A campaign has been launched to rename the West Midlands as.. Greater Birmingham

It has been traditionally regarded as Britain’s second city and has long laboured under a less-than-glamorous reputation, but with London surging ahead as an economic powerhouse, and rival Manchester growing in stature, Birmingham’s status has never been more under threat.

Now, in a bold step to raise the profile of the city and its surrounding area and promote its attractions at home and abroad – and put to bed once and for all those outdated jibes about Crossroads, Jasper Carrot and the Brummie accent – a campaign has been launched to rename the West Midlands as… Greater Birmingham.

The new region would incorporate Birmingham city itself, along with Wolverhampton, Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Solihull – though each borough would retain its administrative independence. The area would cover what is currently known as the West Midlands conurbation, but not necessarily all parts of the county of the West Midlands, such as Coventry.

One of the campaign’s chief backers is Andy Street, the managing director of John Lewis and chairman of the Greater Birmingham and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership.

He points out that:

* Exports from the West Midlands have grown by 30 per cent in 2 years, compared to 2 per cent nationally

* The region boasts a trade surplus with China

* More businesses were created in Birmingham last year than any city outside London – more than 16,000 in total

Mr Street said: “Greater Birmingham does not wish to be ‘second’ in anything. Instead we wish to play, and be recognised for, our role as a competitive UK city-region on a worldwide basis. And that’s not just dreams. Our regional economy was hurt at the onset of the recession, but we are emerging more strongly than elsewhere, and steadily a new industrial and commercial powerhouse is taking shape.”

Once considered an economic powerhouse of the British Empire, Birmingham boasted thousands of small manufacturing firms and it became known as the ‘city of a thousand trades’ with guns, tools, jewellery, locks and cutlery made across the city. But as industry and engineering declined during the seventies and eighties it left a legacy of crumbling warehouses and industrial wasteland.

The campaign has also won the support of Mike Wright, the Executive Director of Jaguar Land Rover, one of the most important employers in the region.

He said: “Greater Birmingham is at the very heart of Jaguar Land Rover’s global business. We design and engineer all of our vehicles here, and from our manufacturing plants at Solihull and Castle Bromwich we export to more than 170 markets worldwide. The region boasts a hi-tech supply chain and world-class R&D (research and development) expertise. Today’s car industry is led by advanced engineering, design and technology and the West Midlands is now at the very centre of UK and global automotive research. The greatest opportunity for the Greater Birmingham is that we grasp the chance to become, once again, a world-class centre for engineering, for research and development, and for manufacturing excellence.”

Backers of the Greater Birmingham initiative point out that it has the youngest population of any major European city, with four in 10 inhabitants aged under 25, and is one of the most diverse cities in the world, with 124 languages spoken by our 78,000 bilingual residents.

What are your thoughts on the West Midlands being renamed as.. Greater Birmingham?

Read the full story here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/property/propertynews/10685078/Greater-Birmingham-campaign-launched-to-secure-second-citys-status-ahead-of-Manchester.html