| Ladywood | |
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Ladywood
Ladywood shown within the West Midlands |
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| Population | 14,801 (2001 Population Census) |
|---|---|
| - Density | 27.0 per ha |
| OS grid reference | SP055865 |
| Metropolitan borough | Birmingham |
| Metropolitan county | West Midlands |
| Region | West Midlands |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | BIRMINGHAM |
| Postcode district | B1-B4 |
| Dialling code | 0121 |
| Police | West Midlands |
| Fire | West Midlands |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| EU Parliament | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament | Birmingham Ladywood |
| List of places: UK • England • West Midlands | |
Ladywood is an inner-city area in Birmingham, England. It is a council constituency, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Ladywood ward and the wards of Aston, Nechells and Soho.[1] In June 2004, Birmingham City Council conducted a city-wide "Ward Boundary Revision" to round-up the thirty-nine Birmingham wards to forty. As a result of this, Ladywood's boundaries were expanded to include Birmingham City Centre.[2][3]
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At the time of the 2001 Population Census, 23,789 people were living in Ladywood. The population density was 3,330 people per km² living within its 7.1 km² boundary, compared with 3,649 people per km² for Birmingham. Nearly half of the population of Ladywood (49%) consists of ethnic minorities compared with 29.6% for Birmingham in general. The largest ethnic minority groups are Afro-Caribbean at 13.18%, Indian at 11.65%, Pakistani at 10.64% and Mixed Race at 5.52%.[4][5]
The Ladywood ward combines areas of varying land-use, such that no generalisation is possible. There is the city centre (the economically valuable Central business district), the affluent Jewellery Quarter, and Broad Street areas which have become fashionable for "luxury apartment" living, the Lee Bank area (now known as Park Central) which has been fully redeveloped, and there is the remainder of the ward (herein: "remainder Ladywood") which is relatively economically impoverished.
Most of "remainder Ladywood" (and area now occupied by Park Central) was redeveloped during the 1960s, with decaying terraced slums being cleared to make way for new low-rise housing and high-rise flats. Although the newer homes were an improvement on their predecessors in terms of quality and sanitation, social problems of tower blocks resulted in much of the local area having issues with drug dealing, anti-social behaviour and many of the other problems commonly associated with inner city areas across England.
More than 20 multi-storey blocks of council flats were built around Ladywood during the 1960s and 1970s; however, six of them were demolished in the early 2000s.[6]
More recently there has been investment in physical improvements to the area. Some tower blocks have been either demolished or improved, not least with introduction of concierge or CCTV security systems. These and other such measures may have resulted in a reduction of antisocial behaviour.
The area is served by two libraries; Spring Hill Library[7] and Ladywood Library.[8]
The ward is currently represented by three Labour councillors at the Birmingham City Council; Sir Albert Bore, Kath Hartley and Carl Rice.[9]
Ladywood Ward has adopted a "Committee Manager" and an "Interim Neighbourhood Manager". These are Kay Thomas and Sandra Lawrence respectively.[10]
In July 2010, it was reported that the Parliamentary Constituency of Ladywood had the highest rate of unemployment out of all the constituencies in the United Kingdom with 10.8% claiming Jobseeker's Allowance. It was further reported that Ladywood had the highest rate in the UK for at least the previous 61 months (statistics produced on a month by month basis).[11][12] This may be blamed on the recession, but very high unemployment rates have been a problem in Ladywood for a number of years.[13]
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