Longbridge

Longbridge is an area of Northfield, West Midlands. It is located near the border of Worcestershire in the south-west of Birmingham, England.
Public Transport.
Longbridge is described as a hub for public transport with a number of bus services run by Kev’s Coaches and National Express West Midlands passing through it with destinations including Birmingham City Centre, West Bromwich and the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Edgbaston. West Midlands Railway serves the Cross City Line with destinations at Redditch or Bromsgrove and Four Oaks or Lichfield with connections to Hereford and Nottingham at University station or nationwide at Birmingham New Street station. In 2020 a large multi-storey carpark was built near Longbridge station as a park and ride facility to reduce car journeys into the city centre. Some improvements to Longbridge station were also carried out in 2020 though one side of the station remains without a lift facility.
Situation.
Longbridge is surrounded by Frankley, Frankley Beeches, Rubery, Rednal, Bromsgrove, Northfield, West Heath and Kings Norton. Longbridge is in close proximity to and can be viewed from the Lickey Hills.
Longbridge plant.
Since 1906, the area has been dominated by the Longbridge plant, which produced Austin, Nash Metropolitan, Morris, British Leyland, and most recently MG Rover cars. The factory became dormant, and some parts of the older sections of the site were demolished after MG Rover fell into administration in April 2005. The plant was one of the main employers of the local population and the resultant layoffs caused local decline. The company, renamed MG Motor (owned by MG Rover's would-be partner Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) resumed limited MG TF sports car production within a small portion of the factory in August 2008 and in late 2010 started final assembly of the MG6. Production ceased completely in 2017, when the Chinese car maker decided to ship the fully assembled cars to the UK. The remaining disused sections of the factory were demolished on 4 August 2006.
Regeneration.
The demolition of the Longbridge plant left behind a large amount of disused brownfield land. The site was bought by regeneration firm St. Modwen Properties. A shopping complex was constructed along with many new homes and a retirement complex. Concerns that the area's history would be completely erased were met with the addition of plaques set into the concrete walkway running parallel to the River Rea that give a brief history of the Longbridge Plant and its operators; principally, the Austin Motor Company.
Politics.
Gary Sambrook of the Conservative Party is the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Northfield, representing the seat since the December 2019 general election.
As part of the Ward of Longbridge And West Heath, Longbridge is represented on Birmingham City Council by Debbie Clancy (Conservative Party) and Brett O'Reilly (Labour Party) who was very narrowly elected at the 2018 Birmingham City Council election.
Population.
The 2001 Population Census recorded that there were 30,964 people living in Longbridge with a population density of 3,789 people per km² compared with 3,649 people per km² for Birmingham. Longbridge has a small ethnic minority population: only 6.8% (2,117) of the ward's population consists of ethnic minorities, unlike more centralised areas such as Aston, Handsworth and Small Heath.