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West_Midlands_(region)

West_Midlands_(region)

West Midlands (region)
The West Midlands is an official Region of England, covering the western half of the area traditionally known as the Midlands. It contains the second largest British city, Birmingham, and the larger West Midlands conurbation, which includes the city of Wolverhampton and large towns of Dudley, Solihull, Walsall and West Bromwich. The city of Coventry is also located within the West Midlands county, but is separated from the conurbation to the west by several miles of green belt.

The region is geographically diverse, from the urban central areas of the conurbation to the rural western counties of Shropshire and Herefordshire which border Wales. The longest river in the UK, the River Severn, traverses the region southeastwards, flowing through the county towns of Shrewsbury and Worcester, and the Ironbridge Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, as birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. Staffordshire is home to the industrialised Potteries conurbation, including the city of Stoke-on-Trent, and the Staffordshire Moorlands area, which borders the southeastern Peak District National Park near Leek. The region also encompasses five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Warwickshire is home to the town of Stratford upon Avon, the birthplace of poet William Shakespeare.

Geography

The official region contains the large conurbation that includes Birmingham and Wolverhampton, but also covers the predominantly rural shire counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

Unofficially the West Midlands region also spreads as far as Gloucestershire and Oxfordshire, but these are not part of the official region.

There is some confusion in the use of the term "West Midlands", as the name is also used for the much smaller West Midlands county, and is still used by various organisations within that area such as West Midlands Police and West Midlands Fire Service.

The highest point in the region is Black Mountain, at 703 metres / 2,307 ft in west Herefordshire on the border with Powys, Wales.

The region contains five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONBs), including all of the Shropshire Hills, Malvern Hills and Cannock Chase, and parts of the Wye Valley and Cotswolds. The Peak District national park also stretches into the northern corner of Staffordshire.

Transport

Numerous notable roads pass through the region, with most converging around the conurbation. The M5, taking traffic from the South West to the North, runs through Worcestershire, past Worcester, then north through to the West Midlands county, past West Bromwich before terminating just south of Walsall at the M6. The M6 enters from the southeast, passing Rugby, Coventry and Birmingham, before continuing north through Staffordshire past Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent. The M6 toll bypasses Birmingham, travelling north of Sutton Coldfield and Cannock before terminating at the M6. The M40 travels southeast past Warwick and Banbury to London. The M42 travels southwest past Tamworth, Castle Bromwich and Solihull before ending on the M40. The M50 travels west from the M5 to Ross-on-Wye. The M54 travels east from Wellington, past Telford, before ending on the M6 near Cannock. The A5 road traverses the region northwest-southeast, passing through Shrewsbury, Cannock, Tamworth and Nuneaton.

Towns and cities

Bold indicates city status.
Major towns and cities in the West Midlands region include :

Population > 750,000

Population > 250,000

Population > 100,000

Population > 70,000

Population > 50,000

Other Notable

Regional Assembly

The official representative body of the region is the West Midlands Regional Assembly which has limited administrative functions such as regional planning and economic development. The assembly is not an elected body, but is made up of members appointed from local councils across the region, and members from regional interest groups such as business and environmental groups and trade unions, known as a quango. It is based on Edward Street in Birmingham, near the National Indoor Arena.

Local government

The official region consists of the following subdivisions:

Ceremonial county County/ unitary Districts
Herefordshire
Shropshire Shropshire † a.) Bridgnorth, b.) North Shropshire, c.) Oswestry, d.) Shrewsbury and Atcham, e.) South Shropshire
Telford and Wrekin U.A.
Staffordshire Staffordshire † a.) Cannock Chase, b.) East Staffordshire, c.) Lichfield, d.) Newcastle-under-Lyme, e.) South Staffordshire, f.) Stafford, g.) Staffordshire Moorlands, h.) Tamworth
Stoke-on-Trent U.A.
Warwickshire † a.) North Warwickshire, b.) Nuneaton and Bedworth, c.) Rugby, d.) Stratford-on-Avon, e.) Warwick
West Midlands * a.) Birmingham, b.) Coventry, c.) Dudley, d.) Sandwell, e.) Solihull, f.) Walsall, g.) Wolverhampton
Worcestershire † a.) Bromsgrove, b.) Malvern Hills, c.) Redditch, d.) Worcester, e.) Wychavon, f.) Wyre Forest

Key: shire county = † | metropolitan county = *

Demography

Ceremonial County Population Population Density Largest local authority Largest settlement
West Midlands (region) 5,267,337 405/km² Birmingham (1,006,500) Birmingham (970,892)
West Midlands (county) 2,600,100 2,884/km² Birmingham (1,006,500) Birmingham (970,892)
Staffordshire 1,062,500 391/km² Stoke-on-Trent (240,636) Stoke-on-Trent (259,252)
Worcestershire 552,900 318/km² Wychavon (116,300) Worcester (93,400)
Warwickshire 522,200 264/km² Warwick (132,900) Nuneaton (70,721)
Shropshire 451,100 129/km² Telford & Wrekin (161,900) Telford (138,241)
Herefordshire 177,800 82/km² N/A Hereford (50,400)

The West Midlands' population accounts for almost 11% of England's overall population. 49.36% of the region's population resides in the West Midlands county, 20.17% in Staffordshire, 10.49% in Worcestershire, 9.91% in Warwickshire, 8.56% in Shropshire, and 3.37% in Herefordshire.

Economy

West Midlands conurbation

Coal mining used to be the main industry of the Black Country. Nationally famous companies in the West Midlands include Cadbury's in Bournville, Birmingham. Mitchells and Butlers, the pub chain company, CrossCountry, and National Express are in Birmingham. MG Rover Group was sold in 2005 and most of the plant was knocked down but small production of cars began on the site by Nanjing Automobile Group in 2008. The former Rover Company had begun from the inventor of the modern-day bicycle in Coventry. H. Samuel, the jewellers, is in Hockley of the Jewellery Quarter. RoSPA is based in Edgbaston, Dollond & Aitchison are in Aston, Goodyear Tyres and Dunlop Tyres are in Erdington, and Severn Trent (water) in Sheldon. AGA Consumer Products Ltd is in Shirley. Daihatsu UK is in West Bromwich. E.ON UK (former Powergen), Jaguar Cars and Volvo Cars UK, Peugeot UK (head office), Jewson, and Thomson Holidays are in Coventry. Land Rover and Enterprise Inns are in Solihull. Carillion plc and Tarmac are in Wolverhampton, with Poundland in Willenhall.

Staffordshire

The brewing companies such as Coors Brewers are in Burton on Trent, as well as Marmite, Marston's, and Punch Taverns. JCB is based in Staffordshire. Michelin Tyres are made in Sideway in Stoke-on-Trent. RoadChef are at Norton Canes, near Cannock. Armitage Shanks is in Rugeley.

Rural counties

ConocoPhillips UK, JET (petrol), and Volvo Group UK are in Warwick. BMW have their main European four-cylinder engine plant at Hams Hall near the M42. Codemasters is in Leamington Spa. ALDI UK is in Atherstone, Holland & Barrett, the health food chain, is based in Nuneaton. Aston Martin is at Gaydon. Morgan Est is in Rugby. NFU Mutual is in Tiddington near Stratford. The British Horse Society is in Kenilworth. Bulmers Cider is in Hereford. Halfords and GKN are in Redditch. Lea & Perrins is in Worcester. Müller Dairy Ltd is based in Market Drayton, Shropshire.

Education

Birmingham (8), Walsall (2), Wolverhampton (1), Warwickshire (6), Stoke on Trent (1), and Telford and Wrekin (2) have selective schools. The other counties or metropolitan boroughs do not - being completely comprehensive. Virtually all of the grammar schools are in the top twenty schools for the West Midlands. Competition for these schools can be high, with their excellent records. At GCSE, the best performing area is Solihull, followed closely by Shropshire. Herefordshire is also above the England average. The worst performing area is Sandwell, followed by Stoke-on-Trent. Wolverhampton and Walsall also do not perform well. For a metropolitan borough, Dudley performs higher than many in Birmingham. At A level, the best performing area is Herefordshire, followed by Shropshire. All the other areas of the West Midlands perform under the UK average. Solihull does not perform as well at A level as it does at GCSE.

School league tables

Below is a list of the top twenty state schools in the West Midlands by 2007 A level results:

Universities

There are nine universities in the region:

There are also three university colleges:

Local media

Gallery

External links

References

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia © 2001-2006 Wikipedia contributors (Disclaimer)
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Last updated on Saturday October 04, 2008 at 10:09:53 PDT (GMT -0700)
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