BLACK Country MPs have thrown their weight behind plans to make Dudley borough a city.

Dudley is set to formally apply for City Status as part of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations next year and all of the borough's MPs have given their backing to the proposals.

Mike Wood, MP for Dudley South, said: “City status will help Dudley borough to compete better on an international level for the investment to transform opportunities locally. We’ve got a bright future with new infrastructure like the Midland Metro extension to Brierley Hill on its way and best in class education and training colleges like Resonance music academy and the Institute of Technology. City status will help us to make it even brighter."

James Morris, MP for Halesowen and Rowley Regis, added: “Being part of a city, we will be able to attract new investment and opportunities and that has to be welcomed."

Stourbridge MP Suzanne Webb said: “City status for the borough would be a fitting endorsement of this wonderful place, its history and its vibrancy and, above all, the sense of community that prevails in the streets."

Dudley North MP Marco Longhi added: “Dudley is in the middle of a £1billion regeneration programme which is set to transform the town and wider borough. "It includes the very light rail innovation at Castle Hill, the new higher education and skills investment into the town and the new leisure centre, to name a few.

“This is making a lot of noise nationally and it is essential we continue that upward trajectory levelling up across the region, and city status will only help bring further inward investment opportunities to Dudley.”

Dudley Council will formally submit the bid to government in December this year.

People can share ideas and back the bid by emailing cityinthemaking@dudley.gov.uk.