West Midlands (region) Totally Explained

The West Midlands is an official Region of England, covering the western half of the region 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, Walsall and West Bromwich. Coventry and Solihull are located within the West Midlands county.
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 country, 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.

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.

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 northwest past Warwick and Redditch before finishing on the M4. The M42 travels southwest past Tamworth, Castle Bromwich and Solihull before ending on the M40. The M50 travels west from the M4 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, italics the county town or hall.

Major towns and cities in the West Midlands region include:
Population > 300,000

Birmingham, WMS
Coventry, WMS Population > 200,000
Stoke-on-Trent, STS
Wolverhampton, WMS Population > 100,000
Dudley, WMS
Walsall, WMS
Telford, SHR
West Bromwich, WMS
Sutton Coldfield, WMS Population > 70,000
Newcastle-under-Lyme, STS
Nuneaton, WAR
Redditch, WOR
Shrewsbury, SHR
Solihull, WMS
Tamworth, STS
Worcester, WOR Population > 50,000
Burton-upon-Trent, STS
Cannock, STS
Halesowen, STS
Hereford, HER
Kidderminster, WOR
Rugby, WAR
Stafford, STS
Stourbridge, WMS Other Notable
Leamington Spa, WAR
Leek, STS
Lichfield, STS
Stratford-upon-Avon, WAR
Warwick, WAR

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 isn't 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 †	Bridgnorth, North Shropshire, Oswestry, Shrewsbury and Atcham, South Shropshire
Shropshire	Telford and Wrekin
Staffordshire	Staffordshire †	Cannock Chase, East Staffordshire, Lichfield, Newcastle-under-Lyme, South Staffordshire, Stafford, Staffordshire Moorlands, Tamworth,
Staffordshire	Stoke-on-Trent
Warwickshire †		North Warwickshire, Nuneaton and Bedworth, Rugby, Stratford-on-Avon, Warwick
West Midlands *		Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall, Wolverhampton
Worcestershire †		Bromsgrove, Malvern Hills, Redditch, Worcester, Wychavon, Wyre Forest

Key: shire county = † | metropolitan county = *

Economy

Coal mining used to be the main industry of the Black Country. Nationally famous companies in the West Midlands are Cadbury's in Bournville, Birmingham; the brewing companies such as Coors Brewers in Burton on Trent, as well as Marmite and Punch Taverns. JCB is based in Staffordshire. Mitchells and Butlers, the pub chain company, National Express, and Central Trains are in Birmingham. RoSPA is based in Edgbaston, Goodyear Tyres and Dunlop Tyres are in Erdington, and Severn Trent (water) in Sheldon. E.ON UK (former Powergen), Jaguar Cars, and Volvo Cars, Peugeot UK and Thomson Holidays are in Coventry. Land Rover is in Solihull. Michelin Tyres are made in Sideway in Stoke-on-Trent. ConocoPhillips, JET (petrol), and Volvo Group are in Warwick. Bulmers Cider is in Hereford. Halfords is in Redditch. 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 don't - 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 don't 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 doesn't 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 2006 A level results:

1. King Edward VI College, Stourbridge

2. King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys

3. King Edward VI School Stratford-upon-Avon

4. King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Girls

5. Wolverhampton Girls' High School

6. King Edward VI Handsworth School

7. Stratford-upon-Avon Grammar School for Girls

8. King Edward VI Five Ways

9. Sutton Coldfield Grammar School for Girls

10. Newport Girls' High School

11. Queen Mary's High School

12. King Edward VI Aston School

13. Cradley High School for Girls

14. Adams' Grammar School

15. Thomas Telford School

16. Hereford Sixth Form College

17. Rugby High School for Girls

18. Bishop Vesey's Grammar School

19. King Edward VI School, Lichfield

20. St Joseph's College, Stoke-on-Trent

Local media

The West Midlands region of the BBC is based at the Mailbox in Birmingham. From there, the regional programme Midlands Today is produced. ITV Central broadcasts from Birmingham, with its Central Tonight regional programme.

BBC Radios WM, Coventry & Warwickshire, Stoke, Hereford & Worcester and Shropshire.

Commercial radio stations: BRMB, Beacon Radio in Wolverhampton, Mercia FM in Coventry, Touch FM (Burton, Lichfield and Tamworth) in Tamworth, Touch FM (Coventry), Touch FM (Stratford-upon-Avon), Kerrang! 105.2 in Birmingham, Galaxy Birmingham, Smooth Radio 105.7 in Birmingham, 107.1 Rugby FM, The Severn (north Shropshire), 107.2 The Wyre in Kidderminster, 107.7 The Wolf in Wolverhampton, Wyvern FM in Worcester, 100.7 Heart FM in Birmingham, and Signal 1 from Stoke.

Newspapers - the Birmingham Post, Birmingham Mail, Express & Star in Wolverhampton, Burton Mail, Shropshire Star, Worcester News, The Sentinel in Stoke-on-Trent and Coventry Evening Telegraph.

Websites - Channel 4's 4Talent network has a hub in the West Midlands dealing with rising media talent from the region: (External Link

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External results

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