[ianrobo]

A while ago this map was posted showing Birmingham missing Sutton, however got me thinking that Brum should be changed anyway and my proposals.

First is on the West side extend Brum's boundaries to the the M5 corridor, it just seems nonsense Smethwick etc are in Sandwell plus Bearwood ... Does anyone know if they feel part of Sandwell or are in fact Brummies.

The Map above for the area around Great Barr is wrong and Brum as I said should extend there to the M5 including Hamstead etc.

to the South East, no matter what people say how Shirley and Olton is not classed as Brum I simply don't know. You got here and there is no difference is there between say Sheldon and Shirley ?

Further along of course Brum should be extended to the NEC, Marston Green, Chelsmley and Castle Brom are birmingham . There is an argument that Brum should be extended to the whole of the M42 boundary that would include what I call non Brum areas.

Then we have the Sutton Question .... for me Wylde Green & Boldmere are Brum but a lot front see themselves as that ... so I would hive off the whole of Sutton to a new Council and expand the town council. However they should of course stay under WMCA.

As part of the Sutton Question I would expand Sutton to include Streetly. Indeed could argue Little Aston should be expanded into Sutton as well ?

None of this would ever happen but Logistically makes sense to me and for those who say Brum should be downsized then clearly I disagree. A brummie stretches from north to south, east to west

 

[Iwovd]

View attachment 3246665

A while ago this map was posted showing Birmingham missing Sutton, however got me thinking that Brum should be changed anyway and my proposals.

First is on the West side extend Brum's boundaries to the the M5 corridor, it just seems nonsense Smethwick etc are in Sandwell plus Bearwood ... Does anyone know if they feel part of Sandwell or are in fact Brummies.

The Map above for the area around Great Barr is wrong and Brum as I said should extend there to the M5 including Hamstead etc.

to the South East, no matter what people say how Shirley and Olton is not classed as Brum I simply don't know. You got here and there is no difference is there between say Sheldon and Shirley ?

Further along of course Brum should be extended to the NEC, Marston Green, Chelsmley and Castle Brom are birmingham . There is an argument that Brum should be extended to the whole of the M42 boundary that would include what I call non Brum areas.

Then we have the Sutton Question .... for me Wylde Green & Boldmere are Brum but a lot front see themselves as that ... so I would hive off the whole of Sutton to a new Council and expand the town council. However they should of course stay under WMCA.

As part of the Sutton Question I would expand Sutton to include Streetly. Indeed could argue Little Aston should be expanded into Sutton as well ?

None of this would ever happen but Logistically makes sense to me and for those who say Brum should be downsized then clearly I disagree. A brummie stretches from north to south, east to west

I agree regarding Sutton being a separate borough.
Not sure on the logic of taking Shirley and Olton off Solihull. Both places have always been part the town itself, although Shirley has grown into a town its own right. Olton as well is the place from which Solihull grow in fact.
Personally I see both places (Sutton/Solhull) as part of Greater Birmingham. I think we could transfer areas under Birmingham City council to Solihull and a new Sutton Borough Council and that would improve services in those areas.
Sheldon would be good example of the type of area that could be transferred.

 

[ianrobo]

But would you take the airport fully under Brum area and those places like marathon green close to it

 

[Telfordboy]

I'd do the opposite and have the current City of Birmingham broken up into boroughs of around 300k but the have an (insert name here) Authority like the GLA for the whole West Midlands county / metro area.

 

[Iwovd]

I don’t think it matters at all what council area the airport is in. Pretty sure Birmingham and Solihull councils have a close working relationship.
Also the areas to the north are part of Solihull to make it big enough to be a metropolitan borough on its own I believe.
Think Sutton would need the same, might be a chance to expand the wmca by taking in other parts of north Warwickshire I.e. Coleshill, water orton etc
Think I’d be inclined to allow Birmingham to keep to most of its neighbourhoods but to spin off areas further out into new boroughs with surrounding towns. Rubery to bromsgrove is the other. Maybe Quinton with Halesowen as a new borough as well.
Or maybe all four together to make it big enough.

 

[Iwovd]

Not sure what will happen with brum but pretty sure the wmca will expand. One of the reasons Coventry was unable to form a combined authority is that Nuneaton and Bedworth decided to join the wmca as non voting instead. Effective killing off the idea of a warkwickshire ca. Presumably the intention is there to become a a full member at some point.

 

[charliehs]

Not sure what will happen with brum but pretty sure the wmca will expand. One of the reasons Coventry was unable to form a combined authority is that Nuneaton and Bedworth decided to join the wmca as non voting instead. Effective killing off the idea of a warkwickshire ca. Presumably the intention is there to become a a full member at some point.

this would be interesting, always thought the WM was a weird shape!

 

[Iwovd]

this would be interesting, always thought the WM was a weird shape!

Pretty sure the WMCA is the beginnings of a regional government, so I see an expansion at some point. Maybe with an assembly.

 

[ianrobo]

Well needs to be and done properly and stop pretending for some that Brum is not the centre of it

 

[Planey28]

I don't think there's really any desire to expand the constituent area beyond what it already is at the moment.

Who knows what will happen in the future though. But it would mean things get messy in regards to transport, and I expect one day the WM Police and Fire Service will merge into the CA.

 

[ianrobo]

they are ineffective in London aren't they as the Mayor is responsible there, the London model is what we should have but greater powers for the assembly

 

[Little Spoon]

Would people be open to the idea of expanding the combined authority to reflect the overall West Midlands region, with the police, fire & rescue and an elected assembly on that basis? There may still be a need to reflect some differences (such as public transport needs) for the ‘Metropolitan West Midlands’ and ‘Regional West Midlands’. The result may be greater devolved weight with a population of 6 million, which could push the region towards a Welsh or Scottish model, rather than a London model. I would argue that this would also work far better on a Yorkshire basis too.

 

[ianrobo]

YEs I would, I think the current model is small beans and undemocratic.

As mentioned earlier I am for full federalisation of the UK because int he past 12 years counter to what is said the UK has become far more centralised.

 

[Little Spoon]

YEs I would, I think the current model is small beans and undemocratic.

As mentioned earlier I am for full federalisation of the UK because int he past 12 years counter to what is said the UK has become far more centralised.

Yes there is a very strong argument that devolution so far is not good enough, but perhaps it is small steps first and bestowing the powers of London, Wales or Scotland upon a city region is too much too soon - they may not be experienced or established enough from day one, and therefore set up to fail. I am very interested to see what the government is planning to do further with the West Midlands and Greater Manchester city regions, given they are both marked for further devolution. However the West Midlands City Region (and similar for the Yorkshire equivalents) feels like an oxymoron. Refocussing devolution upon a regional basis in those areas may give a sense of stronger autonomy and it also gets away from a Brum v Black Country v Cov debate - just let them sit alongside each other within the devolved region.

 

[LocalVernacular]

YEs I would, I think the current model is small beans and undemocratic.

As mentioned earlier I am for full federalisation of the UK because int he past 12 years counter to what is said the UK has become far more centralised.

Why is it undemocratic? The members of the WMCA are the local authorities/leaders all of whom are elected, and the WMCA is headed up by a Major who is also elected. The local authorities vote to approve any decisions made by WMCA.

The WMCA is already inclusive of areas beyond the West Midlands metropolitan county, so I don't think it needs to be any bigger.

And the City of Birmingham certainly doesn't need to be made any bigger (although I do wish Google would correct their maps, lol).

 

[Iwovd]

I’d like to see full federalisation. And slowly I think it’s coming.

And I’d like to see the Midlands going combined. I’m not totally convinced of the idea that Coventry and Leicester are in separate regions but Stoke and Hereford are in the same one.
If anything a separate South Midlands region makes more sense.

 

[LocalVernacular]

I’d like to see full federalisation. And slowly I think it’s coming.

And I’d like to see the Midlands going combined. I’m not totally convinced of the idea that Coventry and Leicester are in separate regions but Stoke and Hereford are in the same one.
If anything a separate South Midlands region makes more sense.

The idea of federalisation is interesting and we do seem to be heading in that general direction.

In the 80's, authorities branded as 'Loony Left' caused/were exploited by the Conservative governments to basically centralise everything in Whitehall. IIRC the introduction of Academy schools was also part of this plan to undermine local power and democracy.

Since '97 things have shifted and power has slowly begun shifting back to the nations and regions. So far I think that has only been a good thing.

 

[bhxio]

Not had an account for many years, but as you were talking about Google Maps, I found it hilarious that a Manc (come on, it has to be!) has again made Birmingham disappear when zooming out!

Why does this keep happening? Why does Google allow the second largest city in the UK to vanish because some Manc has a chip on their shoulder? How can we change it back?

 

[Little Spoon]

I suggest you post this in the My City v Your City thread.

 

[bhxio]

I suggest you post this in the My City v Your City thread.

To have more Mancs with chips on their shoulders have a go, telling me why I'm wrong, and that they're god's gift to the world?... No thanks.