Your council

Sandwell: what’s happening where you live

What the council itself has published on the five things it most shapes for a household: homes, getting about, the bill, the local environment and schools. Each line is quoted from the council’s own document, with the link. This page says what was decided or proposed; it never says whether it was right.

This page is built from official registers only; the council’s own publications have not been read yet, and every line below says so where that leaves a gap.

Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council: Metropolitan district (unitary), England, West Midlands; part of the WMCA combined authority. GOV.UK lists it as a unitary council. ONS code E08000028.

Council website · Publication scheme

Do it online

The council’s own service pages as listed by GOV.UK’s Local Links Manager (Open Government Licence), refreshed weekly; the same list of everyday services, in the same order, for every council, in GOV.UK’s wording.

Housing

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Transport

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Council tax

Band D set by Sandwell for 2026–27: £1,914.77 of a £2,244.46 total bill in the area. MHCLG, Council Tax levels set by local authorities in England 2026 to 2027 (Open Government Licence).

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Environment

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Education

We haven't read this council's own publications yet. The council’s website

Changes to schools in this area recorded by the Department for Education Updated automatically

No school here is currently recorded as proposed to open or close.

In the last twelve months: 2 opened (2 new provision), 2 closed (1 for academy, 1 closure)

Christ Church CofE Primary School (primary) — closed; reason recorded: for academy, 31 May 2026
Dudley Port School — closed; reason recorded: closure, 31 July 2026
Blackwater Academy Sandwell — open; reason recorded: new provision, 9 December 2025
Christ Church Church of England Primary School (primary) — open; reason recorded: new provision, 1 June 2026

Get Information about Schools, DfE’s register of every school in England, refreshed daily (Open Government Licence). The register’s own reason is shown: most closures and openings are a school becoming an academy, which changes who runs it, not whether it is there.

What the council plans to spend, 2026–27

The budget for each service, as Sandwell reported it to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. The same headings, in the same order, for every council in England.

Sandwell: budget by service, 2026 to 2027
Service	Budget
Education services	£360.2 million
Highways and transport services	£11.2 million
Children's social care	£111.8 million
Adult social care	£184.3 million
Public health	£36.3 million
Housing services (general fund only)	£18.6 million
Cultural and related services	£14.5 million
Environmental and regulatory services	£48.4 million
Planning and development services	£22.7 million
Police services	none budgeted
Fire and rescue services	none budgeted
Central services	£20.8 million
Other services	£11.6 million
Total service expenditure	£840.3 million

Net current expenditure: net of sales, fees and charges; spending funded by the NHS, such as through the Better Care Fund, is excluded.A minus figure means the service’s income is budgeted to be more than its spending. “None budgeted” usually means another body runs that service here. Source: Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Revenue Account Budget 2026 to 2027, individual local authority data (part 1), updated 11 June 2026 (Open Government Licence).

Sandwell in numbers

Official statistics for the whole council area. Each figure is the latest published, with the period it covers.

Total population: 353,860 people 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMid-year estimate of the total number of people
Median age: 36 years 30 June 2024 · Office for National StatisticsMedian age of people
Gross disposable household income per head: £17,273 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage income per person (£) after taxes and direct benefits
Gross median weekly pay: £568 30 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsGross median weekly pay based on where people live (£)
Children in relative poverty after housing costs: 40.2% April 2024 to March 2025 · Department for Work and PensionsPercentage of children aged under 16 living in relative low income families After Housing Costs (AHC)
Claimant Count: 6.8% 2025 · Office for National StatisticsPercentage of people aged 16 to 64 who are claiming unemployment-related benefits
Average house price: £205,830 July 2026 · HM Land RegistryAverage monthly price of a property (£)
Housing affordability ratio (residence-based): 6.6 affordability ratio 1 April 2025 · Office for National StatisticsRatio of median house price to median gross annual residence-based earnings
Female healthy life expectancy: 51.3 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for females born in the given year
Male healthy life expectancy: 52.7 years 2022 to 2024 · Office for National StatisticsAverage years expected to be lived in good health for males born in the given year
Greenhouse gas emissions: 3.4 tCO2e per capita 2024 · Department for Energy Security and Net ZeroGreenhouse gas emissions (tCO2e) per capita
Gigabit capable broadband: 96.2% 1 January 2026 · OfcomPercentage of premises that have coverage from a gigabit-capable service (download speeds of 1,000 Mbps or more)
Public electric vehicle chargers: 87.6 per 100,000 population 1 July 2026 · Department for Transport, sourced from ZapmapPublicly available electric vehicle chargers at all speeds per 100,000 people
Active businesses: 11,495 number of enterprises 2024 · Office for National StatisticsBusinesses with turnover or employment in current year

Gathered by the Office for National Statistics in Explore Local Statistics (Open Government Licence), refreshed daily. Some figures aren’t published for every nation, so the list can be shorter outside England.

Who runs the council

72 seats in 2026. Run by: Reform UK, with a majority. Open Council Data (public domain).

Councillors by party: Reform UK 41, Labour Party 28, Green Party (E&W) 2, Independent / Other 1.

Next scheduled council election: 6 May 2027.

All 72 councillors, by ward

Hilary Grandey (Green Party (E&W)) — Bearwood
Jennifer Hemingway (Labour Party) — Bearwood
John Tipper (Green Party (E&W)) — Bearwood
David Williams (Reform UK) — Blackheath
Michael Cooper (Reform UK) — Blackheath
Mona Khurana (Reform UK) — Blackheath
Amolak Dhariwal (Labour Party) — Bristnall
Jonathan Fox (Reform UK) — Bristnall
Liane Winsper (Reform UK) — Bristnall
Bob Jones (Reform UK) — Charlemont & Grove Vale
Rachael Mitchell (Reform UK) — Charlemont & Grove Vale
Ray Nock (Reform UK) — Charlemont & Grove Vale
Craig Morris (Reform UK) — Cradley Heath & Old Hill
Mark Johnson (Reform UK) — Cradley Heath & Old Hill
Nathan Williams (Reform UK) — Cradley Heath & Old Hill
Jack Sabharwal (Reform UK) — Friar Park & Stone Cross
Lisa Weaver (Reform UK) — Friar Park & Stone Cross
Nick Fawcett (Reform UK) — Friar Park & Stone Cross
Connor Horton (Labour Party) — Great Barr, Tamebridge & Yew Tree
Margaret Sutton (Reform UK) — Great Barr, Tamebridge & Yew Tree
Michaela Allcock (Labour Party) — Great Barr, Tamebridge & Yew Tree
Brad Simms (Reform UK) — Great Bridge
Keith Edge (Reform UK) — Great Bridge
Mark Webb (Reform UK) — Great Bridge
Jackie Taylor (Labour Party) — Greets Green & Lyng
Mohammed Ahad (Labour Party) — Greets Green & Lyng
Pam Randhawa (Labour Party) — Greets Green & Lyng
Amardeep Singh (Labour Party) — Hateley Heath
Paul Moore (Labour Party) — Hateley Heath
Stephen Fellows (Reform UK) — Hateley Heath
Aaron Khuttan (Reform UK) — Hill Top
Amaan Husen (Reform UK) — Hill Top
Dean Hollowood (Reform UK) — Hill Top
Paul Leavey (Reform UK) — Langley
Peter Durnell (Reform UK) — Langley
Tuli Zefi (Reform UK) — Langley
Elaine Giles (Labour Party) — Newton & Valley
Keith Allcock (Labour Party) — Newton & Valley
Kenny Jinks (Reform UK) — Newton & Valley
Connor Marshall (Reform UK) — Old Warley
Karl Leech (Reform UK) — Old Warley
Luke Cotterill (Labour Party) — Old Warley
Nagi Daya Singh (Labour Party) — Oldbury
Rizwan Jalil (Labour Party) — Oldbury
Suzanne Hartwell (Labour Party) — Oldbury
Gary Dale (Reform UK) — Princes End
Geoffrey Sutton (Reform UK) — Princes End
Neil Shirvington (Reform UK) — Princes End
Jitinder Taheem (Reform UK) — Rowley
Paul Tromans (Reform UK) — Rowley
Ritchie Massey (Reform UK) — Rowley
Ashley Lewis (Labour Party) — Smethwick
Luke Davies (Labour Party) — Smethwick
Parbinder Kaur (Labour Party) — Smethwick
Farut Shaeen (Labour Party) — Soho & Victoria
Mohammed Uddin (Labour Party) — Soho & Victoria
Ragih Muflihi (Labour Party) — Soho & Victoria
Abid Hussain (Labour Party) — St Pauls
Aqeela Choudhry (Labour Party) — St Pauls
Charn Padda (Labour Party) — St Pauls
Matthew Lloyd (Reform UK) — Tipton Green
Richard Jeffcoat (Independent / Other) — Tipton Green
Tim Hordley (Reform UK) — Tipton Green
Ken Parsons (Reform UK) — Tividale
Lou Yates (Reform UK) — Tividale
Maria Crompton (Labour Party) — Tividale
Jeremy Handley (Reform UK) — Wednesbury
Owen Nelson (Reform UK) — Wednesbury
Paul Snape (Reform UK) — Wednesbury
Harpal Tiwana (Labour Party) — West Bromwich Central
Liam Preece (Labour Party) — West Bromwich Central
Tirath Dhatt (Labour Party) — West Bromwich Central

Each councillor’s register of interests is on the council’s own website; we have not yet located the page. Councillors from Open Council Data as recorded after the May 2026 elections; a by-election since then may have changed one seat. Attendance and allowances are not shown.

This council’s meeting papers are not yet read automatically, so decisions and motions are not listed here; they are on the council’s website.

Write to your councillors → WriteToThem (mySociety) finds them from your postcode; nothing is sent through this site.

Cite this page

Harvard style. Every figure on the page also names its original source, which is usually the better thing to cite.

Every council page has the same five headings in the same order. Sources are the council’s own publications and official statistics. Council list: mySociety, UK Local Authorities (CC BY 4.0) and WhatDoTheyKnow authorities (CC BY-SA 4.0); council websites, tiers and service links: GOV.UK (Open Government Licence); codes: ONS Code History Database (Open Government Licence). Corrections: hello@whatsittome.org.