West Midlands
| |
---|---|
Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
Constituent country | England |
Largest settlements | (Pop. 100,000+) |
Population | |
• Total | 2,440,986 |
• Rank | 3rd |
Time zone | UTC+0 (GMT) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC+1 (BST) |
Postcode | |
Area code(s) | 0121, 01543, 01562, 01384, 01902, 01922 |
The West Midlands conurbation is the large conurbation in the West Midlands region of England. The area consists of two cities and numerous towns: to the east, the city of Birmingham, along with adjacent towns of Solihull and Sutton Coldfield; and to the west, the city of Wolverhampton and the area called the Black Country, containing the towns of Dudley, Walsall, West Bromwich, Oldbury, Willenhall, Bilston, Darlaston, Tipton, Smethwick, Wednesbury, Rowley Regis, Stourbridge and Halesowen.
It is broken down into multiple Travel to Work Areas: Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Dudley & Sandwell, Walsall & Cannock, Hagley is within the Kidderminster area and the extreme south-east corner is within the Warwick & Stratford upon Avon area. The conurbation is mainly in the West Midlands county, including parts of the surrounding counties of Staffordshire (e.g. Little Aston, Perton and Essington) and Worcestershire (such as Hagley and Hollywood), with Coventry a separate area in the county.
According to the 2011 Census the area had a population of 2,440,986,[1] making it the third most populated in the United Kingdom behind Greater London and Greater Manchester.
With the West Midlands also being a region and county, the conurbation is sometimes known as Birmingham-Wolverhampton.[2][3][4][5][6] though it is the term Birmingham & The Black Country that has gained the widest traction as an alternative to the conurbation's official name: an example of this is the tagline used by BBC Radio WM - "The sound of Birmingham & The Black Country".[7][8]