New faces have been added to Dudley Council’s cabinet decision-making body including a new deputy leader of the council.

Two new councillors have been added to the top team including Councillor Paul Bradley as deputy leader. There are also some changes to the portfolios to drive the council’s priorities for the next year.

Councillor Phil Atkins has been brought in as cabinet member for corporate strategy which will look at commercial opportunities for the council.

There is also a new communities and economic delivery portfolio headed up by Councillor Bradley, bolstering the £1billion worth of regeneration projects underway in the borough as well as forging tighter links with the business community. Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley Council, said:

"We have brought some new faces to the cabinet and looked at the remit of each cabinet member too to make sure we are in the strongest possible position to bring continued improvements to the people of this borough.

"There’s lots more work to be done to build on the successes we have already achieved, and this is the right team to do it."

The cabinet in full is:

• Councillor Patrick Harley, Leader (Policy)
• Councillor Paul Bradley, Deputy Leader, Communities and Economic Delivery
• Councillor Natalie Neale, Adult Social Care
• Councillor Ruth Buttery, Children’s Services and Education
• Councillor Rob Clinton, Climate Change
• Councillor Phil Atkins, Corporate Strategy
• Councillor Steve Clark, Finance, Legal and Human Resources
• Councillor Damian Corfield, Highways and Environmental Services
• Councillor Laura Taylor-Childs, Housing and safer communities
• Councillor Ian Bevan, Public Health