Plans for Black Country Day Festival
Plans are being developed ahead of next year's Black Country Day festival with councillors meeting to exchange ideas.
Leaders from Dudley Council's main political parties have been invited for talks to further develop their year's event.
Plans are in their infancy at the moment but all parties have been asked to bring their proposals to the table.
UKIP group leader in Dudley, Councillor Paul Brothwood is looking to promote next year's festival by creating school champions.
Councillor Brothwood, who represents Wordsley, believes the champions will help raise people's awareness of the event.
He said: "I'm hoping that schools would like to take part in the event.
"I'd like to take the idea further by linking schools together through their champions.
"Last year's Black Country Festival, which was run through the community, proved a huge success and I feel that through school champions, it will only help people understand their identity.
"The focus is very much on schools, getting them together, just like the old pen-pal system did.
"I also want it to be non-political because this is a community festival."
