£9 million funding has delivered ‘real change’ across Dudley

The leader of Dudley Council has hailed the impact of nearly £9 million in funding, praising the team responsible for driving it.

Councillor Patrick Harley said the funding had delivered ‘real change’ and ‘opened new doors’ for residents in the borough.

The authority has received more than £7.2 million since 2022 from the West Midlands Combined Authority through the government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund).

The council has also received just over £1 million through the Commonwealth Games Legacy Fund, and more than £500,000 through the government’s Multiply funding scheme.

The money has been used to support more than 500 businesses with business advice and guidance and has resulted in nearly £1.4 million being paid out in grants to borough firms.

Through its partners the council has also supported nearly 250 residents to access business start-up support resulting in over 800 one to one coaching and advice sessions with 73 new business being created.

The funding helped launch Crowdfund Dudley, an innovative approach to funding community projects that was awarded £200,000 in grants to support 10 community schemes in the borough.

The funding has also delivered improvements to 13 parks and refurbishments for nine outdoor gyms, as well as supporting more than 30 events in borough town centres.

It has supported nearly 3,000 residents to access employment and skills support and helped more than 1,000 people in the borough to increase their numeracy skills. It’s also helped young people to increase their chances of employment with careers advice and paid work placements.

Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of the council, said: “These figures make for very impressive reading, and I would like to thank the council teams for working tirelessly over the past few years to ensure this funding is delivered in the right way.

“What we have done has brought about real change. We’ve used the money to shape a more vibrant economy, supported communities and opened new doors for residents.

“The difference made in our borough cannot be overstated, and I’m incredibly proud of what has been achieved through hard work and dedication.

“With additional funding now secured to end of March 2026 the team look forward to continuing to support local communities and business to proposer in the borough.”

Team Pumpkin Boxing in Brierley Hill, which encourages local people to try out and take part in boxing, is one of the projects to have benefited from the fund. The charity received more than £35,000, and raised an additional £8,000 to buy a minibus, which has been used to take youngsters to events and competitions.

Carl Collins, who is a director and coach at Team Pumpkin Boxing, said: “The minibus is already making a huge difference to our club, we recently transported youngsters to a competition in Scotland where we had fantastic results.

“I’d like to thank the council for their support in helping us to pull in this funding, and to everyone in the local community for helping us to raise the extra cash needed.”