This page is about the .
Most of Birmingham was historically a part of
Warwickshire , though the modern city also includes villages and towns formerly in
Staffordshire or
Worcestershire .
Until the
1760s Birmingham was administered by
Manorial and
Parish officials, most of whom served on a part-time and honorary basis. By the 1760s the population growth of Birmingham made this system completely inadquate, and salaried officials were needed. In
1768 a body of "Commisioners of the Streets" was established who had powers to levy a rate for functions such as cleaning and street lighting. They were later given powers to provide policing and build public buildings.
The
Reform Act Of 1832 gave Birmingham its first representation in
Parliament initially with only two MP's but this has been gradually expanded.
Birmingham gained the status of a
Municipal Borough in
1838 and gained its first elected
Town Council which took over the functions of the Street Comissioners. In
1889 it became a
County Borough (unitary authority) and a
City . This remained unchanged until
1974 when Birmingham became a
Metropolitan District of the newly-created
West Midlands County under the
West Midlands County Council . The county council was abolished in
1986 and Birmingham effectively reverted to being a
Unitary Authority although sharing some services with other authorities in the county.
is the largest local authority in the
UK with, following a reorganisation of boundaries in June
2004 , 120
Councillor s representing just under one million people, in 40
Wards .
After the election of
10 June 2004, there was no overall control, with the 120 seats being divided between the
Labour , (53 councillors),
Conservative (39) and
Liberal Democrat ("Lib-Dem", 28) parties.
By-elections in 2005 altered the distribution of seats within the council with
Labour holding 46 seats,
Conservatives holding 40,
Liberal Democrats holding 30, the
People's Justice Party holding 2 and independent councillors holding a further 2. In 2006, the People's Justice Party joined the Liberal Democrats.
There is a Conservative/Lib-Dem coalition, with Conservative group leader
Mike Whitby as Leader of the council and Lib-Dem group leader
Paul Tilsley as Deputy Leader.
The city council runs some services
Jointly with the other authorities in the West Midlands county.
These include the
West Midlands Police , the
West Midlands Fire Service and the
West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive which oversees public transport.
Following the June 2004 reorganisation, Birmingham's wards are:
From 5 April 2004, responsibility and budgets for a number of services were devolved to 11
District Committee s, as part of a growing trend in the UK to use
Area Committee s for large councils. These are:
Each comprises three or four wards. They are not identical to the Parliamentary constituencies mentioned below, as the districts are composed of whole wards, whilst, following ward boundary changes in June 2004, the 11 constituencies split wards. However, the district boundaries have been drawn with the minimum change from the parliamentary boundaries in mind. They therefore maintain some rather undesirable qualities for service provision, notably a boundary bisecting
Kings Heath , the main centre for much of South Birmingham.
Birmingham is nearly entirely unparished. Its only
Civil Parish ,
New Frankley , was established in
2000 in an area transferred from
Bromsgrove in
1995 , which had previously been part of the
Frankley parish.
Birmingham's eleven
Constituencies are represented in the
House Of Commons by one
Conservative , one
Liberal Democrat and nine
Labour MP s.
| # | Constituency | MP | Party |
|---|
|
| 1 | Birmingham, Edgbaston | Gisela Stuart | Labour |
|---|
| 2 | Birmingham, Erdington | Siôn Simon | Labour |
|---|
| 3 | Birmingham, Hall Green | Stephen James McCabe | Labour |
|---|
| 4 | Birmingham, Hodge Hill | Liam Byrne | Labour |
|---|
| 5 | Birmingham, Ladywood | Clare Short | Labour |
|---|
| 6 | Birmingham, Northfield | Richard Burden | Labour |
|---|
| 7 | Birmingham, Perry Barr | Khalid Mahmood | Labour |
|---|
| 8 | Birmingham, Selly Oak | Dr Lynne Jones | Labour |
|---|
| 9 | Birmingham, Sparkbrook And Small Heath | Roger Godsiff | Labour |
|---|
| 10 | Sutton Coldfield | Andrew Mitchell | Conservative |
|---|
| 11 | Birmingham, Yardley | John Hemming | Lib-Dem |
|---|
