Boardwalks and artificial grass will spruce up town centres in the borough as part of a pavement widening scheme to help keep people safe during the pandemic.

It comes after Dudley Council secured £285,000 through the European Regional Development Fund’s Reopening High Streets Safely scheme.

More than £110,000 of the ERDF funding will be used to fund pavement widening schemes in Dudley – on High Street and New Street – and Stourbridge on the High Street.

Work started yesterday and will see boardwalk and artificial grass installed in parts of High Street and New Street in Dudley. Boardwalks are also on the way to Stourbridge, with new trees in planters also forming part of the proposals there.

It will create more space for people to walk in the town centres, making it easier to follow social distancing guidelines. It is expected the measures will stay in place until at least the summer. Councillor Karen Shakespeare, cabinet member for public realm, said:

"We used cones and barriers to initially widen the pavements in our town centres to make them safer for people to use. But we received feedback from shop owners and residents that they did nothing to make the High Streets appealing.

"The funding we have received allows us to put something in place which will be much more visually appealing and improve the look of the main streets in two of our town centres.

"We spoke to shop owners in Dudley to see what they would like to see, and the finished proposals are a reflection of that. Stourbridge is a trial scheme, and we will get feedback from traders and residents on what they think of this partial scheme. I welcome the start of work today, and I look forward to seeing the finished results."