| West Midlands |
| |
| Geography |
| Status: |
Ceremonial County |
| Region: |
West Midlands |
Area:
- Total |
Ranked
42nd
902 km² |
| ONS code: |
2E |
| NUTS 2: |
UKG3 |
| Demographics |
Population:
- Total (2002 est.)
- Density |
Ranked 2nd
2,575,768
2,856 / km² |
| Ethnicity: |
80.0% White
13.4% S.Asian
3.7% Afro-Carib. |
| Politics |
| Members of Parliament |
| Bob Ainsworth, Adrian Bailey, Richard Burden, Ross Cranston, Jim
Cunningham, Terry Davis, Bruce George, Roger Godsiff, Sylvia Heal, Lynne Jones,
Khalid Mahmood, Rob
Marris, Stephen James McCabe, Andrew Mitchell, Estelle Morris, Ian Pearson, Ken Purchase, Geoffrey
Robinson, Richard Shepherd, Debra Shipley, Clare Short, Siôn Simon, John Spellar,
Caroline Spelman, Gisela Stuart, John Taylor, Dennis Turner, Tom Watson,
David Winnick |
| Districts |
|
- Wolverhampton
- Dudley
- Walsall
- Sandwell
- Birmingham
- Solihull
- Coventry
|
The West Midlands is a landlocked metropolitan county in western central England. Since 1986 it has had no county council. Some confusion is caused by the use of the same name for the much
larger official West Midlands Region of England and
for the even wider geographic zone of the English West Midlands.
The county contains the cities of Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry and most of the Black Country. It also contains the metropolitan boroughs of Dudley,
Sandwell, Solihull, and Walsall, and borders
on Warwickshire, Worcestershire and Staffordshire.
Birmingham, Wolverhampton, the Black Country and Solihull together form one of the largest urban conurbations in England outside London with a combined
population of around 2.25 million. Coventry is separate from the main conurbation.
However the West Midlands is not entirely urban, a stretch of green belt
land roughly 15 miles across, exists between the Birmingham conurbation and Coventry, which retains a strongly rural
character.
The county was created in 1974, with most of the area previously being county boroughs in their own right. Birmingham and Coventry were traditionally
parts of Warwickshire; Wolverhampton and most of the Black Country was
traditionally part of Staffordshire and some of the Black Country was in
Worcestershire.
It was originally run by the "West Midlands County Council" but this was broken up in 1986 and most of the powers given to metropolitan district councils. Some functions such as emergency services and
public transport are still run jointly on a county-wide basis, and it is still a Ceremonial County with a Lord-Lieutenant.
Towns and villages
- Aldridge
- Balsall Common, Bloxwich, Bilston, Birmingham. Blackheath, Brierley Hill
- Coventry
- Dorridge, Dudley
- Halesowen, Hampton-in-Arden
- Marston Green, Meriden
- Oldbury
- Rowley Regis
- Sedgley, Smethwick, Solihull, Stourbridge, Sutton Coldfield
- Tipton
- Walsall, Wednesfield, Wednesbury, West Bromwich, Wolverhampton
Places of interest
Local Groups
External Links
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