Metropolitan Borough of Walsall

The local government structure within North Worcestershire and South Staffordshire prior to the West Midlands Order 1965 reorganisation.

Prior to 1966, the area that would later become the metropolitan borough of Walsall was governed by five smaller local authorities:

• Aldridge Urban District
• Brownhills Urban District
• Darlaston Urban District
• Walsall County Borough
• Willenhall Urban District

The four urban districts were all within the administrative county of Staffordshire, in a two-tier structure with Staffordshire County Council providing county-level services.[3][4][5][6] Walsall itself was a self-governing county borough, independent from the county council, but was still deemed to be part of Staffordshire for ceremonial purposes.[7]

A review of local government in the West Midlands area was carried out under the Local Government Act 1958, culminating in the West Midlands Review Order 1965, which merged many of the districts in the area with effect from 1 April 1966. Darlaston and Willenhall were both absorbed into the county borough of Walsall, whilst the two urban districts of Brownhills and Aldridge merged to become Aldridge-Brownhills Urban District. At the same time, there were also more minor boundary adjustments with neighbouring areas around the edges of the new districts.[8][9]

The new arrangements were relatively short-lived. Under the Local Government Act 1972, local government in the area was reviewed again, with Walsall County Borough and Aldridge-Brownhills Urban District merging to become the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall on 1 April 1974. On the same date the area became part of the new metropolitan county of West Midlands.[10] For the next twelve years there was a two-tier structure in place, with West Midlands County Council providing higher county-level services. The county council was abolished in 1986.

There were adjustments to some of the boundaries between Walsall and its neighbours in 1994.[11]

At the time of the United Kingdom Census 2001, according to the Office for National Statistics, the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall had a total resident population of 253,499, of which 123,189 (48.6%) were male and 130,310 (51.4%) were female,[19] with 101,333 households.[20] The Borough occupied 10,395 hectares (40.14 sq mi) at the time of the 2001 census.[19]

Its population density was 22.79 people per hectare compared with an average of 28.41 across the West Midlands metropolitan county.[19] The median age of the population was 37, compared with 36 within the West Midlands metropolitan county and 37 across England and Wales.[21]

The majority of the population of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall were born in England (91.77%); 1.42% were born elsewhere within the United Kingdom, 0.82% within the rest of the European Union, and 6.00% elsewhere in the world.[22]

Data on religious beliefs across the borough in the 2001 census show that 72.1% declared themselves to be Christian, 10.0% said they held no religion, and 5.4% reported themselves as Muslim.[23] Whereas in the 2011 Census 59% declared themselves to be Christian, 26% said they held no religion or did not state their religion, and 8.2% reported themselves as Muslim.[24]

Within the Metropolitan Borough, 42.84% of households owned a single car or van, with 31.05% owning none. The average car ownership per household was 1.01, compared with 0.96 across the West Midlands metropolitan county.[20]

At the time of the 2001 census, there were 105,590 people (41.7%) in employment who were resident within Walsall Metropolitan Borough. Of these, 18.60% worked within the wholesale and retail trade, including repair of motor vehicles; 26.44% worked within manufacturing industry; and 9.85% worked within the health and social work sector.[28]

At the 2001 UK census, Walsall Metropolitan Borough had 180,623 residents aged 16 to 74. 2.3% of these people were students with jobs, 6.0% looking after home or family, 6.8% permanently sick or disabled and 2.4% economically inactive for other reasons. These figures are roughly in line with the averages for England, though Metropolitan Borough of Walsall has a higher rate of people who are permanently sick and disabled, where the national average is 5.3%.[27]

The Metropolitan Borough of Walsall is split between several travel to work areas (TTWA). The central and northern areas of the borough (including the towns of Walsall, Bloxwich and Brownhills) are within the Walsall and Cannock TTWA, whilst the majority of the area west of the M6 motorway (including the towns of Willenhall and Darlaston) is within the Wolverhampton TTWA. The southeast of the Metropolitan Borough (including Streetly) is within the Birmingham TTWA.[29] The entire borough is within the Birmingham Larger Urban Zone.[30]

Average house prices in the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall were fourth out of the metropolitan boroughs in the West Midlands county, with the average house price within the borough being £131,131 during the period April – June 2009, compared with the average across the Metropolitan County of £128,142.[31] Following transfer from the council in 2003, social housing in the area is primarily managed by WATMOS (consisting of eight Tenant management organisations), and the Walsall Housing Group.[32]

The A34 trunk road runs directly through the middle of Walsall .

An elevated section of the M6 Motorway built in 1968 half circles around Walsall to the West of the town. There can be increased congestion on the local A roads whenever the motorway is temporarily closed or in a state of serious delay as road users try to bypass the problem. Junctions (North to South) 11, 10, 9 and 7 allow access to and from various parts of the town. The M6 and M5 join at junction 8.

The A454 runs through Walsall on its way to Sutton Coldfield from Bridgnorth.

See List of areas in Walsall

45% of pupils in the Borough of Walsall achieved five GCSEs with grades of A*-C, below the national average of 56%.[33]

The borough's education format is a traditional 5–7 infant, 7–11 junior and 11-16/18 secondary school system, with some infant and junior schools being combined single site primary schools, while others have infant and junior schools on separate sites. The towns of Walsall, Bloxwich, Darlaston and Willenhall have always used these age ranges, but the Aldridge, Brownhills and Streetly areas (which became part of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall in 1974) adopted 5–9 first, 9–13 middle and 13-16/18 secondary schools in September 1972. However, this system was discontinued and replaced with the traditional age ranges in September 1986 to fit in with the other schools in the Walsall borough.[34]

The following people and military units have received the Freedom of the Borough of Walsall.