Birmingham shown within West Midlands

This page is about the Government of Birmingham, England.

[edit] Civic history

The proposed Parliamentary Borough of Birmingham, surveyed in 1831 for the Great Reform Act by Robert K. Dawson

Most of Birmingham was historically a part of Warwickshire, though the modern city also includes villages and towns historically 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 inadequate, and salaried officials were needed. In 1768, a body of "Commissioners 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 MPs but this has been gradually expanded.

The Public Offices in Moor Street in 1830

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 Commissioners. 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.

A Birmingham coat of arms was awarded to the corporation in 1889 and updated for the city council in 1977.

In the past, the council has been responsible for water, electricity and gas supply, further education colleges, public transport and local police and fire services. All are now in the hands of other public- or private- sector bodies.

[edit] Local government

[edit] Birmingham City Council

Birmingham Council House, seen from Victoria Square.

Birmingham City Council is the largest local authority in Europe with, following a reorganisation of boundaries in June 2004, 121 Birmingham City Councillors representing over one million people, in 40 wards. The council headquarters are based at the Council House in the city centre. Birmingham City Council is responsible for running nearly all local services, with the exception of those run by joint boards as detailed below. The provision of certain services has in recent years been devolved to several Districts, which each have an area committee made up of councillors from that district.

[edit] Council constituencies

From 5 April 2004, responsibility and budgets for a number of services were devolved to 11 district committees, as part of a growing trend in the UK to use area committees for large councils. From 1 June 2006 the districts were reduced from 11 to 10 in order to correspond with the revised Westminster constituency boundaries, and renamed "council constituencies". Each now comprises four wards. The council constituencies are:

• Edgbaston
• Erdington
• Hall Green
• Hodge Hill
• Ladywood
• Northfield
• Perry Barr
• Selly Oak
• Sutton Coldfield
• Yardley

[edit] Parishes

Birmingham is unparished, apart from New Frankley, its only civil parish, which was established in 2000 in an area transferred from Bromsgrove in 1995, and which had previously been part of the Frankley parish.

[edit] Other

Other local government bodies or organisations which affect Birmingham include:

[edit] Joint county-wide services

Some local services which cover Birmingham are run jointly with the six other authorities in the West Midlands county. These county wide services are:

• West Midlands Police
• West Midlands Fire Service
• West Midlands Passenger Transport Executive, better known as Centro, which oversees public transport.

[edit] Regional assembly

The West Midlands Regional Assembly which covers Birmingham, is the assembly for the West Midlands region. It has a limited administrative role, such as strategic regional planning.

[edit] At Westminster

Birmingham first had an MP, George Fredrick Muntz, in 1840.

Birmingham's eleven parliamentary constituencies (to be reduced to ten at the next general election) are represented in the House of Commons by one Conservative, one Liberal Democrat and nine Labour MPs.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Birmingham City Council
• Council Constituency Committees
• Birmingham Conservatives
• Birmingham Liberal Democrats

[edit] Video clips

• Birmingham City Council YouTube channel