Thousands of responses from a major Black Country planning consultation are being shared with the public online as part of a drive to be “100 per cent open and transparent”.

The petitions, letters, comments and other feedback from the Black Country Plan consultation have been made available for public scrutiny.

Almost 20,800 people across the Black Country responded to the plan in the form of individuals, organisations and group responses and a further 18,000 people signed petitions.

In addition to the publication of responses, we will be contacting every person or household who submitted a petition, individual or group response to the eight-week consultation last year outlining the next steps and keeping them informed. Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, said:

"Sharing all that feedback and information online is something the Black Country council leaders have chosen to do. We want to make sure that we are 100 per cent open and transparent about this important piece of work.

"We are also contacting everyone who took the time to share their views with us as part of the consultation to keep them informed at every step of the way. Local people are essential to making sure this plan is right and we must make them central to the process as we are doing here."

Last week the leader of the council said the views of local people “cannot be ignored”. The vast majority of feedback called for a number of proposed green belt land developments in Dudley borough to be taken out of the plan.

The four Black Country authorities have published the consultation responses online . The updated Black Country Plan (Publication Plan) will be published this autumn (2022) when all Black Country authorities will be asked to approve a final consultation on the new plan.