A planning application which would have seen the square at the heart of Brierley Hill's Moor Centre given up for car parking has been rejected by Dudley Council's planning department.

Residents and traders lodged almost 300 objections after plans were published online earlier this year.

The communal space, which the majority of the shop fronts face on to, is often used for community events, including the Black Country Festival and the town's Christmas light switch-on in November.

The new car park would also have been entered by a new access road, just in front of the centre, which would have cut through the pedestrian walkway, posing an obvious risk to people trying to use the space. Brierley Hill councillor, Adam Davies, said:

"This is a real community effort, I'm so pleased that with strong representation from the Brierley Hill Community Forum, myself and local businesses - especially Alan Warwick Butchers and Iceland - we convinced the Committee that this was the wrong plan for the heart of our town.

"There were a whole range of other reasons why we objected to this ill-thought through application, but for now, we will happily take this victory for common sense and the community's voice."