Metropolitan Borough of Dudley

Metropolitan Borough of Dudley
—  Metropolitan borough  —
Dudley Council House in Dudley, West Midlands
Logo of the Borough Council
Motto: Unity and Progress
Dudley MBC shown within West Midlands
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Constituent country	England
Region	West Midlands
Metropolitan county	West Midlands
Status	Metropolitan borough
Admin HQ	Dudley, Stourbridge
Incorporated	1 April 1974
Government
- Type	Metropolitan district council
- Body	Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council
- Leadership	Leader & Cabinet (Conservative)
- MPs	Chris Kelly Margot James Ian Austin James Morris Pat McFadden
Area
- Total	37.8 sq mi (97.96 km2)
Area rank	223rd (of 326)
Population (2010 est.)
- Total	307,400
- Rank	24th (of 326)
- Density	8,127.4/sq mi (3,138/km2)
- Ethnicity	92.0% White 1.3% Mixed 4.7% Asian 1.3% Black 0.4% Chinese 0.3% Other
Time zone	GMT (UTC0)
- Summer (DST)	BST (UTC+1)
Postcode	DY, B, WV
Area code(s)	01384, 0121, 01902
ISO 3166 code	GB-DUD
ONS code	00CR
OS grid reference	SO9350590490
Website	dudley.gov.uk

See also: Worcestershire's evolving county boundaries

The Metropolitan Borough of Dudley is a metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It was created in 1974, and is made up of the towns of Dudley (where the council has its headquarters), Stourbridge (with additional council offices), Halesowen, Brierley Hill, Amblecote, Sedgley and Coseley. For Eurostat purposes Dudley and Sandwell is a NUTS 3 region (code UKG34) and is one of five boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "West Midlands" NUTS 2 region.

The present borough was created on 1 April 1974 under the Local Government Act 1972, by a merger of the old County Borough of Dudley, with the municipal boroughs of Halesowen and Stourbridge thereby becoming part of the Metropolitan county of the West Midlands. Before 1 April 1974 the area was split between Worcestershire and Staffordshire, with the former Shropshire exclave of Halesowen becoming part of Worcestershire after a reform in 1844.

The borough borders the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell to the east, the city of Birmingham to the south east, Bromsgrove District Council to the south in Worcestershire, South Staffordshire District Council to the west in Staffordshire and the city of Wolverhampton to the north.

Being a metropolitan borough council, Dudley it is effectively a unitary authority, except for public transportation, fire and police services, which are jointly run by the seven metropolitan boroughs of the West Midlands county. The borough also jointly owns Birmingham Airport along with the others.

The council has 72 councillors representing 24 wards. As of 5 May 2011, following the 2008 local elections and by-elections there are 43 Conservative councillors, 28 Labour councillors and one UK Independence Party councillor.

The Merry Hill Shopping Centre is situated in the borough.

The borough includes a number of historic sites such as Dudley Castle, The Leasowes and Himley Hall as well as tourist attractions such as Dudley Zoo, the Black Country Living Museum, Dudley Canal Tunnel and limestone mines, and the Red House Glass Cone.

Unemployment in the borough stood at 5.1% as of May 2010, below the national average, though before the recession which began in 2008 it was considerably lower.^[1]

Dudley is believed to be the only local authority in the UK which does not hold a civic bonfire within its own Borough in November each year. Instead it holds a bonfire in the next county, Staffordshire, at Himley Hall.

Economy

JCDecaux UK has its Birmingham area office in Halesowen, Borough of Dudley.^[2]

Localities

See List of areas in Dudley

References

England portal

1. ^ Unemployment drops in West Midlands – Express and Star.
2. ^ "Contact." JCDecaux UK. Retrieved on 28 September 2011. "JCDecaux - Birmingham 209-215 Long Lane Halesowen, West Midlands Birmingham, B62 9JT"