Sandwell is a

metropolitan borough A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropolitan ...

of the West Midlands county in England. The borough is named after the Sandwell Priory, and spans a densely populated part of the West Midlands conurbation. According to Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, the borough comprises the six amalgamated towns of Oldbury, Rowley Regis,

Smethwick Smethwick () is an industrial town in Sandwell, West Midlands, England. It lies west of Birmingham city centre. Historically it was in Staffordshire. In 2019, the ward of Smethwick had an estimated population of 15,246, while the wider bu ...

, Tipton, Wednesbury, and West Bromwich, although these places consist of numerous smaller settlements and localities. Sandwell's Strategic Town Centre is designated as West Bromwich, the largest town in the borough, while Sandwell Council House (the headquarters of the local authority) is situated in Oldbury. In 2019 Sandwell was ranked 12th most deprived of England's 317 boroughs. Bordering Sandwell is the City of Birmingham to the east, the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley to the south and west, the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall to the north, and the

City of Wolverhampton Wolverhampton () is a city, metropolitan borough and administrative centre in the West Midlands, England. The population size has increased by 5.7%, from around 249,500 in 2011 to 263,700 in 2021. People from the city are called "Wulfrunians" ...

to the north-west. Spanning the borough are the parliamentary constituencies of

West Bromwich West West Bromwich West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Shaun Bailey, a member of the Conservative Party. Members of Parliament Constituency profile Wednesbury and Tipton are economic cen ...

West Bromwich East West Bromwich East is a constituency that is represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament by Nicola Richards of the Conservative Party, who was first elected at the 2019 United Kingdom general election. Members of Parliament ...

, Warley, and part of

Halesowen and Rowley Regis Halesowen and Rowley Regis is a constituency in the West Midlands represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by James Morris, a Conservative. Members of Parliament Boundaries Halesowen and Rowley Regis straddles ...

, which crosses into the Dudley borough. At the 2011 census, the borough had a population of 309,000 and an area of .

History and culture

The Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell was formed on 1 April 1974 as an amalgamation of the county boroughs of Warley ( ceremonially within Worcestershire) and West Bromwich (ceremonially within

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

), under the

Local Government Act 1972 The Local Government Act 1972 (c. 70) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales on 1 April 1974. It was one of the most significant Acts of Parliament to be passed by the Heath Gov ...

. Warley had been formed in 1966 by a merger of the county borough of Smethwick with the municipal boroughs of Rowley Regis and Oldbury; at the same time, West Bromwich had absorbed the boroughs of Tipton and Wednesbury. For its first 12 years of existence, Sandwell had a two-tier system of local government; Sandwell Council shared power with the West Midlands County Council. In 1986 the county council was abolished, and Sandwell effectively became a unitary authority. The borough is divided into 24

Wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

and is represented by 72 ward councillors on the borough council. The borough was named after Sandwell Priory, the ruins of which are located in

Sandwell Valley Sandwell Valley is an area of green belt in the county of West Midlands, England, on the border of Birmingham and West Bromwich, with Walsall at its northern end. It is a valley on the River Tame of which are owned by Sandwell Metropolitan Bo ...

. The local council has considered changing its name in the past over confusion outside the West Midlands as to the whereabouts of the borough, and in June 2002 a survey of borough residents was carried out. Sixty-five percent of those surveyed favoured retaining the name Sandwell. Landmarks and attractions in Sandwell include Wednesbury Museum and Art Gallery, Bishop Asbury Cottage,

West Bromwich Manor House Bromwich Hall - The Manor House Museum is an important, Grade I listed, medieval domestic building (a hall house) built by Richard de Marnham around 1270 as the centre of his agricultural estate in West Bromwich. Only the Great Hall survive ...

, Oak House, West Bromwich, and Sandwell Valley Country Park. It is also the home of

West Bromwich Albion F.C. West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

Sandwell used to be a popular hotspot for car cruising. In 2015 a High Court order was introduced to ban car cruising in the area. An extension has been secured to run until at least 2021.

Demographics

Religion 2021

Politics

Since the council election in 2021, the political composition of the council has been as follows: From the borough's creation in 1974 until 2010, all Members of Parliament (MPs) within its boundaries were Labour. However, in the 2010 general election, Conservative party candidate James Morris was elected to the

seat which incorporates the Sandwell communities of Rowley Regis,

Blackheath Blackheath may refer to: Places England *Blackheath, London, England ** Blackheath railway station **Hundred of Blackheath, Kent, an ancient hundred in the north west of the county of Kent, England *Blackheath, Surrey, England ** Hundred of Blackh ...

and Cradley Heath, and the neighbouring area of Halesowen which is situated within Dudley's borders. This was the very first time any part of Sandwell had elected a Conservative MP – or indeed an MP from any party other than Labour. In the December 2019 general election, however, Conservative candidates Nicola Richards and

Shaun Bailey Shaun Bailey may refer to: * Shaun Bailey, Baron Bailey of Paddington (born 1971), member of the London Assembly, life peer, and former journalist * Shaun Bailey (West Bromwich MP) (born 1992), British Conservative politician * Shaun Bailey (cricket ...

were elected to represent

and

respectively. This was the first time since the borough's creation that West Bromwich has returned any Conservative MPs to Parliament, and the first time that a constituency fully within the boundaries of Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council has been represented by a Tory MP. The election of both Richards and Bailey has been marked as a significant milestone in the political history of the borough and marked the end to decades of control by Labour MPs.

Wards

The Sandwell Borough is divided into 24 electoral wards, with each one represented by 3 councillors on the borough council: Central Campus, Sandwell College, West Bromwich

Central Campus, Sandwell College, West Bromwich

Education

Sandwell is home to nearly 100 primary schools, 25 secondary schools, 4 special schools and 1 college. The sole further education college in the borough, Sandwell College was opened in September 1986 following the merger of

Warley College Warley College, originally called Warley College of Technology, was a college of further and higher education which served the vicinity of Oldbury in the West Midlands of England. It was formed in 1968 by the amalgamation of Oldbury College of ...

and West Bromwich College. It was originally based in the old Warley College buildings on Pound Road, Oldbury, and the West Bromwich College buildings on West Bromwich High Street, as well as a building in Smethwick town centre, but moved into a new single site campus in West Bromwich town centre in September 2012. In 2004, a debt-ridden Sandwell College was subject to a police investigation.

Localities

The six towns that comprise Sandwell and localities within each include: ** Oldbury *** Brandhall *** Langley Green *** Oakham *** Rood End ** Rowley Regis ***

*** Cradley Heath *** Old Hill *** Tividale **

***Albion Estate *** Black Patch & Soho *** Bearwood *** Cape Hill *** Londonderry ***North Smethwick ***

Uplands Upland or Uplands may refer to: Geography *Hill, an area of higher land, generally *Highland, an area of higher land divided into low and high points *Upland and lowland, conditional descriptions of a plain based on elevation above sea level *I ...

***

West Smethwick The Ruskin Pottery was an English art pottery studio founded in 1898 by Edward R. Taylor, the first principal of both the Lincoln School of Art and the Birmingham School of Art, to be run by his son, William Howson Taylor, formerly a student th ...

** Tipton *** Dudley Port *** Great Bridge *** Horseley Heath *** Ocker Hill *** Princes End *** Summer Hill * West Bromwich ***

Charlemont and Grove Vale Charlemont with Grove Vale is a political ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, in the English Midlands constituency of West Bromwich East. This Sandwell ward population as taken at the 2011 census was 11,964. The ward is made up o ...

*** Great Barr (although some areas are part of Birmingham and Walsall) *** Guns Village *** Hamstead ***

Hill Top A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not as ...

***

Newton Newton most commonly refers to: * Isaac Newton (1642–1726/1727), English scientist * Newton (unit), SI unit of force named after Isaac Newton Newton may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Newton'' (film), a 2017 Indian film * Newton ( ...

***

Stone Cross Stone crosses (german: Steinkreuze) in Central Europe are usually bulky Christian monuments, some high and wide, that were almost always hewn from a single block of stone, usually granite, sandstone, limestone or basalt. They are amongst the ...

*** Yew Tree *** Greets Green *** Hateley Heath ** Wednesbury *** Friar Park

Local places of interest

* The Public, West Bromwich * Sandwell Aquatics Centre * Sandwell Priory *

* Sandwell Valley Country Park * RSPB Sandwell Valley *

Sheepwash Urban Park Sheepwash Urban Park is a Local Nature Reserve (LNR), situated in Sandwell Metropolitan Borough, in the West Midlands conurbation of the United Kingdom. It forms part of the Black Country Urban Forest. Location The park is located to the sout ...

* The Hawthorns * Sandwell General Hospital * Sandwell College * Holly Lodge High School
Warley Woods

Twin towns and cities

Sandwell is twinned with: *

Le Blanc Mesnil () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris, between Charles de Gaulle Airport and le Bourget Airport. Name The name Le Blanc-Mesnil was recorded for the first time in the 11th centu ...

, France *

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

, India * Zalau, Romania

References

External links

Sandwell MBCResearch SandwellSandwell Trends – a Local Intelligence System for SandwellSandwell Building Schools for the FutureSandwell Lions Club
{{Authority control Metropolitan boroughs of the West Midlands (county) NUTS 3 statistical regions of the United Kingdom Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership