Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for Dudley metropolitan borough. It is more commonly known as Dudley Council or Dudley MBC.
Dudley Metropolitan Borough | |
---|---|
Type | |
Type | |
Leadership | |
Kevin O'Keefe since 2019[2] | |
Structure | |
Seats | 72 councillors |
Political groups |
|
Elections | |
First past the post | |
Last election | 4 May 2023 |
Next election | 2 May 2024 |
Motto | |
Unity and Progress | |
Meeting place | |
Council House, Priory Road, Dudley, DY1 1HF | |
Dudley Metropolitan Borough shown within West Midlands | |
Website | |
www |
The present authority was formed as a result of further reorganisation of local government in 1974. It incorporates the areas of Dudley, Brierley Hill, Stourbridge and Halesowen.
The town of Dudley had been a seigneurial borough from the thirteenth century, under the control of the lord of the manor.[3] More modern forms of local government for the town began in 1791 when a body of improvement commissioners was established to pave, light and clean the streets, and supply water.[4] The commissioners were replaced in 1853 with an elected local board.[5]
The town was incorporated as a municipal borough in 1865, governed by a body formally called the "mayor, aldermen and burgesses of the borough of Dudley", generally known as the corporation, town council or borough council.[6] The old local board's functions passed to the new borough council, which also replaced the ancient borough corporation.[7]
When elected county councils were established in 1889, Dudley was considered large enough to provide its own county-level functions, and so it was made a county borough, independent from Worcestershire County Council.[8] The County Borough of Dudley was enlarged on several occasions, notably in 1966 when it absorbed the majority of the abolished urban districts of Brierley Hill, Coseley and Sedgeley, alongside boundary adjustments with several other neighbours.[9]
The modern metropolitan borough was established in 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, covering the combined area of the old county borough of Dudley plus the municipal boroughs of Halesowen and Stourbridge (the latter having absorbed the main part of the abolished Amblecote Urban District in the 1966 reforms). The enlarged district was named Dudley, and the borough status previously held by the county borough passed to the new district on its creation, allowing the chair of the council to take the title of mayor, continuing Dudley's series of mayors dating back to at least the sixteenth century.[10][11]
From 1974 until 1986 Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council was a lower-tier authority, with the West Midlands County Council providing county-level services. Following the abolition of the county council in 1986 Dudley took on county-level functions in the area again. Since 2016 the council has been a constituent member of the West Midlands Combined Authority, which has been led by the directly-elected Mayor of the West Midlands since 2017.
The council bid for the borough to be awarded city status in 2011 and again in 2021, but was unsuccessful on both occasions.[12][13][14]
Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council provides both county-level and district-level services, with some functions across the West Midlands provided via joint committees with the other West Midlands authorities, overseen by the combined authority and mayor. There are no civil parishes in the borough, which is an unparished area.[15]
The council has been under Conservative majority control since 2021.
Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:[16][17]
Party in control | Years | |
---|---|---|
Labour | 1974–1976 | |
Conservative | 1976–1980 | |
No overall control | 1980–1982 | |
Conservative | 1982–1984 | |
No overall control | 1984–1986 | |
Labour | 1986–1992 | |
No overall control | 1992–1994 | |
Labour | 1994–2003 | |
No overall control | 2003–2004 | |
Conservative | 2004–2012 | |
Labour | 2012–2016 | |
No overall control | 2016–2021 | |
Conservative | 2021–present |
The role of mayor is largely ceremonial in Dudley. Political leadership is instead provided by the leader of the council. The leaders since 1998 have been:[18]
Councillor | Party | From | To | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tim Sunter | Labour | 1998 | 15 May 2003 | |
David Caunt | Conservative | 15 May 2003 | 21 May 2009 | |
Anne Millward | Conservative | 21 May 2009 | 8 May 2011 | |
Les Jones | Conservative | 19 May 2011 | 17 May 2012 | |
Dave Sparks | Labour | 17 May 2012 | 1 Dec 2014 | |
Pete Lowe | Labour | 1 Dec 2014 | 18 May 2017 | |
Patrick Harley | Conservative | 18 May 2017 | 26 Sep 2018 | |
Pete Lowe | Labour | 26 Sep 2018 | 15 Nov 2018 | |
Qadar Zada | Labour | 15 Nov 2018 | 16 May 2019 | |
Patrick Harley | Conservative | 16 May 2019 |
Following the 2023 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to February 2024, the composition of the council was:[19]
Party | Councillors | |
---|---|---|
Conservative | 42 | |
Labour | 26 | |
Independent | 3 | |
Liberal Democrats | 1 | |
Total | 72 |
Two of the independent councillors sit together as a group.[20] The next election is due in May 2024.
The council has its main offices at Dudley Council House on Priory Road, which was built in phases between 1928 and 1935 for the old county borough council.[21] The main customer services reception is in a converted shop in the town centre at 259 Castle Street.[22]
Since the last boundary changes in 2004 the council has comprised 72 councillors representing 24 wards, with each ward electing three councillors. Elections are held three years out of every four, with a third of the council (one councillor for each ward) being elected each time for a four-year term of office. Elections for the Mayor of the West Midlands are held in the fourth year of the cycle when there are no borough council elections.[23] New ward boundaries are being prepared to take effect from the 2024 election, which will require all seats to be contested at that election.[24][25]
The 24 wards of the Dudley Borough are each represented by 3 councillors. The council groups wards together into 5 Community Forums to enable community engagement under the banner 'Your home, your forum'.[26]
Community Forum | Ward name |
---|---|
Brierley Hill | Brierley Hill |
Brockmoor and Pensnett | |
Kingswinford North and Wall Heath | |
Kingswinford South | |
Wordsley | |
Stourbridge | Amblecote |
Lye and Stourbridge North | |
Norton | |
Pedmore and Stourbridge East | |
Wollaston and Stourbridge Town | |
Dudley | Castle and Priory |
Netherton, Woodside and St. Andrews | |
Quarry Bank and Dudley Wood | |
St. James's | |
St. Thomas's | |
Dudley North | Coseley East |
Gornal | |
Sedgley | |
Upper Gornal and Woodsetton | |
Halesowen | Belle Vale |
Cradley and Wollescote | |
Halesowen North | |
Halesowen South | |
Hayley Green and Cradley South |
Current members of parliament for constituencies within Dudley MBC area are:
Constituency | Member of Parliament | Political Party |
---|---|---|
Dudley North | Marco Longhi | Conservative |
Dudley South | Mike Wood | Conservative |
Stourbridge | Suzanne Webb | Conservative |
Halesowen and Rowley Regis | James Morris | Conservative |
Wolverhampton South East | Pat McFadden | Labour |
Dates | Name |
---|---|
1973-1986 | John Francis Mulvehill |
1986 | Leslie Thomas Barnfield |
1986-1988 | Tom Headley Meredith |
1988-1999 | Alistair Vivian Astling |
1999-2008 | Andrew Sparke |
2009-2015 | John Polychronakis |
2015-2019 | Sarah Norman |
2019–present | Kevin John O’Keefe |
The Mayor presides over meetings of the full Council to ensure that business is carried out properly and efficiently, with due regard to the rights of Councillors and the interest of the Community.[27] The Mayor of the Borough is elected at the Annual Meeting of the Council (usually in May each year) from the existing elected councillors.
The Mayor also nominates charities they wish to support during their mayoral year[28] and hosts the annual Mayors Ball and Civic Awards. The Civic Awards aim to recognise individuals and groups who make a difference in the borough. Each award is named for a local personality in that field.[29]
Dudley’s coat of arms was designed in 1975.[6] It symbolises each of the authorities that came together to form the present borough. Key themes on the civic arms reflect the area’s pride in its industrial past.
The council adopted “Unity and Progress” as its motto in 1974.[6]