THE leader of Dudley Council has praised the “fantastic” effort by Stourbridge people who have donated to help refugees trying to survive in camps in Calais, France.

Councillor Pete Lowe, ward councillor for Lye and Stourbridge North, issued a Facebook plea to friends to drop off items for donation on his drive – which was one of a number of collection points across the Stourbridge area for the CalAid appeal.

Tents, toiletries, food and clothing were among the items donated.

Cllr Lowe said: “It’s been fantastic. It's gone really well. There were about 12 collections across Stourbridge.”

He stressed his call for support for CalAid had been in a personal capacity but he said he feels “we have got a human responsibility” to help and he added that a meeting would be taking place between the council and MPs this Friday to discuss how the Dudley borough may be able to assist in the refugee crisis.

He said: "We’re currently assessing how much we can do to help. We're liaising with MPs to see whether we can make some joint response. We want to do our bit. We've got to do what we can."

Stourbridge MP Margot James added: "I hope very much that we will play our part and help refugees as a borough.”

She said local authorities across the country were looking to see how they might be able to accommodate refugees and she added: “I'd be proud to see Dudley do as much as possible. It shouldn't be too difficult to absorb small numbers in the borough.”