The west of the county encloses the valley of theRiver Tame and its tributaries; the highest point of the surrounding area isTurners Hill, at 271 metres (889 ft). West Midlands contains theSutton 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 theForest of Arden, and the riversSowe andSherbourne flow through Coventry.
The county is sometimes described as the "West Midlandsmetropolitan area" or the "West Midlands conurbation" or "Greater Birmingham", although these have different, less clearly defined, boundaries. The mainconurbation or urban area does not include Coventry, for example. The name "West Midlands" is also used for the much largerWest Midlands region, which sometimes causes confusion. Geographically the county is on the eastern side of the region, the western side comprisingShropshire andHerefordshire and the southern side comprisingWorcestershire andWarwickshire.
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 theMiddle 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 ofsmall arms, whereas Wolverhampton became a centre of lock manufacture and brass working. The coal and iron ore deposits of theBlack Country area provided a ready source of raw materials. The area grew rapidly during theIndustrial 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 ofcounty boroughs withmunicipal boroughs andurban district councils in between was replaced by a core of county boroughs covering a contiguous area, roughly as follows:
Birmingham, which remained substantially unaltered
In 1974, theLocal 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, withAldridge-Brownhills added toWalsall; Halesowen and Stourbridge to Dudley and Sutton Coldfield to Birmingham. A new borough ofSandwell 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 ofChelmsley Wood andCastle Bromwich, alsoBirmingham 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 asBurntwood,Bromsgrove,Cannock,Kidderminster,Lichfield andWombourne which had been considered for inclusion in the West Midlands metropolitan area by theRedcliffe-Maud Report.
The 1974 reform created theWest Midlands County Council that covered the entire area and dealt with strategic issues. A newWest 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 theWest Midlands County Council. However, theLocal 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 becameunitary 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 ofWarwickshire to the east,Worcestershire to the south, andStaffordshire to the north and west.
The highest point in the West Midlands isTurners Hill, with a height of 271 m (889 ft).[13] The hill is aSite 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 (745 ft).
There are numerous rivers that pass through the county, including theRiver Tame. Theriver 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 theRiver Rea,River Anker, and theRiver Blythe, which in turn is fed by theRiver Cole. TheRiver Sowe andRiver Sherbourne both flow through Coventry. TheRiver Stour flows through the west of the West Midlands county.
Like othermetropolitan counties, the West Midlands is divided intodistricts calledmetropolitan 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 havecity status; Coventry is a city byancient 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 theSutton 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 becomeBirmingham 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 thePerry Barr area of Birmingham.
The West Midlands has its ownQuidditch team, West Midlands Revolution (after its part in theIndustrial Revolution), which won the Quidditch Premier League in 2017.[66]
^"West Midlands 2013/2014". High Sheriff's Association of England and Wales (The Shrievalty Association).Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved24 November 2013.
^abcWhitaker's Almanack 1974, complete edition (106th ed.). London: J. Whitaker & Sons. 1973 [1868]. p. 672.ISBN0-85021-067-4.
^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 inBeckett, J V (2005).City status in the British Isles, 1830–2002. Aldershot: Ashgate. p. 12.ISBN0-7546-5067-7.
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