Ladywood is an inner-city district next to central

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

. Historically in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

, in June 2004,

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom ...

conducted a citywide "Ward Boundary Revision" to round-up the thirty-nine Birmingham wards to forty. As a result of this, Ladywood Ward's boundaries were expanded to include the neighbouring areas of

Hockley Hockley is a large village and civil parish in Essex in the East of England located between Chelmsford and Southend-on-Sea, or, more specifically, between Rayleigh and Rochford. It came to prominence during the coming of the railway in the 189 ...

Lee Bank Lee Bank was an inner city area of Birmingham, England. It was part of the Edgbaston and Ladywood wards, inside the Middle Ring Road or Middleway, which surrounds Central Birmingham. Lee Bank's neighbouring areas are Edgbaston, Ladywood, High ...

and

Birmingham city centre Birmingham City Centre, also known as Central Birmingham and often known locally as town, is the central business district of Birmingham, England. Following the removal of the Inner Ring Road, the city centre is now defined as being the area wi ...

Demographics

At the time of the 2001 Population Census, 23,789 people were living in the Ladywood Ward. The population density was 3,330 people per km² living within its 7.1 km² boundary, compared with 3,649 people per km² for Birmingham. Nearly half of the population of Ladywood (49%) consisted of ethnic minorities compared with 29.6% for Birmingham in general. The largest ethnic minority groups were

Afro-Caribbean Afro-Caribbean people or African Caribbean are Caribbean people who trace their full or partial ancestry to Sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of the modern African-Caribbeans descend from Africans taken as slaves to colonial Caribbean via the tr ...

at 13.18%,

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Peoples South Asia * Indian people, people of Indian nationality, or people who have an Indian ancestor ** Non-resident Indian, a citizen of India who has temporarily emigrated to another country * South Asia ...

at 11.65%, Pakistani at 10.64% and Mixed Race at 5.52%.

Housing and land use

The Ladywood ward combines areas of varying land-use, such that no generalisation is possible. There is the

city centre A city centre is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms exist in other languages, such as "" in Fren ...

(the economically valuable Central business district), the affluent Jewellery Quarter, and Broad Street areas which have become fashionable for "luxury flat" living, the

area (now known as

Park Central Park Central may refer to: * Park Central, Birmingham, England, UK; a real estate development * Park Central, Gauteng, Johannesburg, South Africa; a suburb * Park Central (Hong Kong), a housing estate and shopping mall * Park Central Building, L ...

) which has been fully redeveloped, and there is the remainder of the ward, which is Ladywood itself (here referred to as "remainder Ladywood" – i.e., what is Ladywood itself) which is relatively economically impoverished. Most of "remainder Ladywood" was redeveloped during the 1960s, with decaying terraced slums being cleared to make way for new low-rise housing and high-rise flats. Although the newer homes were an improvement on their predecessors in terms of quality and sanitation, social problems became prevalent in much of the local area including car crime, drug dealing, anti-social behaviour and many of the other problems commonly associated with inner city areas across England. More than 20 multi-storey blocks of council flats were built around Ladywood during the 1960s and 1970s; however, six of them were demolished in the early 2000s. More recently there has been investment in physical improvements to the area. Some tower blocks have been either demolished or improved, not least with introduction of concierge or

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly ...

security systems. These and other such measures may have resulted in a reduction of antisocial behaviour. There are plans to build high-density housing, possibly over 1,100 units, on 54 acres of derelict industrial land at Icknield Port. The proposals include old-style back-to-backs with internal courtyards raising fears of future slums. The area is served by two libraries;

Spring Hill Library Spring Hill Library () is a red brick and terracotta Victorian building in Ladywood, Birmingham, England. Designed in 1891 by Frederick Martin of Martin & Chamberlain with a clock tower on the corner of Icknield Street and Spring Hill and ope ...

and Ladywood Library.

Politics

The ward is currently represented by two Labour councillors at the

: Sir

Albert Bore Sir Albert Bore (born 1946 in Ayrshire, Scotland) is a British nuclear physicist, academic and Labour Party politician. Bore has a doctorate in nuclear reactor physics from the University of Birmingham and worked as a lecturer in nuclear phy ...

and Kath Hartley. Ladywood Ward has adopted a "Committee Manager" and an "Interim Neighbourhood Manager". These are Kay Thomas and Sandra Lawrence respectively.

Notable residents

Washington Irving Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legen ...

(1783–1859) American writer. Inspired to write whilst living with family in

. * Alfred Joseph Knight (1888–1960). World War I

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previousl ...

recipient. * J.R.R. Tolkien (1892–1973) author and academic lived in an area of

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family ...

now taken over by the extension of the Ladywood Ward boundaries.

References

External links