:Kingstanding
{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox UK place
| country = England
| official_name = Kingstanding
| coordinates = {{coord|52.548|-1.873|display=inline,title}}
| map_type = West Midlands
| population = 25,334
| population_ref = (2011.Ward){{cite web|url=http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadKeyFigures.do?a=7&b=13689697&c=Kingstanding&d=14&e=62&g=6362122&i=1001x1003x1032x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1450095595750&enc=1|title=Birmingham Ward population 2011|access-date=14 December 2015}}
| population_density = 59.0 per ha
| metropolitan_borough = Birmingham
| shire_county = Staffordshire
| metropolitan_county = West Midlands
| region = West Midlands
| constituency_westminster = Birmingham Erdington
| post_town = BIRMINGHAM
| postcode_district = B44
| postcode_area = B
| dial_code = 0121
| os_grid_reference = SP085945
| static_image = The King's Standing - geograph.org.uk - 13605.jpg
| static_image_caption = The barrow at Kingstanding, surrounded by urban housing
}}
Kingstanding is an area in north Birmingham, England.{{Cite web|url=http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/kingstanding|title = Erdington constituency | Birmingham City Council}} It gives its name to a ward in the Erdington council constituency. Kingstanding ward includes the areas; Perry Common, Witton Lakes. The other part of Kingstanding falls under the Oscott ward.
Kingstanding houses a covered drinking water reservoir, Perry Barr Reservoir, on the site of the former Perry Barr Farm.
Kingstanding is served by two libraries; Kingstanding Library and Perry Common Library.
The area known as Kingstanding Circle is where the Kingstanding village centre lies with its shops and Kings Road/ Kingstanding Road roundabout.
History
The name of the area is derived from the occasion when the Stuart King Charles I supposedly reviewed his troops standing on the Neolithic Bowl Barrow in the area on 18 October 1642 during the English Civil War, after his stay at nearby Aston Hall. The first references to Kingstanding were as King's Standing.
The course of the Icknield Street Roman Road runs past this barrow; and when the foundations for the water pumping station were being dug in 1884, a hoard of Roman coins was discovered.{{cite book|last=Raven |first=Michael |title=A Guide to Staffordshire and the Black Country, the Potteries and the Peak |publisher=Michael Raven |year=2005 |pages=151 |isbn=0-906114-33-0 }}
File:Warren Farm Estate.jpgThe area was largely rural until 1928, when large-scale residential development commenced in the area. The first of the estates was completed in 1934.{{cite book|author=Helen Elizabeth Meller|title=Towns, Plans and Society in Modern Britain|year=1997|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=0-521-57644-X}} It was during the 1930s and 1940s that most of the current housing was built. Most of the houses in Kingstanding were built as council houses in the north of the area. At the time, it was the largest council housing development in Europe, containing some 6,700 properties on its completion.{{Cite web|url=http://billdargue.jimdo.com/placenames-gazetteer-a-to-y/places-k/kingstanding/|title = Kingstanding, Kings Vale}}
In 1935, an Odeon cinema, designed by Cecil Clavering,{{cite book|author=Jane Turner|title=The Dictionary of Art|url=https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofart19turn|url-access=registration|year=1996|publisher=Grove|isbn=1-884446-00-0}} was opened on Kingstanding Circle.{{cite book|author=Anne Massey|title=Hollywood Beyond the Screen: Design and Material Culture|year=2000|publisher=Berg Publishers|isbn=1-85973-321-2}} On 6 June 1964, Kingstanding Library opened. It had an area of {{convert|1000|sqft|m2|abbr=on}} and was identified as being liable to mining subsidence.{{cite book|author=Library Association|title=The Library Association Record|year=1964|publisher=Library Association}}
Kingstanding is featured in the novel The Last Viking by Dr Ron Dawson. The author grew up at number 79 Parkeston Crescent, and used the estate and its many characters as the backcloth to his Birmingham-based novel.{{Cite web |url=http://www.thelastviking.co.uk/ |title=The Last Viking |access-date=18 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170922110121/http://thelastviking.co.uk/ |archive-date=22 September 2017 |url-status=dead }}
=2022 explosion=
On 26 June 2022 at around 20:30 BST, a suspected gas explosion occurred on Dulwich Road. It killed one woman and injured five others, one of which was in life-threatening condition. The exact cause of the explosion was due to a gas boiler exploding. {{Cite web |title=Find |url=https://www.itv.com/news/central/2023-01-16/inquest-begins-into-death-of-woman-killed-in-kingstanding-gas-explosion}}
= Politics =
The Kingstanding ward was the scene of political controversy in May 2006 when it initially appeared its voters had elected a British National Party candidate, Sharon Ebanks, to Birmingham City Council – the first BNP candidate ever to be elected in Birmingham. However, it was announced by the Returning Officer shortly after the declaration that a counting error had taken place and, following a High Court recount, Ebanks was removed as Councillor on 26 July 2006 and replaced by Labour candidate Catherine Grundy.[http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/mail/news/tm_objectid=17458820%26method=full%26siteid=50002-name_page.html End of the road for BNP seat battle] – Birmingham Mail (27 July 2006) In 2014 Conservative Gary Sambrook defeated Labour in a by-election, caused by the resignation of Catharine Grundy. In the 2014 local elections Ron Storer also won the seat for the Conservatives from Labour, in what was once a safe Labour seat. They continued to represent the ward until the 2022 Birmingham City Council Election.
At the 2019 general election, Gary Sambrook was elected to be the MP for the Birmingham Northfield constituency and remained as the councillor for the ward until the 2022. At the 2022 local election, Ron Storer was elected to be the councillor for the Longbridge & West Heath ward which is in the Birmingham Northfield constituency. At the 2022 Birmingham City Council Election, the Conservative's Rick Payne and Labour's Des Hughes were elected to serve on the Council to represent the ward.
Kingstanding is part of the Birmingham Erdington parliamentary constituency. The current Member of Parliament is Paulette Hamilton of the Labour Party, who was first elected in a by-election in March 2022 following the death of the previous Labour MP Jack Dromey.{{cite news |last1=Murray |first1=Jessica |title=Birmingham Erdington byelection winner is Labour's Paulette Hamilton |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2022/mar/04/birmingham-erdington-byelection-winner-is-labours-paulette-hamilton |access-date=4 March 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=4 March 2022}}
World War II
A number of bombs were dropped on the then new Kingstanding housing estate during World War II. On 25 August 1940, four people including a three-year-old boy were killed when a bomb hit a house in Kingstanding Road, while a bomb in Oundle Road killed a 27-year-old man and a third bomb in Hurlingham Road killed a 61-year-old woman.[http://www.swanshurst.org/barra/results.asp]{{dead link|date=December 2017|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}
Population
According to the estimates of the UK government 2021 population survey, Kingstanding ward has a population of 21,153 people. It has a population density of 5,149 people per km2 compared with 4,200 people per km2 for Birmingham, the wards host city. Kingstanding's population consists of 10,263 males (48.5%) and 10,900 females (51.5%). Kingstanding's population is formed largely by 18-64 year olds (working age adults), this demographic totals at 12,630 people (59.7%), meanwhile there are 5,638 children aged 0-17 (26.6%) and 2,895 people aged 65+ (13.7%). The ethnic distribution of Kingstanding situates: 14,891 White people (70.4%), 2,537 Asian people (12%), 2,343 Black people (11.1%), 70 Arab people (0.3%), 969 people of mixed ethnicity (4.6%) and 347 people belonging to another ethnicity (1.6%).{{cite web |last1=Brinkhoff |first1=Thomas |title=Kingstanding (Ward, United Kingdom) - Population Statistics, Charts, Map and Location |url=https://www.citypopulation.de/en/uk/westmidlands/wards/birmingham/E05011150__kingstanding/ |website=City Population |access-date=13 October 2024 |ref=Population}}
Notable residents
- Dr Ron Dawson. Educationist, researcher and author lived in Parkeston Crescent, attended Twickenham Road School, 1945–1951.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mulberrytreebooks.co.uk/|title=Scary Bones meets the Pirates of Brownsea Island|website=Mulberry Tree Books}}{{failed verification|date=October 2021}}
- Lloyd Dyer, retired professional footballer who played for the likes of Birmingham City, LeicesterCity and West Bromwich Albion, attended Cardinal Wiseman School between 1994 and 1999
- Alison Hammond, actor and television presenter{{cite web |last1=Kheraj |first1=Alim |title=This Morning's Alison Hammond: 'I had to educate myself on black history' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/sep/28/this-mornings-alison-hammond-i-had-to-educate-myself-on-black-history |website=The Guardian |access-date=28 September 2020 |date=28 September 2020}}
- Steve Winwood, rock musician
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- [http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/kingstanding Birmingham City Council: Kingstanding Ward]
{{Areas of Birmingham}}
{{Wards of Birmingham}}
Category:Areas of Birmingham, West Midlands