West Midlands population increased to over 5.4 million in 2008

The population of the West Midlands grew to over 5.4 million in 2008, according to the latest population estimates released by the Office for National Statistics.
With a population of 5.411 million, the region’s population grew by 0.5% (29,000) on the preceding year.
Natural change (births minus deaths) was the most significant contributor to the growth at [...]

Government awards grant to boost town centres

The government is making £3 million available to help areas hardest hit by the recession find creative ways to reduce the negative impact empty shops are having on the high street.
Coventry, Birmingham, Stoke-on-Trent, Dudley, Sandwell, Wolverhampton and Walsall councils are each being given a grant of £52, 632.
The councils will use the grants as they [...]

Inward investment: record high for West Midlands

In the period 2008 to 2009 the West Midlands region received 117 foreign direct investment (FDI) projects, a record high since records began in 1991 (shown by the blue line in the graph below).

Observatory collaborates with CSWP to develop new sub-regional strategy

The Observatory is pleased to continue our long standing links with the Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire Partnership (CSWP) through a forthcoming project aimed at exploring future economic prospects for the sub-region.
We were commissioned in 2007 to deliver an initial economic assessment for CSWP. This report provided CSWP with a review of the strengths and weaknesses [...]

Latest gross disposable household income estimates indicate metropolitan West Midlands is UK’s poorest sub-region

The 2007 Regional Gross Disposable Household Income (GDHI) (Word, 411KB) estimates are released today by the Office for National Statistics.
Indexed GDHI per head (where UK=100) for the West Midlands in 2007 was 90, stable in comparison to the revised 2006 index value of 90.
GDHI per head in the West Midlands rose from £12,700 in 2006 to [...]

Making information more accessible

How to make complex information available to a wider audience and how to make it more easily understand? Those were questions being considered in Coventry this week.
On Tuesday 20th January, Coventry City Council hosted a meeting designed to share ideas on how regional partners were using software to make their information more readily available.
The main [...]

West Midlands local development annual monitoring reports

The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act 2004 requires local planning authorities to regularly monitor planning policies that affect the planning and development of their areas.

Each council is required to produce an Annual Monitoring Report (AMR) which is published in December to assess the effectiveness of policy in the Local Development Framework.
These show whether the progress [...]

Sharing intelligence from Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire

Yesterday, I attended the Coventry, Solihull and Wawickshire Researchers’ Forum to demonstrate the Regional Resource Catalogue and show how the data and intelligence in the catalogue might support the work that they’re engaged in, and also to encourage further contributions to the catalogue from members of the forum to help share their data and intelligence [...]

Questionnaire on benefits of local information systems

This questionnaire is part of a research project, commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government, to investigate the way users of local information systems benefit from the data and statistics the systems provide. The aim of the questionnaire is to obtain information about how you use the system and the way it helps [...]

West Midlands Regional Integrated Economic Assessment published

The West Midlands is the first English region to produce a Regional Integrated Economic Assessment. The aim of the project is to provide an assessment of the performance of the West Midlands’ economy and of the factors which contribute to it. It also assesses the relative position of the different parts of the region.
The Assessment [...]

Local Area Agreements: The next generation

In June 2008, 150 new Local Area Agreements (LAA) were signed off by central government. A Local Area Agreement is a three year agreement, based on local Sustainable Community Strategies, that sets out the priorities for a local area.
The 14 strategic authorities in the West Midlands each have a Local Area Agreement.

Life expectancy in the West Midlands

A recent press release from trade union GMB highlights the difference in life expectancy at birth across the West Midlands.
Women living in Solihull have the highest life expectancy in the region at 83.3 years with those living in Stoke-on-Trent having the lowest at 79.6.
For men, the difference is greater with those living in South Shropshire [...]

Keeping up to date with Coventry

If you’re looking to stay up to date with data and intelligence relating to the city of Coventry, you might be interested in the work of the Research and Strategy team at Coventry City Council.
In particular their monthly research and strategy newsletter which summarises economic and business news with analysis and assesses their possible impacts [...]