ABSTRACT

Towns vary enormously. The most obvious difference is in size of population. The largest settlement in the West Midlands is Birmingham with a population at 1961 of over one million. Group B towns are towns with a base of manufacturing industry, and exhibiting fairly slow rates of population growth relatively for this region, contrasted with Group D towns which on the whole have a greater manufacturing base, but with a faster rate of population build-up. Group E towns are certainly industrialised, but with more emphasis on the service functions than towns in Group B, whilst at the same time showing a population growth as rapid as the towns in Group D. There are towns which are primarily commuter centres, perhaps more commonly called 'dormitory' towns. Towns in Group F fall into this category, and also certain towns in Group E-such as Bromsgove and Lichfield, close to the conurbation and Coventry.