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The West Midlands
Review of a 'Functional Urban Region'


John DEEGAN
Director of Planning, Transport & Economic Strategy
Andy COWAN
Planning Strategy Manager

Warwickshire County Council
 

The West Midlands is a classic metropolitan region - tight urban core (the Metropolitan Area) and a closely related rural periphery, (the Shire Counties). The core accommodates about half of all the Region's development and activities in less than 10% of the Region's total land area. The Region has no major geographic constraints to development, such as lakes, major rivers, the sea or mountains. Patterns of urban development in the Region have long been under the strong influence of administrative boundaries reinforced by political (urban v. rural) rivalries.

The world's first industrial revolution started in the Region in the mid-late 18th Century, based on local supplies of raw materials and manpower. Subsequent development of communications and urbanisation saw the rapid growth of Birmingham and the surrounding towns through the 19th Century, and later on, Coventry. This is in turn stimulated the development of an agricultural hinterland in the surrounding rural Shire Counties. Subsequent growth in the Region, particularly that during the first half of the 20th Century, was a function of the 'critical mass' of labour and manufacturing 'know-how' which had been created rather than the access to raw materials and markets. Post WW2 structural decline in mining and manufacturing, particularly in the past 20 years, has not been well compensated for by new industrial investment because the 'critical mass' is not so attractive to 'post-industrial' service and high-technology industries operating on an international basis. The West Midlands still has a manufacturing bias, with 25% of its workforce in the sector compared to 20% nationally.

The basic character of the Region's residents is remarkably similar despite the variety of geographic backgrounds. For example, in travel to work, the modal split is very similar in the Shire Counties and the Metropolitan Area, the only difference being somewhat less use of the car and more use of the buses in the Metropolitan Area. This reflects the strong functional interdependence between the metropolitan core and the surrounding shires, with the core still the Region's economic and social engine. Without doubt, the West Midlands is a 'functional urban region'. There continues to be a decline in the older industrial parts of the Metropolitan core and a growth of the peripheral centres, especially those in the Shire Counties. Central Government's planning policy for the West Midlands (Regional Planning Guidance 11) has sought to restore the balance with an emphasis on regeneration of the Metropolitan core.

A consensus has been built-up between the authorities in the Metropolitan Area and those in the Shire Counties, with the former recognising that retaining economically active population is at the root of successful regeneration and the latter recognising that 'the flee from the cities' of these economically active migrants to the more remote rural areas can have adverse impacts on rural housing, environment and services for the indigenous inhabitants. However, there is tension about where new housing industrial investment should be directed in the interests of minimising journey to work trip volumes and lengths.
 

Cohesion and competition

In the West Midlands, whilst there is a broad cohesion on the strategy, there is also an underlying competitiveness over the location of industrial and housing development in the Shires. The Metropolitan authorities wish to retain and attract as much industrial investment as possible to counteract the impact of structural economic decline in manufacturing and mining. On the other hand, the Shire authorities wish to retain and attract sufficient new industrial development to match the growth of new housing, to keep up employment levels and reduce commuting back into the Metropolitan Area. Responding to this, the Metropolitan authorities argue that new housing in the Shire Counties should be located close to the Metropolitan Area, rather than in the crescent of towns 10-15 miles out, just on the outer edge of the Green Belt which surrounds the Metropolitan area. On this basis, they contend, migrants can commute back to the Metropolitan Area, either by their more extensive public transport systems or short car journeys. The Shire Counties' response is to argue that this will perpetuate the historic lateral extension of the Metropolitan Core at its edges and at the same time undermine regeneration of its declining inner areas.

This theme translates directly into cohesion and competition between the centres across the Region. In their broad interests in regeneration and retention of industrial investment and economically active population, the authorities in the Metropolitan Area have a strong cohesive approach which has stimulated cohesion among the Shire authorities and led to a common view on the broad regeneration agenda. However, within that agenda, there is still some competition between the different parts of the Metropolitan Area, on the issue of major retail development for example. Regional planning policy (RPG11) is weak on the spatial structure of the West Midlands and, in particular, it does not have a systematic approach to the location of major industrial and commercial facilities, such as the Dutch 'ABC' model. This is clearly something that needs to be attended to in the next review of RPG11.

Nevertheless, the West Midlands Local Government Association (the representative body of all local authorities in the Region) is committed to extending its influence for cohesion between all the authorities in the Region and has already made inroads into the lack of a systematic approach to Regional issues. Two initiatives illustrate progress:

Evolution of regional policy for the West Midlands has been driven by a desire for cohesion, especially in the face of other regions perceived as being more advantaged in specific areas such as major inward industrial investments and public funds for transport. However, it has been hampered by a lack of a systematic understanding of the Region as a 'FUR' on which to base policy formulation. This should be helped by a number of initiatives, such as the Region's participation in the Interreg IIC 'REGIS' project which is looking into factors for measuring and monitoring metropolitan change, and the Regional Housing Needs Study being co-sponsored by the West Midlands Local Government Association and the Housing Corporation. Nevertheless, an overall systematic framework is lacking and here is where the concepts of metropolitan polycentricity clearly have something to offer us.
 
Fuente: METREX
http://www.metrex.dis.strath.ac.uk/



Última actualització: 18 d'agost de 2000