East Midlands

The East Midlands is one of nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. The eastern part of the Midlands, the region consists of Derbyshire, Leicestershire, most of Lincolnshire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland.

The region has an area of 15,627 km² (6,033 sq mi), and is home to over 4.5 million people (2011). East Midlands contains four cities: Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Nottingham, though other major settlements include Boston, Loughborough, Mansfield, Northampton and Skegness. Its proximity to London and connections to several national motorways have led to the East Midlands becoming an economic hub. It is also the location of the East Midlands Airport.

Geography

The highest point in the region is Kinder Scout in the Peak District near Glossop, at 2,088 ft (636 m). The centre of the East Midlands area lies roughly between Bingham and Bottesford. The geographical centre of England lies in Higham on the Hill in west Leicestershire, close to the boundary between the East and West Midlands. 88% of the land is rural, although agriculture accounts for less than three percent of the region's jobs. All of the coastline within the region falls within Lincolnshire.

East Midlands (European Parliament constituency)

East Midlands is an English constituency of the European Parliament in the United Kingdom. Established in 1999 with six members to replace single-member districts, since 2009 it has returned five MEPs, elected using the d'Hondt method of party-list proportional representation.

Boundaries

The constituency corresponds to the East Midlands region of England, comprising the counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Rutland, Northamptonshire and the non-Metropolitan county of Lincolnshire.

History

The constituency was organized as a result of the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, replacing a number of single-member constituencies. These were Leicester, Northamptonshire and Blaby, Nottingham and Leicestershire North West, Nottinghamshire North and Chesterfield, and parts of Lincolnshire and Humberside South, Peak District, and Staffordshire East and Derby.

Returned members

Notes:

BBC East Midlands

BBC East Midlands is the BBC English Region covering Derbyshire (except High Peak, North East Derbyshire and the northern areas of the Derbyshire Dales), Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire (except Bassetlaw), Rutland and South Kesteven in Lincolnshire.

Services

Television

BBC East Midlands's television output consists of the flagship regional news service East Midlands Today, the topical magazine programme Inside Out and a 15-minute opt-out during Sunday Politics.

The television area is bigger than the region's radio area, because of the coverage from Waltham over Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire. In reality, Radio Leicester covers much the same area as TV reception from Waltham, including all of Northamptonshire.

Radio

The region is the controlling centre for BBC Radio Nottingham, BBC Radio Derby and BBC Radio Leicester.

On weekdays, the three stations carry local programming between 6am and 7pm before joining together for a nationwide evening show presented by Mark Forrest. The weekday 'East Midlands Late Show' is produced at Nottingham from Sunday to Thursday, and is presented by various hosts on air between 10pm and closedown at 1am.