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West Midlands (county)

West Midlands (county)
NameWest Midlands
StatusMetropolitan county &
Ceremonial county
Origin1974
(Local Government Act 1972)
RegionWest Midlands
ArearankRanked 42nd
Area Km2902
AdminhqBirmingham
Ons2E
Nutscode2
Nuts3UKG3
PoprankRanked  
Popestdate 
Pop2,638,700 (2009 estimate by ONS)
Density Km2 
Ethnicity76.5% White
13.3% S. Asian
4.9% Black British
2.3% Mixed
3% Other
CouncilNo county council
Committee
Mps *Bob Ainsworth (L) *Adrian Bailey (L)/(Co-op) *Richard Burden (L) *Lorely Burt (LD) *Liam Byrne (L) *Ian Austin (L) *Jim Cunningham (L) *Valerie Vaz (L) *Roger Godsiff (L) *James Morris (C) *John Hemming (LD) *Steve McCabe (L) *Khalid Mahmood (L) *Paul Uppal (C) *Pat McFadden (L) *Andrew Mitchell (C) *Chris Kelly (C) *Emma Reynolds (L) *Geoffrey Robinson (L) *Richard Shepherd (C) *Shabana Mahmood (L) *Jack Dromey (L) *John Spellar (L) *Caroline Spelman (C) *Gisela Stuart (L) *Margot James (C) *Tom Watson (L) *David Winnick (L)
SubdivnameMetropolitan Boroughs
Subdivs#City of Wolverhampton #Dudley #Walsall #Sandwell #City of Birmingham #Solihull #City of Coventry

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The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The county itself is a NUTS 2 region within the wider NUTS 1 region of the same name. The county consists of seven metropolitan boroughs: the City of Birmingham, the City of Coventry, and the City of Wolverhampton, as well as Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, and Walsall. The West Midlands County Council was abolished on 31 March 1986, and so its districts (the metropolitan boroughs) are now effectively unitary authorities. However, the metropolitan county continues to exist in law and as a geographic frame of reference.

The county is sometimes described as the "West Midlands metropolitan area" or the "West Midlands conurbation", although these have different, and less clearly defined, boundaries. The main conurbation, or urban area, does not include Coventry for example. The name "West Midlands" is also used for the much larger West Midlands region, which sometimes causes confusion.


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