Is Birmingham’s continued expansion inevitable?

Recent comments by the chief executive of ‘The Greater Birmingham Chamber of Commerce’ indicate they might, because both Councils are already members of the ‘Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership’ and that it would be a vital component of a north-south corridor into and out of Birmingham – an organisation that would accept having a ‘Metro Mayor’ to get Government money, even though the public and Councillors have overwhelmingly rejected the concept of powerful Mayors when allowed to vote for them.

The inevitable downside for Bromsgrove would be increased peak time traffic congestion as the green belt land between it and Birmingham would inevitably be sanctioned to be built on by a Mayor having the authority to do so – which he would do for the benefit of the City of Birmingham and not Bromsgrove.

Birmingham today spreads over 103 square miles but began life as a parish within Warwickshire of less than 5 square miles, which was first referred to as a town in 1769, becoming a municipal borough in 1838, a county borough in 1839 and a city in 1889.

It was subsequently expanded under the ‘City of Birmingham Extension Order’ in 1891 by absorbing parts of Staffordshire and Worcestershire – from where Quinton was added in1909.

Then, by means of the ‘Greater Birmingham Extension Act of 1911’, the area of the city was almost trebled by a further extension of its boundaries; which included most of King's Norton – which was once a small village in the district of Bromsgrove and also Northfield from North Worcestershire in 1919.

Made a metropolitan district on 1 April 1974, it then absorbed Sutton Coldfield and effectively became a unitary authority in 1986 - Frankley being transferred from Bromsgrove in 1985. So by June 2004, Birmingham had 120 City Councillors representing over one million people, in 40 Council wards.

Then In November 2014, it was announced that Birmingham would be creating a combined authority that would include the four ‘Black Country’ boroughs of Wolverhampton, Walsall, Dudley and Sandwell and be inviting Coventry and Solihull to join them; which was expected to be formed in 2015; that would be given devolved powers and multi-million pound funding from the government.

Birmingham desperately needs land to build new homes on and has a cash crisis in needing to pay off £1.1 billion in equal pay claims, that have already required it to sell off its most valuable assets, such as the NEC for £307 million; with reported uncollected Council Tax arrears of over £105 million.

Councils cajoled into joining a ‘Greater Birmingham’ may later regret doing so and want their independence back. Herefordshire that was amalgamated with Worcestershire in 1984 took 14 years of campaigning to win back its independence.

So now is the time to strive to save Worcestershire, if people want to preserve its precious countryside from the urban sprawl that a bigger Birmingham would inevitably result in.

The ‘West Midlands’, by definition, came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974, consisting of the Cities of Birmingham, Coventry and Wolverhampton and Boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Solihull and was formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire; with the 2011 census putting the population of it at about 2,738,000 - with Greater Manchester being about 2,685,000 at this time.

Subsequently in 1986, the ‘West Midland County Council’ was abolished and its seven metropolitan boroughs became unitary authorities – yet the county continues to exist in law as a geographic frame of reference, with its western side being bordered by Shropshire and Herefordshire.

A key component in the creation of a ‘Greater Birmingham’ authority is ‘The Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership’, which includes parts of North Worcestershire and South Staffordshire, but not Wolverhampton or the Black Country boroughs.

The aim of a ‘Greater Birmingham’ is to attract business and international investment to the West Midlands by rebranding a large part of it but including the name ‘Birmingham’ because it’s already well known in key countries such as China.

The head of the ‘Greater Birmingham and Solihull L.E.P.’ - which consists of nine local councils and businesses, says that the creation of a ‘Greater Birmingham would raise the regions profile and that a collective regional identity would help the West Midlands market itself to the rest of the world; because China has no idea what the West Midlands is, yet Chinese businessmen know what Birmingham is – a recent Chinese investor in Birmingham , being interviewed on the TV News, was smiling and calling it ‘Boomingham’.

The Government has said that Birmingham should follow the lead of West Yorkshire; that formed a single body to co-ordinate economic recovery. However there are many people who are very sceptical that a ‘Greater Birmingham’ authority would work and that creating it would be difficult and troublesome by combining a big Birmingham Council with the much smaller surrounding ones; pointing out that it took Manchester 40 years to establish a good working relationship between its partnership Council’s.

There are many people who are against or fear being swallowed up by Birmingham. The ‘Black Country’ is proud of its name and heritage, with many there saying that they don’t want to be classed as part of Birmingham and that the shared-services co-operation approach is already working well. While the people in the parts of Solihull that came under the control of the ‘West Midlands County Council’ in 1974, were not happy about it then and similar sentiments are echoing there today.

Britain, because of its now rapidly expanding population, that’s being fuelled by an almost uncontrollable numbers of people wanting and determined to come and live here, is contributing to the Governments approach to restructuring and financing Local Government because it wants to speed up housing development and create more employment, with what it sees as a more effective mechanism.

The flip side being that the picturesque, rural countryside at present outside Birmingham’s boundaries would gradually get eaten into and be transformed into an urban sprawl that would gradually fill the natural gap between Birmingham and its present neighbours and bring with it increasing congestion, noise and pollution.

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