting clubs within Universities in the region which are affiliated to the Student Scout and Guide Organisation.
Healthcare in the West Midlands was, until July 2022, the responsibility of five integrated care groups: Birmingham and Solihull, Sandwell and West Birmingham, Dudley, Wolverhampton, and Walsall.
The Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership was a local enterprise partnership (LEP) established in 2012, which sought to help with economic growth and plans around the Black Country, in West Midlands County, England. The partnership officially closed services at the end of 2023 with operations moving over to the West Midlands Combined Authority.
↑ "West Midlands 2013/2014". High Sheriff's Association of England and Wales (The Shrievalty Association). Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
↑ John S. Rowan; R. W. Duck; A. Werritty (2006). Sediment Dynamics and the Hydromorphology of Fluvial Systems. IAHS. p.98. ISBN1-901502-68-6.
↑ Home Office List of English Cities by Ancient Prescriptive Right, 1927, cited in Beckett, J V (2005). City status in the British Isles, 1830–2002. Aldershot: Ashgate. p.12. ISBN0-7546-5067-7.
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