ABSTRACT

The Nuffield Survey's inquiries in the West Midlands were carried out in co-operation with the West Midland Group on Post-War Reconstruction and Planning, and accordingly took a rather different form from inquiries in most other areas. Outside the industrial district of Shropshire the main problems arising in the western counties before the war were those which affected almost all agricultural areas. The only predominantly industrial area in the western counties is in the east of Shropshire, round Wellington, Ironbridge, and Oakengates. Birmingham, Coventry, and the Black Country form what is first and foremost a metal manufacturing area. In the long run, the most serious threat to Birmingham's prosperity lies perhaps in the possibility of cyclical depression in the motor industry. The Cannock Chase and Warwickshire coalfields cover between them the part of Staffordshire immediately north of Birmingham and the Black Country and the northern corner of Warwickshire above Coventry.