St. Michael's is an electoral ward in Coventry, West Midlands, England. The ward's population is 21,700 (2010). In 2001, its population was 56% White British and 23% Asian or Asian British, many of whom were Bangladeshi. The ward includes many students, and 20- to 24-year-olds make up over 20% of the population.[1] The ward population had increased to 24,119 at the 2011 Census.[2]
According to the city's 2007 Index of Deprivation, St. Michael's is the second most deprived ward of the city. While the average household income in Coventry was £31,697 in 2008, it was £25,372 in St. Michael's, making it the second poorest ward, though it grew by 24.5% since 2005, which is a more rapid pace of growth than that of the Coventry average (14.5%). Similarly, the crime rate in St. Michael's was slightly over three times as high as that of Coventry as a whole in 2007, but it had fallen by 34% since 2004/'05, when it was over four times as high. The unemployment rate in the ward was 4.6% in September 2008, when that of Coventry as a whole was 3.6%, but in 2001 unemployment in St. Michael's was still twice as high as in Coventry overall (6.2% vs. 3.0%). That change may however also be due to boundary changes in 2004.[1]
Currently, the ward contains the city centre of Coventry, including St. Michael's Cathedral and the neighbourhoods of Charterhouse and Hillfields. Hillfields is undergoing large-scale changes, which encompass the demolition of Coventry City's Highfield Road stadium and what the Coventry City Council describes as "the biggest single regeneration project in Coventry".[3]
St. Michael's Ward is represented by three Labour Councillors. They are Naeem Akhtar (term of office: 2016–2021), Jim O'Boyle (2019–2023) and David Welsh (2018–2022).