The leader of Dudley Council has set out his priorities for the borough after being officially unveiled as the new top man at a meeting last night (Thurs).

Dudley Council officially installed Councillor Les Jones as its new leader at the annual meeting of the full council.

And after taking on the new role, Councillor Jones, who has been deputy leader for the previous two years, has made his intentions clear.

Councillor Les Jones, leader of the council, said: “Over the past year or so, like all other councils across the country, we have been making extremely difficult decisions in relation to our reduced budgets.

“I have no doubt that the budget we set for this year, and for the next three years, is a fair budget which has helped protect frontline services and jobs.

“There will of course be more difficult decisions to make, but I’m confident that we can look forward to a bright future in the Dudley borough and we already have plenty to be proud of.

“We will continue to work hard to maintain and improve the things the residents of this borough have told us are their priorities. This includes putting more money into road maintenance, continuing to support our excellent schools and continuing to provide care for the most vulnerable in society.

“We want to attract significant investment into the borough and we already have a string of regeneration projects ongoing and upcoming across the borough which will only help improve our borough further and create thousands of jobs in the process.”

Councillor Jones, who has served on the council since 1999, is a ward councillor for Pedmore and Stourbridge East and was also previously cabinet member for regeneration.

Councillor Tim Wright is the new deputy of the council and Councillor David Vickers has returned to the cabinet as part of a mini re-shuffle following the election.

The council’s executive cabinet for 2011/12 is: Councillor Les Jones, leader of the council cabinet member for policy Councillor Tim Wright, deputy leader and cabinet member for personnel, legal and property Councillor David Blood, cabinet member for finance Councillor Lesley Faulkner, cabinet member for adult and community services Councillor Liz Walker, cabinet member for children’s services Councillor David Vickers, cabinet member for performance management and quality assurance Councillor David Stanley, cabinet member for environment and culture Councillor Adrian Turner, cabinet member for housing, libraries and adult learning Councillor Angus Adams, cabinet member for regeneration Councillor Patrick Harley, cabinet member for transportation Following the local elections in May, the authority is still Conservative led, who now have 43 seats. Labour have 28 and UKIP have one.