West Midlands community action

• ‘Building something better’: the UK residents retrofitting their homes amid the climate crisis, theguardian.com (Aug 03, 2024) — From weekly skills-sharing to rewilding streets, communities are working to improve the planet while bolstering the health of people
• ‘This May Day is a Celebration of Work and Innovation’, Dave Proudlove, thestokemodel.com (May 01, 2024)

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Fordhall Farm is an organic farm of 128 acres, in Market Drayton in north Shropshire, England. It is owned by an industrial and provident society, the Fordhall Community Land Initiative (FCLI), whose aim is to use the farm for community benefit. The farm became a cause célèbre in 2005, when a campaign to raise funds for FCLI to purchase the land gained national press attention.

The West Midlands Metro is a light-rail/tram system in the county of West Midlands, England. The network has 33 stops with a total of 14 miles (23 km) of track; it currently consists of a single route, Line 1, which operates between the cities of Birmingham and Wolverhampton via the towns of Bilston, West Bromwich and Wednesbury, on a mixture of former railway lines and urban on-street running. The system is owned by the public body Transport for West Midlands, and operated by Midland Metro Limited, a company wholly owned by the West Midlands Combined Authority.

During August 1995, a 25-year contract for the design, construction, operation and maintenance of Line 1 was awarded to the Altram consortium; construction commenced three months later. It was launched on 30 May 1999 as Midland Metro, partly using the disused Birmingham Snow Hill to Wolverhampton Low Level Line. During 2006, Ansaldo and John Laing Group both withdrew from the consortium, thus day-to-day operation of the Metro was taken over by the remaining partner, National Express. In October 2018, the National Express concession ended and the system was taken over by Transport for West Midlands, the transport arm of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA).

The line originally terminated at Birmingham Snow Hill station at the edge of the city centre, but following an extension opened in December 2015 it now serves the central core of Birmingham, including the principal regional mainline station, Birmingham New Street. Following further extensions the line now terminates at Edgbaston Village since 2022. At the other end of the line, an extension to Wolverhampton station was opened on 17 September 2023. The Metro was originally operated by a fleet of 16 AnsaldoBreda T-69 trams; these were replaced during the 2010s by a newer fleet of 42 CAF Urbos 3.

Construction of a new branch line from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill was approved in March 2019, started in February 2020 and was intended to be completed for the 2022 Commonwealth Games, but has been severely delayed; it is currently scheduled to be completed at least to Dudley by 2025. An additional branch line running to Birmingham's Eastside via Curzon Street – the region's planned High Speed 2 terminus – and terminating at Digbeth is also under construction as of 2024. There are also proposals to expand this branch further towards Chelmsley Wood (Solihull) and out to Birmingham Airport.

The National Forest is an environmental project in central England run by The National Forest Company. From the 1990s, 200 square miles (520 km²) of north Leicestershire, south Derbyshire and southeast Staffordshire have been planted in an attempt to blend ancient woodland with newly planted areas to create a new national forest. It stretches from the western outskirts of Leicester in the east to Burton upon Trent in the west, and is planned to link the ancient forests of Needwood and Charnwood.

In January 2018 the UK government unveiled plans to create a new English Northern Forest extending from Liverpool to Hull. It will shadow the path of the east-west M62 motorway.

The Forest of Mercia lies within the northernmost boundary of the more ancient and well-known Forest of Arden which covered the area when it formed part of the Kingdom of Mercia, and is one of twelve community forests established close to major towns and cities across England. It covers an area of 92 square miles (23,000 hectares), and is focused around the town of Cannock in South Staffordshire.

Wyre Forest is a large, semi-natural (partially unmanaged) woodland and forest measuring 26.34 square kilometres (10.17 sq mi) which straddles the borders of Worcestershire and Shropshire, England. Knowles Mill, a former corn mill owned by the National Trust lies within the forest.

The West Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of International Territorial Level for statistical purposes. It covers the western half of the area known traditionally as the Midlands. The region consists of the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, West Midlands and Worcestershire. The region has seven cities: Birmingham, Coventry, Hereford, Lichfield, Stoke-on-Trent, Wolverhampton and Worcester.

The West Midlands region is geographically diverse, from the urban central areas of the West Midlands conurbation to the rural counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire and Worcestershire which border Wales. The region is landlocked; however, the longest river in the UK, the River Severn, traverses the region south-eastwards, flowing through the county towns of Shrewsbury and Worcester, and the Ironbridge Gorge, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Staffordshire is home to the industrialised Potteries conurbation, including the city of Stoke-on-Trent and the Staffordshire Moorlands area, which borders the south-eastern Peak District National Park near Leek. The region also encompasses five Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty: the Wye Valley, Shropshire Hills, Cannock Chase, Malvern Hills and parts of the Cotswolds. Warwickshire is home to the towns of Stratford upon Avon, birthplace of writer William Shakespeare; Rugby, the birthplace of Rugby football; and Nuneaton, birthplace to author George Eliot.