BC Observatory

Where is the Black Country?

The Black Country is a fascinating sub-region of England located to the north-west of Birmingham encompassing the four boroughs of Dudley, Sandwell, Walsall and Wolverhampton.

What is the Black Country Observatory?

Far from gazing at the stars the BC Observatory was set up in response to the need for a more strategic and structured approach to the co-ordination of sub-regional information and intelligence.

Our Mission

The Black Country Observatory’s mission is to:

“provide accurate and comprehensive intelligence to improve the quality of strategy formulation and policy making in the Black Country by enhancing and sharing understanding amongst partners of the opportunities and threats facing the sub-region”

What do we do?

Understanding the development needs of the Black Country and the impact of sub-regional partners activities on the Region's performance depends crucially on access to integrated and high quality data and intelligence. There are already many organisations providing local information and intelligence on the state of the Black Country. However, the sub-region has previously lacked a co-ordinating resource that adds value and allows sub-regional partners to monitor and evaluate the contribution that we are making collectively to the performance of the region, its people and businesses. This is what the Black Country Observatory is intended to provide.

Who is the Black Country Observatory?

The Black Country Observatory is the intelligence unit of Black Country Consortium (BCC) Limited . BCC Ltd is the strategic public-private company responsible for shaping the urban renaissance of the Black Country. The company was set up in June 2004 to represent and work on behalf of the consortium of private and public partners as a single voice promoting the Black Country on a global stage. BCC Ltd delivers its ambition through 3 broad areas - Policy and Strategy, Evidence & Implementation. The ‘Evidence’ is developed through the Black Country Observatory.

Contact Details

Click here to meet the team

Linkages to other Observatories

The Black Country Observatory was the first sub-regional Observatory in the West Midlands Region and is an excellent example of the Black Country coming together and taking a step ahead of the rest.

A network of Regional Observatories exists and we work closely with the Observatory within our region - the West Midlands Regional Observatory.