A town that produces Jerome K. Jerome, Noddy Holder and Meera Syal must have something funny in the water. Walsall suffered in the 70s from planning decisions that may be described as regrettable, but it is undergoing hopefully more sympathetic and aesthetically pleasing development today, some using water frontage to good effect. In its history it has produced coal, been the British leather-goods centre, and a major metal-working town; these days though leather and metals continue light industry and the service sector – e.g. the RAC control building seen for the M6 – are more important, and the retail sector undergoing expansion is set to improve hugely in the coming years.