Badger
Member
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/ha...evolution-new-city-proposed-for-Midlands.html
If like me you're a Midlands kid, you probably have some vague dream of what a joined up Birmingham and Coventry would be like - not saying I'd want it to ever happen.
The proposal is to build a new city in the midlands (their words not mine) in the Meriden gap between Birmingham and Coventry.
It would be centred around Birmingham International, with it's own high speed 2 station, and would "create Britain’s longest continuous conurbation, stretching 40 miles from Coventry to the far side of Wolverhampton.".
On the airport:
We joked about London Birmingham a while back but I didn't realise it was an actual proposal.
For those who are not from the Midlands and don't know it's geography:
The West Midlands is a weird county in that it includes two large urban conurbations split apart by the Meriden gap.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WestMidlandsNumbered.png
1. Wolverhampton (city)
2. Dudley (large town)
3. Walsall (large town)
4. Sandwell (includes West Bromwich, large town)
5. Birmingham (city)
6. Meriden gap (includes Solihull, part of the conurbation, large town)
7. Coventry (city)
The plan is basically to join 5 to 7 by building 100,000 houses in 6.
A “new city” has been proposed for the English countryside as radical planning powers are to be unveiled by ministers.
If like me you're a Midlands kid, you probably have some vague dream of what a joined up Birmingham and Coventry would be like - not saying I'd want it to ever happen.
Up to 100,000 homes would be built on green belt in the Midlands near the controversial High Speed 2 rail route as part of a dramatic expansion of housing.
The proposal is to build a new city in the midlands (their words not mine) in the Meriden gap between Birmingham and Coventry.
It would be centred around Birmingham International, with it's own high speed 2 station, and would "create Britain’s longest continuous conurbation, stretching 40 miles from Coventry to the far side of Wolverhampton.".
On the airport:
Prof McNaughton, who holds posts at Imperial College, London, and Nottingham University, also raised the prospect of a major expansion to Birmingham Airport, which could be rebranded “London Birmingham” because the travel time to the capital using the high-speed link would be shorter than the time taken to travel from London to Stansted.
We joked about London Birmingham a while back but I didn't realise it was an actual proposal.
For those who are not from the Midlands and don't know it's geography:
The West Midlands is a weird county in that it includes two large urban conurbations split apart by the Meriden gap.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:WestMidlandsNumbered.png
1. Wolverhampton (city)
2. Dudley (large town)
3. Walsall (large town)
4. Sandwell (includes West Bromwich, large town)
5. Birmingham (city)
6. Meriden gap (includes Solihull, part of the conurbation, large town)
7. Coventry (city)
The plan is basically to join 5 to 7 by building 100,000 houses in 6.