Английская Википедия:Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council

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Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council is the local authority for Dudley metropolitan borough. It is more commonly known as Dudley Council or Dudley MBC.

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.

History

The town of Dudley had been a seigneurial borough from the thirteenth century, under the control of the lord of the manor. 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. The commissioners were replaced in 1853 with an elected local board.

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. The old local board's functions passed to the new borough council, which also replaced the ancient borough corporation.

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. 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.

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.

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.

Governance

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.

Political control

The council has been under Conservative majority control since 2021.

Political control of the council since 1974 has been as follows:

Party in control		Years
Шаблон:Party name with colour	1974–1976
Шаблон:Party name with colour	1976–1980
Шаблон:Party name with colour	1980–1982
Шаблон:Party name with colour	1982–1984
Шаблон:Party name with colour	1984–1986
Шаблон:Party name with colour	1986–1992
Шаблон:Party name with colour	1992–1994
Шаблон:Party name with colour	1994–2003
Шаблон:Party name with colour	2003–2004
Шаблон:Party name with colour	2004–2012
Шаблон:Party name with colour	2012–2016
Шаблон:Party name with colour	2016–2021
Шаблон:Party name with colour	2021–present

Leadership

Шаблон:Also 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:

Councillor	Party		From	To
Tim Sunter	Шаблон:Party name with colour	1998	15 May 2003
David Caunt	Шаблон:Party name with colour	15 May 2003	21 May 2009
Anne Millward	Шаблон:Party name with colour	21 May 2009	8 May 2011
Les Jones	Шаблон:Party name with colour	19 May 2011	17 May 2012
Dave Sparks	Шаблон:Party name with colour	17 May 2012	1 Dec 2014
Pete Lowe	Шаблон:Party name with colour	1 Dec 2014	18 May 2017
Patrick Harley	Шаблон:Party name with colour	18 May 2017	26 Sep 2018
Pete Lowe	Шаблон:Party name with colour	26 Sep 2018	15 Nov 2018
Qadar Zada	Шаблон:Party name with colour	15 Nov 2018	16 May 2019
Patrick Harley	Шаблон:Party name with colour	16 May 2019

Composition

Following the 2023 election and subsequent by-elections and changes of allegiance up to February 2024, the composition of the council was:

Party		Councillors
Шаблон:Party name with colour	42
Шаблон:Party name with colour	26
Шаблон:Party name with colour	3
Шаблон:Party name with colour	1
Total		72

Two of the independent councillors sit together as a group. The next election is due in May 2024.

Premises

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. The main customer services reception is in a converted shop in the town centre at 259 Castle Street.

Elections

Шаблон:Also 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. New ward boundaries are being prepared to take effect from the 2024 election, which will require all seats to be contested at that election.

Wards

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'.

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

Members of parliament

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

Chief Executives

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

Mayor of Dudley and Civic Awards

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. 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 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.

• The Frank Foley award for community spirit
• The William Shenstone award for environment
• The Duncan Edwards award for sport
• The Cedric Hardwicke award for arts
• The Thomas Attwood award for education
• The Mike Holder award for business

Civic arms and motto

Dudley’s coat of arms was designed in 1975. 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.