People can find out about what’s happening where they live and how to stay well this winter at new look Dudley borough community meetings when they launch later this month.

Dudley Council is launching its new community-wide meetings under the header of 'Your Home, Your Forum'. Five forums will take place in Brierley Hill, Dudley, Dudley North, Halesowen and Stourbridge.

The forums will be informal, giving people the opportunity to meet in small groups and discuss what is good about their local area and what can be made better. Local councillors and a police representative will also be there for residents to talk to.

People attending the forums will also be able to find out about funding available to groups and organisations and each forum will also include a marketplace, where people can find out more about services and local organisations.

This time, people will be able to meet with the council’s winter warmth and welfare support teams as well as local groups outlining their work. Future forums will also be themed to allow the opportunity for people to talk about specific topics and issues. This could include the environment, keeping well and community safety.

The Brierley Hill forum will take place on October 31 at Bank Street Methodist Church, followed by the Stourbridge forum on November 2 at Stourbridge Institute Social Club, Market Street and the Halesowen forum on November 3 at Lutley Community Centre.

The Dudley forum will be held at Wellington Road Community Centre on November 7 along with the Dudley North forum at the Royal British Legion on Ruiton Street.

The new forums will replace the existing community forums, which had run for a number of years prior to covid. Councillor Laura Taylor-Childs, cabinet member for housing and communities, said:

"The pandemic gave us the opportunity to review the way community forums were held and what would make them more engaging for the public.

"By reducing the number of meetings from ten to five, we hope we can bring a wider group of people together and focus the time to look at more ideas and issues which effect a larger area and a greater proportion of the population.

"We want to empower people to be part of the future planning and decision making for the areas they live but in a less formal setting, which we hope will encourage more people to come forward and speak up about what matters to them most.

"We also want to make sure people get something out of giving up their time, which is why we’re bring services and groups together to share information about the important work they do and the support they offer."

The new name for the forums, Your Home, Your Forum, was chosen to tie in with the existing ‘Your Home’ campaign, which was used to raise awareness of the Forging a Future work, which sets out seven aspirations for the borough for 2030. One of the seven aspirations is that the borough is the home of warm welcomes and close-knit communities.

As the forums are all about bringing communities together (including partners, elected members and members of the public) to achieve great things for the borough, the new name will help tie the work of the forums into wider aspirations for the borough.

Residents can register online for their local forum in either Brierley Hill, Stourbridge, Halesowen, Dudley or Dudley North.