THE leader of Dudley Council admitted having “difficult conversations” with his ousted cabinet members after announcing three new faces on his decision-making board.

Conservative councillor Patrick Harley, who was reinstated as leader during a meeting at Dudley Council House on Thursday night (May 17), has handed promotions to two of his “young stars”, while stalwart councillor Anne Millward stepped down from her cabinet role.

The changes see the popular up-and-coming Halesowen councillors Simon Phipps (Belle Vale) and Ruth Buttery (Hayley Green) take their places at the top table of the authority, in the cabinet roles of procurement, transformation and commercialisation and health and wellbeing.

The pair replace cllrs David Stanley and Peter Miller respectively, while Cllr Angus Lees takes over Cllr Millward’s children’s services portfolio.

Cllr Harley said the new cabinet would be tasked with overseeing some huge programmes of work and making key decisions over the next 12 months.

It includes the £353 million Midland Metro extension from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill, the £82 million Portersfield leisure and retail development in Dudley, building on the DY5 enterprise zone success and overseeing continued improvements in children’s services.

The leader also said the council’s procurement programme would be a central focus, as the authority looks to save more money in the way it buys in services.

“There are some new faces on the cabinet and some people returning to their roles,” he said. “But each and every cabinet member has a crucial job in ensuring we deliver value for money services to the people of this borough.

“This is a pivotal year ahead with a number of key programmes of work on the table and it is essential we have the right people in place to deliver that.

“Anne told me she was stepping down and I had the have difficult conversations with the others, but sometimes you have to make these decisions as leader to stop the cabinet from going stale.

“Simon and Ruth are two of the brightest members we have, they both have very big futures ahead of them, while Angus will be a steady hand on children’s services.”

The Tories regained control of the council following the elections earlier this month when the one remaining UKIP councillor Kerry Lewis switched her allegiances to the Conservatives.

The leader told the News he “couldn’t be happier” with the position of his party, saying it was “inevitable” that Cllr Lewis would make the switch.

“I’m really pleased to have Kerry as part of our group,” he added. “I think in truth she would have come over to us before the election, but out of respect to Paul Brothwood [the borough’s UKIP leader] she didn’t want to rock the boat.

“I think that shows the great character of the lady who has a lot of respect in this chamber and is a real hard-working community champion.”

The rest of the cabinet remains the same with Cllr Harley being not just leader but cabinet member for policy, Cllr David Vickers is his deputy leader, while Cllr Nic Barlow is cabinet member for adult social care and councillor Ian Kettle heads up regeneration and enterprise.

Cllr Laura Taylor will still be responsible for housing, Cllr Steve Clark remains in charge of finance and legal services and Cllr Karen Shakespeare will continue to oversee environmental services.

The cabinet in full is:

  • Councillor Patrick Harley, council leader and cabinet member for policy
  • Councillor David Vickers, deputy leader of the council
  • Councillor Steve Clark, cabinet member for finance
  • Councillor Nicolas Barlow, cabinet member for adult social care
  • Councillor Angus Lees, cabinet member for children’s services
  • Councillor Simon Phipps, cabinet member for procurement, transformation and commercialisation
  • Councillor Karen Shakespeare, cabinet member for environmental services
  • Councillor Ruth Buttery, cabinet member for health and wellbeing
  • Councillor Laura Taylor, cabinet member for housing
  • Councillor Ian Kettle, cabinet member for regeneration and enterprise