The Black Country Development Corporation was an

urban development corporation Empire State Development (ESD) is the umbrella organization for New York's two principal economic development public-benefit corporations, the New York State Urban Development Corporation (UDC) and the New York Job Development Authority (JDA). T ...

established in May 1987 to develop land in the Metropolitan Boroughs of Sandwell and

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Its flagship developments included the Black Country Spine Road. During its lifetime 11.9m sq.ft. of non-housing development and 3,774 housing units were built. Around 21,440 new jobs were created and some £1,150m of private finance was leveraged in. Circa of derelict land was reclaimed and of new road and footpaths put in place. The Chairman was Sir William Francis and, subsequently, George Carter and the Chief Executive was David Morgan. It was dissolved in 1998. The

Black Country Spine Road The Black Country New Road (or Black Country Spine Road) is a major road which runs through the West Midlands of England. The route was first planned during the 1980s, as a trunk road to link the planned Black Country Route at Bilston with J ...

was notable for providing the area around

Wednesbury Wednesbury () is a market town in Sandwell in the county of West Midlands, England. It is located near the source of the River Tame. Historically part of Staffordshire in the Hundred of Offlow, at the 2011 Census the town had a population of 3 ...

with a dual carriageway as well as reducing congestion on the narrower roads which surrounded it. The new road, which was opened in two phases in 1995, also freed up several square miles of previously inaccessible land which was soon developed for industrial and commercial use.

References

{{Reflist Sandwell Walsall Organizations established in 1987 Organizations disestablished in 1998 Organisations based in the West Midlands (county) History of the West Midlands (county) Defunct public bodies of the United Kingdom Development Corporations of the United Kingdom Black Country