New director of housing appointed at Dudley Council
Dudley Council has appointed a new director of housing and community services.
Paul Davies was interim director at the authority for seven months before taking up the post permanently.
Mr Davies has more than 30 years experience of working in housing, taking on a range of roles from interim positions as CEO at a housing association to chief executive of an arm's-length management organisation , local authority chief housing officer and assistant director for a metropolitan borough council.
Speaking about Dudley, he said: "The borough has so much to offer, there’s so much ambition. The authority is investing in regeneration projects like the Metro and Castle Hill, it’s working with partners to improve the transport infrastructure.
"All of this benefits residents and helps to create places people want to live and work, it’s about creating a sense of community, of neighbourhood.
"I want to see a neighbourhood approach, with more empowerment for frontline staff to make good things happen and equally for tenants to have an influence on the service. It’s about strengthening communities.
"A big part of this is making the whole process more streamlined and more transparent. We need to use technology, devise apps, modernise our digital provision so that people can make informed choices and know what they can expect from us."
He added: "This is an ambitious plan, but Dudley’s in a strong position, it has all the right people in the right place. The housing and communities team is brimming with committed, ambitious staff.
"It’s about working together, listening to our experiences staff and creating something that works for Dudley.
"The people of the borough are so friendly and you can see community is of huge importance here. I may have a lot of experience in housing but I don’t intend to import an idea from elsewhere. We need a local solution, it needs to have an authentic Dudley voice.
"I already feel at home in the Black Country, but I hope that we can empower all of our residents to have that feeling of belonging too."