Black Country seeks £6bn rebirth as UK’s largest garden city

Plans to transform region from 'industrial backwater' into a 'new Albion' would see 45,000 new homes built in next 10 years

The Black Country long ago secured its place in the nation's history as one of the catalysts of Britain's industrial revolution. If it involved metal, the chances were that somewhere along the production line this sprawling, soot-stained stretch of the West Midlands, boasting an abundance of canals, coalmines, forges, factories and warehouses, played a part in its creation.

But while industrialisation brought jobs, it carried a heavy price. For decades, life expectancy was noticeably shorter in the Black Country than in many other parts of the country and the region has found it hard to shake off a reputation for being an industrial backwater where few want to live. Some claim that its myriad smoking chimneys were the inspiration for Mordor, the foreboding, volcanic region in JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings.