Living in the West Midlands
The West Midlands is a vibrant, multicultural place to live. It comprises hugely diverse areas from hamlets in picturesque countryside, to bustling cities including Birmingham, the second largest city in the UK.
The towns and cities boast a wealth of high class restaurants, hotels, shopping facilities (including the Bull Ring, the UK’s most visited shopping centre), nightlife, sporting facilities, theatres, and exhibition venues, including the National Exhibition Centre. Birmingham’s jewellery quarter is the largest of its kind in the UK, manufacturing 70% of all jewellery in the UK. Outside of the urban areas, the more rural areas (each of which have their own vibrant towns or cities) are internationally known for various reasons:
• Staffordshire for the potteries, and Alton Towers Theme Park;
• Warwickshire for being the birthplace of Shakespeare, and Warwick Castle;
• Worcestershire for the Malvern Hills, and the gateway to the Cotswolds;
• Shropshire for being the birthplace of Charles Darwin and being home to the World Heritage Site at Ironbridge (which boasts the world’s first iron bridge, built in 1779);
• Herefordshire for its Cathedral which holds the oldest map in the world;
• Walsall and Wolverhampton for their outstanding galleries.
• Golf – In addition to The Belfry in Sutton Coldfield, the West Midlands also accommodates Kington Golf Club in Herefordshire, which includes boasts highest hole in England.
The West Midlands has a population of just under 5.5 million, which equates to 9% of the total UK population. The gender split is 49% male and 51% female (source: Census 2001, ONS). This is broken down as follows:
Area Population Change since 1991
| Herefordshire |
174,871 |
+13.7% |
| Shropshire |
283,173 |
+10.5% |
| Staffordshire |
806,744 |
+5.8% |
| Stoke-on-Trent |
240,636 |
+0.9% |
| Telford & Wrekin |
158,325 |
+17.2% |
| Warwickshire |
505,860 |
+8.7 |
| Worcestershire |
541,107 |
+8.4% |
| Birmingham, Coventry, Solihull & the Black Country |
2,555,592 |
+0.4% |
| |
|
|
| Total for the West Midlands |
5,266,308 |
+6.1% |
Large amounts of funding are being pumped into the regeneration of housing in the region, such as £1.74 billion in the Birmingham area, and the demolition of 12,000 homes in Stoke which will be replaced by 14,000 new homes over the next 10 years.
The average prices of properties in the region are £259,381 for a detached, £138,232 for a semi-detached, £115,530 for a terraced, and £117,360 for a flat. This results in an overall average property price of £140,542 (source: Land Registry, June 2005).
Being in the centre of the UK, the West Midlands provides easy access, due to its comprehensive transport network, by rail, road, or air to all other UK destinations. Around 75% of the UK is within half a day's drive of the centre of the region. The region also has two international airports making travelling abroad easy. A comprehensive rail network provides easy access to many UK destinations with 170 direct rail services every weekday between Birmingham and London.