West Midlands

Introduction

The West Midlands region is situated in the heart of England and covers an area of 12,998 sq. km from Stoke-on-Trent in the north to Hereford and Evesham in the south, from Shrewsbury in the West to Rugby and Burton-on-Trent in the East. There are several large cities and towns in the region, including Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Coventry.
The West Midlands region accounts for a population of 5.27 million (9% of the UK total). More than half of the region’s population live in large conurbation areas, while over 2 million reside in the region’s rural counties, which cover three-quarters of the region’s area.

The West Midlands is home to five Areas of Outstanding Beauty and part of the Peak District National Park. It offers diverse cultural experiences that include the Ironbridge World Heritage Site in Shropshire and the unique assets of Shakespeare Country in Warwickshire, as well as 32,000 listed buildings and many historic houses, parks and major sporting facilities.

Despite a recent decline, manufacturing remains an important element in the economy, accounting for 20.4% of all regional employment. The service sector has expanded; increasing by over 250,000 jobs and now represents nearly 70% of the region’s employment. The West Midlands is a major exporting region, accounting for approximately 8% of the national total by value. It has also proved successful in attracting foreign direct investment – attracting nearly 2000 overseas companies to set up facilities here, with the main centres being Birmingham, Coventry and Telford.

Recent Visits

• 3rd Sept BERR Pat McFadden visit to the Severn Valley Railway - flood damage in Highley and Bewdley 3rd Sept HO Vernon Coaker - Visit to Atlantic House Drugs Treatment Centre Dudley .
• 12th Sept DCLG Parmjit Dhanda visit to Birmingham - Preventing Extreamism Unit Pathfinder Launch with Birmingham City Council.
• 13th Sep DCLG Barbara Follet - Harriett Harman attending the European Year of Equal Opportunities Event at the NEC.
• 18th Sept DfT Rosie Winterton visit to open Coleshill Parkway and tour and discussions with National Express.
• 5th Oct DoH  Alan Johnson visit NCRI Cancer Conference at the ICC.
• 19th Oct HO Liam Bryne - Herefordshire - South Shropshire Rural Visits.

Demographics for the West Midlands

Mid-2006 Population Estimates

Figures updated annually. Last update August 2007. Source: Office for National Statistics.

Regional Minister for the West Midlands: Liam Byrne MP

Children and Learners

• Under the Department for Education and Skills Community Champions programme, funding totalling £330,000 in 2004/05 was allocated to a network of Voluntary and Community Sector intermediaries to provide funding to individuals who are inspired and want to get more involved in renewing their neighbourhoods through participation in community groups.

Health and Well Being

• Birmingham has two NHS foundation trusts hospitals, these are the University Hospital Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust and the Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust.
• Additional treatment centres were opened in 2005 at Birmingham City Hospital, Good Hope Hospital, Sutton Coldfield, and the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital, Birmingham. These provide safe, fast, pre-booked surgery and diagnostic tests for patients by separating scheduled treatment from emergency pressures.
• Coventry PCT is part of The Spearhead Group of Local Authorities and Primary Care Trusts who will be used to assess the achievement of the Government targets to address geographical inequalities in life expectancy, cancer, heart disease, stroke and related diseases in 2010.
• The City Centre Health Centre will include an NHS Walk-in Centre, GP Out-of-Hours services and a host of other services. It is due to be complete in late 2008. The A&E Department at Walsgrave Hospital has recently completed a £2.8m expansion scheme and has a rapid access chest pain clinic.
• Walsgrave and Coventry & Warwickshire hospitals have both received cutting edge equipment to better diagnose and treat cancer.
• The £57m Heart and Lung Centre, the UK's first purpose built specialist centre, opened its doors to patients in October 2004. Based at Wolverhampton's New Cross Hospital it will include three specialist theatres and plans to treat more than 1,350 heart and lung surgery cases.
• New Cross Hospital has a newly modernised, £850,000 A&E department, a rapid-access chest pain clinic and has received cutting-edge equipment to better diagnose and treat cancer.

Crime

• Birmingham, Coventry and Sandwell have been named as three of 40 priority Respect Action Areas in England, for being Councils who have strong records in tackling anti-social behaviour. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is also backing the scheme with £6m of funding in 2007/08 for parenting classes in the 40 areas.
• Nearly £9m was awarded in 2005/06 across the 32 Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships from the Building Safer Communities Fund to tackle local crime and drug issues. This includes £850,000 to tackle anti-social behaviour.
• Nearly £6m has been awarded from the Basic Command Unit Fund in 2005/06, which will provide resources to front line officers who tackle crime and disorder every day in the community.
• £200,000 has been allocated from the 2005/06 Recovered Assets Fund and will contribute towards tackling gun crime in the West Midlands.
• £2.5m of funding from both CLG and the Home Office is being delivered under the Stronger Safer Community Fund via Local Area Agreements.
• £300,000 of domestic violence funding has been awarded to organisations in the West Midlands in 2005/06. This funding will provide co-ordinators and fund small projects to assist those most vulnerable.
• £80,000 has been awarded in 2005/06 from the Home Office Violent Crime Funding to West Midlands Specialist Domestic Violence Courts.

Transport

• The £500m New Street Station redevelopment known as Birmingham Gateway will increase the station passenger capacity and provide a gateway to Birmingham and the region. £355m of government funding is being sought. The approval of £120m for rail improvements was announced in HLOS in July 2007.
• The £28m Local Transport Plan (LTP) funded Red Routes Scheme (Package 1) is a conurbation-wide project aimed at reducing congestion on main roads throughout the West Midlands Metropolitan area. Completion is due in 2010.
• The £485m M6 Toll was opened in 2004 and is the first motorway toll road in the UK.
• The £81.6m improvement scheme at M40 Junction 15 to bypass the A46 flows from the existing congested interchange. Completion is due in 2009. Active Traffice Management is being piloted on the M42 from junctions 3a to 7. The scheme combines advanced high tech information systems with hard shoulder running to improve traffic flows.
• The West Midlands has two successful bids – West Midlands Metropolitan Conurbation and Shropshire (for Shrewsbury) for Transport Innovation fund (TIF) money to pump prime studies to investigate Demand Management Measures (including road pricing). Neither has made a formal TIF bid.
• In response to the Government`s request for advice on Regional Funding Allocations the region has prioritised a programme of transport interventions with an indicative cost of £628m over the next 10 years. Public Transport schemes account for 47% of programme costs.
• Birmingham Airport published a Draft Masterplan in October 2005 detailing a runway extension and possible second runway proposals. The final Masterplan is due to be published in late 2007.
• The proposed £380m Midland Metro Line One Extensions from Birmingham Snow Hill to Five Ways and from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill with access to the Merry Hill Shopping Centre have received Transport and Works Act approval. Adecision is not expected before 2008.
• Over £153m was approved in the local transport settlement (LTP) for 2006/07 to local authorities in the West midlands Region to fund new public transport projects, town centre improvements and smaller (- £5m) schemes.

Social Inclusion and Regeneration

• Nearly £145m has been allocated through the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund from 2006/08 for the councils in Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Stoke on Trent, Walsall and Wolverhampton enabling collaboration with Local Strategic Partnerships to improve services in their most deprived areas.
• Under the former Department for Education and Skills Community Champions programme, funding totalling £330,000 in 2004/05 was allocated to a network of Voluntary and Community Sector intermediaries to provide funding to individuals who are inspired and want to get more involved in renewing their neighbourhoods through participation in community groups.

European Funding

• Under the 2000-2006 round of structural funds programmes the West Midlands will receive around £954m in European funding, consisting of £525m from the Objective 2 European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), £90m of Objective 2 European Social Fund (ESF) and £339m of Objective 3 ESF. Since 2000 the Objective 2 programme has helped to create and safeguard nearly 7,000 jobs, assisted over 3,000 businesses and provided nearly 50,000m² of premises. Over 20,000 jobless and employed people have been trained and over 15,000 people have obtained an NVQ.
• Under previous programmes from 1994-9, the region received a total of over £557m, Under Objective 2, 3 and other initiatives.
• £3m has been allocated to the Birmingham Town Hall project, to restore the city’s most valuable Grade 1 listed building and reopen it as a multi-purpose cultural and community arts venue.
• £1.8m was awarded to the Electric Wharf, Coventry project, which is renovating over 7,500m² of Victorian power station buildings which are being converted to provide living and work spaces.
• £490,000 has been granted as an extension to the previously successful Hothouse project to build the Phase 2 Annex in Stoke on Trent. This will provide a hub for learning and support for businesses in the ceramics industry.