Longbridge

Longbridge is an area of Northfield, West Midlands. It is located near the border of Worcestershire in the south-west of Birmingham, England.

Not to be confused with Longridge.
For other uses, see Longbridge (disambiguation).
Longbridge

Longbridge Technology Park – Innovation Centre (March 2010)
Longbridge
Location within the West Midlands
Population25,410 (2011 Ward)[1]
• Density36.2 per ha
OS grid referenceSP015775
Metropolitan borough
Metropolitan county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townBIRMINGHAM
Postcode districtB31, B45
Dialling code0121
PoliceWest Midlands
FireWest Midlands
AmbulanceWest Midlands
UK Parliament

Public Transport

The public transport in Longbridge is improving day-by-day, as National Express West Midlands serve the public transport routes and West Midlands Railway serve the Cross City Line.

Longbridge has undergone a renovation to its only station, aptly named after itself. Routes operated by West Midlands Railway operate every 10 minutes between Four Oaks, Sutton Coldfield and Longbridge, with three continuing to Redditch and three to Bromsgrove, with some terminating at Longbridge during peak, evening and morning hours.

Situation

Longbridge is surrounded by Frankley, Frankley Beeches, Rubery, Rednal, Bromsgrove, Northfield, West Heath and Kings Norton. Longbridge is in close proximity to and can be viewed from the Lickey Hills.

Longbridge plant
Main article: Longbridge plant

Since 1906, the area has been dominated by the Longbridge plant, which produced Austin, Nash Metropolitan, Morris, British Leyland, and most recently MG Rover cars. The factory became dormant, and some parts of the older sections of the site were demolished after MG Rover fell into administration in April 2005. The plant was one of the main employers of the local population and the resultant layoffs caused local decline. The company, renamed MG Motor (owned by MG Rover's would-be partner Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) resumed limited MG TF sports car production within a small portion of the factory in August 2008 and in late 2010 started final assembly of the MG6. Production ceased completely in 2017, when the Chinese car maker decided to ship the fully assembled cars to the UK. The remaining disused sections of the factory were demolished on 4 August 2006.

Regeneration

The demolition of the Longbridge plant left behind a large amount of disused brownfield land. The site was bought by regeneration firm St. Modwen Properties. A shopping complex was constructed along with many new homes and a retirement complex. Concerns that the area's history would be completely erased were met with the addition of plaques set into the concrete walkway running parallel to the River Rea that give a brief history of the Longbridge Plant and its operators; principally, the Austin Motor Company.

Politics

Gary Sambrook of the Conservative Party is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Northfield, representing the seat since the December 2019 general election.

As part of the Ward of Longbridge And West Heath, Longbridge is represented on Birmingham City Council by Debbie Clancy (Conservative Party) and Brett O'Reilly (Labour Party) who was very narrowly elected at the 2018 Birmingham City Council election.

Population

The 2001 Population Census recorded that there were 30,964 people living in Longbridge with a population density of 3,789 people per km² compared with 3,649 people per km² for Birmingham. Longbridge has a small ethnic minority population: only 6.8% (2,117) of the ward's population consists of ethnic minorities, unlike more centralised areas such as Aston, Handsworth and Small Heath.

See also

References
  1. "Birmingham Ward population 2011". Retrieved 14 December 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.