Who We Are

The geographical region called the ‘Black Country’ is made up of 30 towns and four strategic centres with a growing population of 1.17m. The population is broken down by a gender split that is slightly more women than men, an age split that has 82.6% of its population under the age of 65 and a diverse ethnic population which is slightly larger than national average.

Sitting at the heart of England, the Black Country forms the west part of the West Midlands Metropolitan Area comprising the three separate Borough councils of Walsall, Dudley and Sandwell, and the City council of Wolverhampton. It has a proud and diverse history with a belief that it is a place not defined by its borders, but by its people.

Physical inactivity now kills as many people as smoking in the UK, and costs the economy £7.4bn a year.

The Black Country has some of the highest national levels of physical inactivity across our working age population – we need to get another 72,000 people physically active every week to reach national average.

Critically the health and wellbeing of our regions children and young people is in a perilous state, with childhood obesity amongst the highest in the country – we have to act now to secure future generations health.

We work collaboratively with a range of local partners to inspire and enable people to lead an active lifestyle, creating a broad and diverse range of opportunities for individuals that are both inclusive and attainable.

Our core purpose is to understand the regions communities and residents, connect and collaborate with partners and influence policy, strategy, investment and delivery of interventions.

• We continue to develop a deep understanding of the Black Country and its people.
• We provide insight into the needs of local residents and partner priorities via the ‘Black Country Insight Hub’
• We develop the right opportunities for people to start and stay being active through bringing partnerships together to enable delivery of a range of diverse, inclusive and attainable activities.
• We support existing partners and providers to promote and grow the variety of opportunities available for local people.
• We secure investment for the Black Country.
• We provide training and advice.
• We run events, campaigns and forums across the region.
• We gather evidence and evaluation to advocate and champion the Black Country.