81-728: The Severn Valley is a rural area of the West Midlands region of England, through which the River Severn runs and the Severn Valley Railway steam heritage line operates, starting at its northernmost point in Bridgnorth , Shropshire and running south for 16 miles (26 km) to Ribbesford , a few miles south of Bewdley , Worcestershire in the Wyre Forest . The area is about 25 miles (40 km) due west of Birmingham . There
162-403: A "Sub-National Review of Economic Development and Regeneration". Most of their functions transferred to the relevant regional development agency and to local authority leaders' boards . In June 2010, the incoming Coalition Government announced its intentions to abolish regional strategies and return spatial planning powers to local government. These plans include the withdrawal of funding to
243-722: A decade later the Labour administration also founded the Regional Improvement and Efficiency Partnerships (RIEPs) with £185m of devolved funding to enhance councils' capacity to improve and take the lead in their own improvement. The Maastricht Treaty encouraged the creation of regional boundaries for selection of members for the Committee of the Regions of the European Union : Wales , Scotland and Northern Ireland had each constituted
324-705: A few miles north in Bewdley . To the south of Gloucester , it becomes the Vale of Berkeley and then the Severn Estuary . The Severn Valley was under the rule of Ceawlin of Wessex after the Battle of Deorham in 577 AD as part of the Kingdom of Hwicce . In 628 AD, Penda of Mercia 's victory in the Battle of Cirencester led to his rule over the Severn Valley. The area is typified by
405-462: A long stick as they progress. 52°30′N 2°20′W / 52.500°N 2.333°W / 52.500; -2.333 West Midlands region 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
486-708: A region, but England represents such a large proportion of the population of the United Kingdom that further division was thought necessary. The English regions, which initially numbered ten, also replaced the Standard Statistical Regions . Merseyside originally constituted a region in itself, but in 1998 it was merged into the North West England region, creating the nine present-day regions. The nine regions were used as England's European Parliament constituencies from 1999 until Britain's departure from
567-440: A regional local authority leaders' board on a smaller scale), but which also receive additional delegated functions from central government relating to transport and economic policy. Regional development agencies were public bodies established in all nine regions in 1998 to promote economic development. They had certain delegated functions, including administering European Union regional development funds, and received funding from
648-699: A series of referendums were planned to establish elected regional assemblies in some of the regions. The first was held in London in 1998 and was passed. The London Assembly and Mayor of London of the Greater London Authority were created in 2000. A referendum was held in North East England on 4 November 2004, but the proposal for an elected assembly was rejected. In 2007, a Treasury Review for new Prime Minister Gordon Brown recommended that greater powers should be given to local authorities and that
729-545: A site at Cooper's Bank , south of Gornalwood . Ditherington Flax Mill in Shrewsbury was the first iron-framed building in the world in 1797. Thomas Bolton & Sons of Froghall , Staffordshire, made the world's first transatlantic telegraph cable in 1857, having supplied a submarine cable across the English Channel in 1850. On 10 July 1890, a trunk circuit telephone line was opened between London and Birmingham by
810-413: A small visitors' centre. During periods of low water (typically August), fording the river is occasionally possible at almost any point along the Severn Valley, notably near the old bridges at Bridgnorth and Bewdley , and at the appropriately named Quatford . At mid and high water, fording is dangerous due to deep, fast-flowing and often non-visible river channels. Forders are advised to test depth with
891-413: A substantial river bed with deep fast-flowing channels, surrounded by a small flood plain and rolling wooded hills. Due to the soft sandstone banks, it is difficult to build bridges that can bear heavy loads. The only public road bridges are at Bridgnorth and Bewdley , meaning that there is no way for road traffic to cross the river for 16 miles(26 km). The two main roads along the valley are
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#1732844551316972-456: A unitary authority in 2009) were Bromsgrove, South Staffordshire, Warwick, Wychavon, and Lichfield. At county level, the least deprived areas, in descending order, were Warwickshire, Worcestershire, Solihull, Staffordshire, and Shropshire. In March 2011 the region had the second highest overall unemployment claimant count in England at 4.7%, second to North East England . The highest in the region
1053-599: A whole as measured by the 2011 census was as follows: For top-tier authorities in the West Midlands, Stoke-on-Trent has the highest teenage pregnancy rate. For council districts, Nuneaton and Bedworth in Warwickshire has the highest rate closely followed by Tamworth . For top-tier authorities, Shropshire has the lowest rate, and for council districts Malvern Hills has the lowest rate. The region, from studies of multiple deprivation, shows similarities with Yorkshire and
1134-536: 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 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 . Major towns and cities in
1215-466: Is Warwickshire (its population is between 550,000 and 600,000 people). The other counties and metropolitan boroughs have none, their public education systems are comprehensive in intake. The grammar and independent schools tend to produce pass-rate examination results among the top twenty ranked regionally. Many pupils compete for entrance examinations to attend such long-established Grammar Schools and most have significant parent sponsorship. In 2016 two of
1296-611: Is also the largest kind of boat race in the United Kingdom . The official representative body of the region is the West Midlands Leaders Board which has limited administrative functions such as regional planning and economic development. The board is not an elected body, but is made up of members appointed from local councils across the region and is known as a quango . It is based on Edward Street in Birmingham, near
1377-471: Is also use of this term to apply to areas around the River Severn as far south as Gloucester , and as far north as Ironbridge . To the north of Bridgnorth , the land to the sides of the river becomes much steeper, and the upstream part is known as Ironbridge Gorge . From Stourport-on-Severn south to Gloucester , the riverside has a much larger flood plain and loses its distinctive "valley" hillsides found
1458-724: Is in Brierley Hill , near the headquarters of West Midlands Police , where the Child Support Agency (CSA) was headquartered. The region's Manufacturing Advisory Service was on Wolverhampton Science Park , north of the city centre; this function is now represented by Made in the Midlands , north of Wolverhampton. The DIT West Midlands for the region is based at the West Midlands Chambers of Commerce on Harborne Road , south of NHS West Midlands west of Five Ways. Most of
1539-699: Is landlocked; however, the longest river in the UK, the River Severn , traverses the region south-eastwards, flowing through the county towns of Shrewsbury and Worcester, and the Ironbridge Gorge , a UNESCO World Heritage Site . Staffordshire is home to the industrialised Potteries conurbation, including the city of Stoke-on-Trent and the Staffordshire Moorlands area, which borders the south-eastern Peak District National Park near Leek . The region also encompasses five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty :
1620-537: Is now North Somerset . High Duty Alloys at Redditch constructed (forged) the compressor and turbine blades for Whittle's first engines, and many of the early jet engines; it made Concorde 's airframe from the Hiduminium R.R.58 aluminium alloy . Maxaret , the world's first ABS braking system, was invented in Coventry by Dunlop in the early 1950s for aircraft; John Boyd Dunlop was a Scottish vet who had first produced
1701-467: 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 conurbation which is in the central belt of the Midlands and on the eastern side of the West Midlands Region. It is also still used by various organisations within that area, such as West Midlands Police and West Midlands Fire Service . The highest point in the region
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#17328445513161782-530: Is the oldest working engine in the world. Smethwick was a main centre for making lighthouse lanterns . Valor Fires in Erdington developed the first radiant gas fire in 1967, a balanced flue fire in 1973, and a natural flame gas fire in 1978. The Erdington site, owned by Iceland's BDR Thermea , closed in May 2012. The company also built gas cookers ; since 2011 the company has been part of Glen Dimplex , who have
1863-577: The A442 on the east side from Bridgnorth via Alveley to Kidderminster and the B4555 on the west from Bridgnorth via Highley to Bewdley . Both of these run north-south roughly parallel with the river. Starting north at Bridgnorth and running south downstream, the area encompasses the following locations: Some definitions continue through Worcestershire and into Gloucestershire as far south as Gloucester . There are riverside footpaths throughout almost
1944-574: The Committee of the Regions , with members drawn from the elected councillors of the local authorities in the region. The final nominations were made by central government. Although they were publicly funded, one of the Regional Assemblies claimed not to be a public authority and therefore not subject to the Freedom of Information Act 2000 . As power was to be devolved to Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales without corresponding devolution in England,
2025-499: The European Union , which in 2021 were superseded by International Territorial Level (ITL) regions ("ITL 1 regions"). The London Region has a directly elected Mayor and Assembly . Six regions have local authority leaders' boards to assist with correlating the headline policies of local authorities. The remaining two regions no longer have any administrative functions, having abolished their regional local authority leaders' boards. In 1998, regional chambers were established in
2106-700: The First World War . In 1912, the Third Home Rule Bill was passing through parliament. The Bill was expected to introduce a devolved parliament for Ireland, and as a consequence calls were made for similar structures to be introduced in Great Britain or "Home Rule All Round". On 12 September the First Lord of the Admiralty , Winston Churchill , gave a speech in which he proposed 10 or 12 regional parliaments for
2187-582: The German Society for Racial Hygiene in 1905 founded by Alfred Ploetz , which coupled with the racial superiority fallacies of Aryanism reached its nadir in genocidal antisemitism . Moral teachings and inherent repulsions towards human eugenics were overcome by a minority of those in power espousing racial equality ; European media and leaders lamented loss of Empire , advocated ultranationalism and prized military physical advantage; Galton saw human eugenics as part of all means to do better . Much of
2268-695: The Industrial Revolution in the United Kingdom began in Birmingham and the Black Country area of West Midlands. The Industrial Revolution is thought to have begun when Abraham Darby substituted coke in the place of charcoal to smelt iron, at his Old Furnace. The Black Country may be regarded as the world's first industrial landscape, while nearby Ironbridge Gorge claims to be the Birthplace of Industry. The world's first cast iron bridge in 1779 spans
2349-535: The National Indoor Arena . From March 2010, the funding decisions at regional level were taken over by Advantage West Midlands , the Regional Development Agency . The West Midlands is the second most ethnically diverse region of the UK (London being the most diverse). This is in large part due to the West Midlands conurbation , which is highly diverse. The ethnic makeup of the West Midlands as
2430-552: The National Telephone Company ; for the first time this allowed phone calls between the London and the north. The world's first coaxial cable was laid between London and Birmingham in 1936 to give 40 channels for telephone traffic. and brought into use in 1938, later extended to Manchester in 1940. Alexander Parkes invented the first man-made plastic ( thermoplastic ) in Birmingham in 1856. Princess Square, Wolverhampton,
2511-647: The Nobel Prize for Physics in 1971. James Glaisher in 1862 took a record balloon flight with Henry Tracey Coxwell for the BAAS near Wolverhampton. They reached 29,000 feet (8,800 m) the composition of the Earth's atmosphere until then was not understood; the altitude records for the UK have not been exceeded since; Project Excelsior in the US in 1960 would later reach 20 miles (110,000 ft). Philip Lawley of Burton upon Trent
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2592-480: The Perrott's Folly . Philip Larkin came from Coventry. Rowland Hill (stamps) was from Kidderminster. The writer George Eliot came from Nuneaton . Anthony E. Pratt from Birmingham invented Cluedo . Frederick Gibberd of Coventry designed Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral . Edward Cave from Rugby made Britain's first magazine in 1731 – The Gentleman's Magazine . Philip Astley from Newcastle-under-Lyme invented
2673-616: The Peugeot 206 , closed at the end of 2006, with production moving to Trnava in Slovakia, and some to a plant at Kolín in the Czech Republic . Alfred Herbert of Coventry was the largest machine-tool manufacturer in the UK for many decades; it was brought down in the 1970s by advancing technology overseas, and complacent strategic decisions of the management, finally closing in 1982; many Midlands manufacturing companies followed similar fates in
2754-523: The Wye Valley , Shropshire Hills , Cannock Chase , Malvern Hills and parts of the Cotswolds . Warwickshire is home to the towns of Stratford upon Avon , birthplace of writer William Shakespeare ; Rugby , the birthplace of Rugby football ; and Nuneaton , birthplace to author George Eliot . The official region contains the ceremonial counties of Herefordshire , Shropshire , Staffordshire , Warwickshire , West Midlands and Worcestershire . There
2835-471: 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 region is geographically diverse, from the urban central areas of the West Midlands conurbation to the rural counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire which border Wales . The region
2916-620: The heptarchy . The boundaries of some of these, which later unified as the Kingdom of England , roughly coincide with those of modern regions. During Oliver Cromwell 's Protectorate in the 1650s, the rule of the Major-Generals created 10 regions in England and Wales of similar size to the modern regions. Proposals for administrative regions within England were mooted by the British government prior to
2997-456: The new county structure ". A minority report by Lord Crowther-Hunt and Alan T. Peacock suggested instead seven regional assemblies and governments within Great Britain (five within England), which would take over substantial amounts of the central government. Some elements of regional development and economic planning began to be established in England from the mid-1960s onwards. In most of
3078-442: The 1970s and 1980s. Henry Wiggin & Co of Hereford developed the metal alloys necessary for other Midlands' (and beyond) automotive and aerospace companies – Inconel , Incoloy and Nimonic . It was the lack of vanadium for high-melting point alloys , caused by Royal Navy action, that prevented German Me 262 engines being serviceable; had German Second World War engineers had a greater supply of vanadium and molybdenum ,
3159-581: The 1986 Government Green Paper and 1989 White Paper on The Future of Development Plans , which proposed the introduction of strong regional guidance within the planning system, and by the Government's issuing of Strategic Guidance at a regional level, from 1986 onwards. In April 1994, the John Major ministry created a set of ten Government Office Regions for England. Prior to 1994, although various central government departments had different regional offices,
3240-466: The BBC election exit poll . 6 ft 9 Daniel Kawczynski , a Shropshire MP, is the tallest MP ever. Although having a slightly smaller percentage of the vote than the neighbouring East Midlands , the geographic area of the West Midlands is more Conservative, due to Labour's vote now consigned to the urban areas of Birmingham, Coventry and Stoke-on-Trent. The number of seats is more favoured towards Labour than
3321-762: The Ecology Party and then the Green Party in 1985. In the ONS International Territorial Levels (ITL), the West Midlands form a level-1 ITL region, coded "UKG", which is subdivided as follows: The region consists of the following administrative subdivisions: Key: †two-tier non-metropolitan county | * metropolitan county including the West Midlands Combined Authority and mayor The West Midlands' population accounts for almost 11% of England's overall population. 49.36% of
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3402-566: The European Union ; and as statistical NUTS level 1 regions. Since 1 July 2006, there have also been ten strategic health authorities , each of which corresponds to a region, except for South East England , which is divided into western and eastern parts. In 1998, regional chambers were created in the eight English regions outside London under the provisions of the Regional Development Agencies Act 1998 . The powers of
3483-469: The Gorge. The first self-propelled locomotive to run on rails in 1803 at Coalbrookdale, was built by Richard Trevithick . The first iron rails for horse-drawn transport, were made at Coalbrookdale in 1768 by Richard Reynolds at Ketley Ironworks . Iron rails only became widely successful in 1820 when made out of wrought iron at Bedlington Ironworks in north-east England. Birmingham's industrial development
3564-684: The Humber , and is more deprived than the neighbouring East Midlands. From the Indices of deprivation 2007 , it can be seen that, in common with Northern England , the region has more Lower Area Super Output Areas in the 20% most deprived districts than in the 20% least deprived districts. The region's most deprived council districts, in descending order, are Birmingham (10th highest in England), Sandwell (14th), Stoke-on-Trent (16th), Wolverhampton (28th), Walsall (45th), Coventry (61st), and Dudley (100th). The least deprived districts in 2007 (before Shropshire became
3645-496: The Regional Chambers should be phased out of existence by 2010. The same year, nine Regional Ministers were appointed by the incoming Brown ministry . Their primary goal was stated as being to improve communication between central government and the regions of England. The assemblies were effectively replaced by smaller local authority leaders' boards between 2008 and 2010, and formally abolished on 31 March 2010, as part of
3726-536: The UK was UK and the NUTS standard had hierarchy of three levels, with 12 first level regions, which are currently mirrored by the ITL classification, of which 9 regions are in England . The sub-structure corresponds to administrative divisions within the country. Formerly, the further NUTS divisions IV and V existed; these have now been replaced by Local Administrative Units (LAU-1 and LAU-2 respectively). Between 1994 and 2011,
3807-507: The UK's car industry would be centred in Coventry and Birmingham; most of this has now gone. Midland Motor Cylinder (part of Birmid Industries ) of Smethwick was the largest producer of automobile cylinder blocks in Europe. Fort Dunlop was Europe's largest tyre plant. Metro-Cammell in Birmingham made most of the 1970s and 1980s London Underground trains. MG Rover (a company of Rover) closed in 2005 (from 1885), The Ryton plant , which made
3888-554: The US, built the first accurate voltmeter in the late 1880s, and the Weston cell in 1893. Francis W. Aston of Harborne, educated at the University of Birmingham, developed mass spectrometry in 1919, which helped him to identify the first isotopes , receiving the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1922. Dennis Gabor invented holography at British Thomson-Houston in Rugby in 1947, receiving
3969-476: The United Kingdom. Within England, he suggested that London, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and the Midlands would make natural regions . While the creation of regional parliaments never became official policy, it was for a while widely anticipated and various schemes for dividing England devised. By the 1930s, several competing systems of regions were adopted by central government for such purposes as census of population, agriculture, electricity supply, civil defence and
4050-423: The West Midlands region include: The West Midlands region contains several urban areas with populations of 100,000 or more in 2021, which include: The RAF Fauld explosion on 27 November 1944 in east Staffordshire produced a 100-foot deep crater, and is the UK's largest explosion, being caused by around 4,000 tonnes of high explosive , and may be the world's largest non-nuclear explosion . Birmingham
4131-458: The assemblies were limited, and members were appointed, largely by local authorities, rather than being directly elected. The functions of the English regions were essentially devolved to them from Government departments or were taken over from pre-existing regional bodies, such as regional planning conferences and regional employers' organisations. Each assembly also made proposals for the UK members of
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#17328445513164212-485: The central government as well. These were abolished in 2012, with statutory functions returning to local authorities and central government; however, smaller scale local enterprise partnerships were voluntarily established to take on some functions relating to coordinating economic priorities and development. After about 500 AD, England comprised seven Anglo-Saxon territories— Northumbria , Mercia , East Anglia , Essex , Kent , Sussex and Wessex —often referred to as
4293-643: The creation of eight provinces in England, which would see power devolved from central government. Edward Heath 's administration in the 1970s did not create a regional structure in the Local Government Act 1972 , waiting for the Royal Commission on the Constitution , after which government efforts were concentrated on a constitutional settlement in Scotland and Wales for the rest of the decade. In England,
4374-475: The eight regions outside London, which produced strategic plans and recommendations to local authorities. Each of the regions also had an associated (central) Government Office with some responsibility for coordinating policy, and, from 2007, a part-time regional minister within the Government. House of Commons regional Select Committees were established in 2009. However, the chambers and select committees were abolished in May 2010, restoring these functions to
4455-492: The engine life (around 12 hours maximum, from entering service in April 1944 to the end of the war) of their jet engine would have increased much more, which would have been significant to the war's outcome. Bristol Siddeley developed the rocket engines for Black Arrow at Ansty; in fact all of R-R's rocket engines were developed and built there at R-R's Industrial and Marine Gas Turbine Division; Britain's smaller rocket engines for missiles were built by Bristol Aerojet in what
4536-491: The entire length of the Severn Valley on both sides, including the Severn Way long distance footpath, making it a popular haunt for anglers and ramblers , often combining a leisurely walk with a return trip on the Severn Valley Railway . A number of traditional pubs cater for the tourist trade. At the centre of the area, between Highley and Alveley , is the Severn Valley Country Park , with level-access and wide flat footpaths for wheelchair users, plus conveniences and
4617-420: The existing eight Local Authority Leaders' Boards, with their statutory functions also being assumed by local councils. The boards in most cases continue to exist as voluntary associations of council leaders, funded by the local authorities themselves. No appointments as Regional Ministers were made by the incoming UK government in 2010. These changes did not affect the directly elected London Assembly , which
4698-433: The first pneumatic tyres in 1889. Matthew Piers Watt Boulton , grandson of Matthew Boulton, and born in the area, invented the aileron , an important flight control surface in 1868, decades before the first actual flight. Triumph Engineering was a famous motorbike firm in Meriden. About a quarter of all British WWI planes were built in Coventry. The Jensen Interceptor FF was the first production four-wheel-drive car in
4779-554: The former 1940s standard regions which followed the 1889–1974 administrative county borders. Between 1994 and 2011, all nine regions had partly devolved functions; they no longer fulfil this role, continuing to be used for limited statistical purposes. While the UK was a member of the European Union , they defined areas ( constituencies ) for the purposes of elections to the European Parliament . Eurostat also used them to demarcate first level Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS) regions ("NUTS 1 regions") within
4860-411: The geographic spread, with 35 Conservative seats and 24 Labour. All of Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Shropshire is now Conservative. The Green Party of England and Wales was formed at the Bridge Inn in Napton-on-the-Hill , Warwickshire, in February 1973, originating from an article by Paul R. Ehrlich about population growth in Playboy magazine. In 1975, it became
4941-439: The main tier of local government, with limited functions transferred to the regional local authority leaders' boards created in 2009. Regional ministers were not reappointed by the incoming Coalition Government , and the Government Offices were abolished in 2011. From 2011, combined authorities have been introduced in some city regions , with similar responsibilities to the former regional chambers (and in some cases, replacing
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#17328445513165022-456: The majority of the Commission "suggested regional coordinating and advisory councils for England, consisting largely of indirectly elected representatives of local authorities and operating along the lines of the Welsh advisory council". One-fifth of the advisory councils would be nominees from central government. The boundaries suggested were the "eight now [in 1973] existing for economic planning purposes, modified to make boundaries to conform with
5103-417: The modern day circus in 1768 – Astley's Amphitheatre . The Castlemorton Common Festival in May 1992 near Malvern, led to the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994 . The Nowka Bais is a Bengali boat racing festival which takes place annually in Birmingham . It is a cultural event in the West Midlands, United Kingdom attracting not only the Bangladeshi diaspora but a variety of cultures. It
5184-713: The nine regions had an administrative role in the implementation of UK Government policy, and as the areas covered by (mostly indirectly) elected bodies. Local government in England does not follow a uniform structure. Therefore, each region is divided into a range of further subdivisions . London is divided into London boroughs and the City of London , while the other regions are divided into metropolitan counties , shire counties and unitary authorities . Counties are further divided into districts and some areas are also yet further divided into civil parishes . Regions are also divided into sub-regions, which usually group socio-economically linked local authorities together. However,
5265-424: The number of seats, with 42% of the region's electorate voting Conservative, 33% Labour, 16% UKIP, 6% Liberal Democrat and 3% Green. The Conservatives gained 2 seats with virtually no swing from Labour to Conservative. In the 2017 general election , South Staffordshire ( Gavin Williamson ) had the second-highest Conservative vote proportion in the UK – 69.8%. David Firth , at the University of Warwick , invented
5346-427: The onset of frozen food in the UK. Alfred Bird invented egg-free custard in 1837 in Birmingham – accidentally given to guests at his home, being created as his wife had an allergy to eggs; he then invented baking powder in 1843 as his wife also had an allergy to yeast . J. R. R. Tolkien grew up in Birmingham, Kings Heath, then part of Worcestershire, and was inspired by Moseley Bog and Sarehole , and perhaps by
5427-489: The purposes of statistical analysis, simply as Regions. International Territorial Level (ITL) is a geocode standard for referencing the subdivisions of the United Kingdom for statistical purposes, used by the Office for National Statistics (ONS). Between 2003 and 2021, as part of the European Union and European Statistical System , the geocode standard used for the United Kingdom were Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics or NUTS . The NUTS code for
5508-546: The region is covered by the Midlands Air Ambulance , except Warwickshire is covered by the Warwickshire & Northamptonshire Air Ambulance , based at Coventry Airport ; both are charity-funded. Sir Anthony Bamford of Staffordshire is the richest British industrialist, at around £3.15bn in 2014; Sir James Dyson is second (£3bn). Selective schools are in low numbers as follows: Birmingham (8), Walsall (2), Wolverhampton (1), Warwickshire (6), Stoke-on-Trent (1), and Telford and Wrekin (2). The highest proportion per head therefore
5589-404: 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. Business Link West Midlands was based on the Quinton Business Park in Quinton , next to Highways England . NHS West Midlands, the strategic health authority was in Edgbaston. The West Midlands Ambulance Service
5670-449: The regions they used tended to be different and ad hoc . The stated purpose was as a way of co-ordinating the various regional offices more effectively: they initially involved the Department of Trade and Industry , Department of Employment , Department of Transport and the Department for the Environment . Following the Labour Party 's victory in the 1997 general election , the government created regional development agencies . Around
5751-418: The regulation of road traffic. Nine "standard regions" were set up in 1946, in which central government bodies, statutory undertakings and regional bodies were expected to cooperate. However, these had declined in importance by the late 1950s. Creation of some form of provinces or regions for England was an intermittent theme of post- Second World War British governments. The Redcliffe-Maud Report proposed
5832-561: The standard regions, Economic Planning Councils and Boards were set up, comprising appointed members from local authorities, business, trade unions and universities, and in the early 1970s, these produced a number of regional and sub-regional planning studies. These institutions continued to operate until they were abolished by the incoming Conservative government in 1979. However, by the mid-1980s local authorities in most regions had jointly established standing conferences to consider regional planning issues. Regional initiatives were bolstered by
5913-455: The top ten such schools nationally were in Warwickshire, where in the CV37 postal district prices were 34% higher than the county as a whole. Regions of England The regions of England , formerly known as the government office regions , are the highest tier of sub-national division in England . They were established in 1994 and follow the 1974–96 county borders. They are a continuation of
5994-676: The world, designed by Major Tony Rolt , and built at their factory in West Bromwich. Cadbury launched Dairy Milk in 1905, Bournville in 1906, Fruit & Nut in 1928, Whole Nut in 1930, Cadbury Roses in 1938, and the Cadbury Creme Egg in 1971. George and Richard Cadbury built their factory in 1879 and Bournville in 1893, named after the Bourn brook . Iceland (supermarket) opened its first store in Oswestry in 1970 – heralding
6075-487: Was Wolverhampton at 7.7%, the joint second highest (with Manchester) unemployment rate in England. Next is Sandwell with 7.1%, Birmingham with 7.0%, and Walsall with 6.4%. The lowest rate in the region is the district of Stratford-on-Avon , with 1.6% – one of the lowest unemployment rates in England. In the 2015 general election , the Conservatives gained the largest share of the region by popular vote and took control of
6156-538: Was established by separate legislation as part of the Greater London Authority . In 2011, Greater London remains administered by the Greater London Authority, which consists of an elected London Assembly and a separately elected Mayor of London . Following the abolition of the Government Offices in 2011, it was announced that the former Government Office Regions (GOR) would henceforth be known, for
6237-610: Was first person to realise that chemical damage to DNA caused cancer (at the Chester Beatty Research Institute in London) in the early 1960s. Francis Galton (d. 1911) of the Darwin–Wedgwood family 's Birmingham branch was an early eugenicist rooted in improving animal breeding stock and examining heredity. He invented terms eugenics and nature versus nurture . His limited calls for human eugenics were widened by
6318-588: Was the site of Britain's first traffic lights in 1927. Infrared cameras were developed at the Royal Radar Establishment in Malvern (with EMI Electronics) in 1967. The world's first Maglev train operated at Birmingham Airport in 1983. The tallest freestanding structure in the region was the chimney of Ironbridge power station at 673 ft. John Baskerville of Birmingham, a former stone carver, largely invented fonts, or typefaces , for printing. Much of
6399-687: Was the third most bombed city in the UK after London and Liverpool ; Spitfires were built in Castle Bromwich, Lancasters at Austin's works in Longbridge at Cofton Hackett , and the Birmingham Small Arms Company at Small Heath produced the M1919 Browning machine gun . Boulton Paul Aircraft had their main aircraft factory in the north of Wolverhampton. RAF Defford , in the south of Worcestershire between Pershore and Croome Park ,
6480-538: Was triggered by discussions at the Lunar Society of Birmingham at Soho House , Boulton's house, and products were carried along the BCN Main Line canal. Soho Manufactory was the first man-made-powered factory in world. Chance Brothers of Smethwick built the glass for The Crystal Palace in 1851. Smethwick Engine , now at Thinktank, Birmingham Science Museum , is the oldest working steam engine, made in 1779, and
6561-435: Was where many important airborne radars were developed, such as H2S (radar) and anti-submarine radars. Thomas Wedgwood , son of Josiah Wedgwood, discovered the first photo-sensitive (light-sensitive) chemicals – silver nitrate and silver chloride in the 1790s. Sir Norman Lockyer of Rugby discovered helium in 1868, for which he used electromagnetic spectroscopy . Edward Weston of Oswestry, who emigrated to
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