Family hubs among services disrupted by snow

Dudley Council has closed its five family hubs as a safety precaution following storm Goretti’s snowfall and freezing conditions.

The hubs, based in Stourbridge, Lye, Brierley Hill, Coseley and Dudley offer one-stop support and advice for families with young people aged up to 19 or 25 for people with special needs or disabilities.

The hubs will be shut today (January 9), further information is available on the council’s website.

The weather is also affecting the authority’s housing repair service, the council says it is prioritising emergency repairs to ensure the safety of residents.

As storm Goretti did its worst last night, councillors and residents were out and about doing their bit to try and keep roads clear.

In Dudley Cllrs Shaukat Ali and Qasim Mughal were busy in the area around Caroline Street where conditions were extreme enough to cause at least one snow shovel to break.

Cllr Ali said: “We went out last night at around nine o’clock and took us two-and-half hours to make two tracks from the top to the bottom of the road and because the snow was still coming down by the time we finished it was almost covered again.”

Disruption looks set to continue throughout the day, the authority has already announced the closure of its leisure centres and cancellation of bin collections.

Despite recent freezing collections, refuse workers and gritting crews have been battling to combat the conditions. The council says crews have spread around 510 tonnes of grit and emptied 91 percent of bins scheduled for collection during the cold snap.

Anyone waiting for a waste or recycling collection is advised to leave bags and bins at the kerbside and they will be collected as quickly as possible.