More than £75,000 of community forum funding has been given to dozens of worthy community groups since April this year.

The news comes as the next round of community forums has been confirmed to take place from September 3rd to October 1st.

The forums provide an opportunity for local people to meet with councillors and the police to talk about how they can work together to improve the local area and share information on local community activities.

Each of the ten community forums also has a pot of money that it can grant to community groups who have ideas and projects to improve the local area. Grants of up to £5,000 are available but applications for funding must be submitted three weeks before the relevant community forum.

Any applications that miss this deadline will be considered as part of the next round of community forums in January 2019. Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, said:

“We’ve got great community groups in Dudley borough who share our passion about making a difference to the lives of local people and the environment within which we live. 

“It’s great that through our community forums we can support these groups and encourage them to continue the work they do, which is having such a positive impact.

“I’d remind people that community forums are open to everyone.  We want to work with the police and local people to address local issues and talk about what we can do to improve the borough further as well as provide some funding for community projects. Please come along, we look forward to seeing you there.”

Kicking off the autumn round of community forums will be the Brierley Hill, Brockmoor and Pensnett meeting at Brierley Hill Methodist Church, Bank Street on Monday September 3.  Also taking place that evening will be the Castle and Priory, St James’s and St Thomas’s community forum at St Johns Parish Hall, St Johns Road.

On Thursday September 6, the community forum for Coseley East and Sedgley will be held at Alder Coppice Primary School, the Gornal, Upper Gornal and Woodsetton forum will be at Bramford Primary School and the Amblecote, Cradley and Wollescote, Lye and Stourbridge North meeting will take place at Providence Methodist Church, Colley Orchard.

The Norton, Pedmore and Stourbridge East, Wollaston and Stourbridge Town community forum will be held at Gig Mill Primary School on Monday September 10.

The community forum for Kingswinford North and Wall Heath, Kingswinford South and Wordsley will be held on Monday September 17 at St Mary’s Church Hall, The Village.  Also that night, the community forum for Belle Vale, Hayley Green and Cradley South will take place at Caslon Primary School and Halesowen North and South at Tenterfields Primary School.

The final meeting in this round will be the Netherton, Woodside, St Andrews and Quarry Bank and Dudley Wood at Netherbrook Primary School on Monday October 1.  All community forums start at 6.30pm.

For more information on community forums including the application process for funding email community.forums@dudley.gov.uk