Embedding Family Support in Community Infrastructure: Dudley’s Halesowen Leisure Centre Spoke

Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council’s decision to embed family support services within a leisure centre represents a bold and innovative approach to community-based early help. By integrating Start for Life services into a familiar, non-clinical setting, the council has created a model that not only improves accessibility but also fosters informal engagement and trust. This approach reflects a growing recognition within local government that traditional service delivery models often based in standalone, clinical or administrative buildings can unintentionally create barriers for families. Embedding support within everyday community spaces helps normalise help-seeking behaviour and encourages families to access services earlier, before challenges escalate.

The Halesowen Spoke is a tangible example of how infrastructure already trusted and frequented by the public can be repurposed to deliver meaningful, preventative support. It also demonstrates how local authorities can maximise the value of existing assets to deliver integrated services in a cost-effective and impactful way.

Overview

In June 2025, Dudley Council launched the Halesowen Spoke within its Family Hub Network, housed inside Halesowen Leisure Centre. This marked a significant milestone in the borough’s efforts to expand access to integrated support for families, particularly those with young children.

The spoke brings together Start for Life services including midwifery, infant feeding support, and parenting programmes with broader early intervention and wellbeing activities. Crucially, these services are delivered in a setting that families already use for recreation, making support more visible and approachable. This initiative is underpinned by Dudley’s Early Help Strategy 2025–2027, which champions relational practice, place-based delivery, and early intervention.

The strategy recognises that families are more likely to engage with services when they are delivered in familiar, welcoming environments and when practitioners build relationships based on trust and continuity. The Halesowen Spoke is not just a new location it’s a new way of thinking about service delivery. It challenges the notion that support must be sought in formal settings and instead embraces the idea that help can be embedded in the everyday.

Background and Context

Dudley’s Family Hub and Start for Life programme has undergone a significant transformation in recent years. Moving away from a model of isolated family centres, the council has developed a borough-wide network of five main hubs and multiple spokes, each tailored to local needs and geography. The Halesowen Spoke was developed in direct response to feedback from families who found it difficult to travel to the nearest full hub in Lye. This feedback was gathered through community engagement and consultation with Dudley Family Voices, highlighting the importance of listening to lived experience when designing services.

Halesowen Leisure Centre was chosen as the site for the spoke due to its central location, high footfall, and existing reputation as a trusted community venue. The centre already attracted a diverse range of families for swimming, soft play, and fitness activities, making it an ideal location to introduce support services in a way that felt natural and non-intrusive. Refurbishment works completed in early 2025 included the creation of a dedicated community room, an examination space, and a drop-in area. These spaces were designed to be flexible, welcoming, and non-clinical, supporting a wide range of activities from health checks to informal coffee mornings.

The development of the spoke was led by Dudley’s Public Health team, with Rachael Holt playing a pivotal role. Her background in leisure services helped bridge the gap between health and recreation, ensuring that the model promoted lifelong engagement with wellbeing activities and supported a whole-family approach.

Integrated Services in a Leisure Setting

The Halesowen Spoke offers a rich and varied programme of services, all delivered within the modern, welcoming environment of Halesowen Leisure Centre. This co-location model is designed to meet families where they already are reducing the need for travel, lowering the threshold for engagement, and embedding support into the rhythm of everyday life.

Core Services Delivered On-Site

• Midwifery and Health Visiting: These essential services are delivered in a private, purpose-built space within the leisure centre, allowing families to attend appointments in a familiar and less clinical setting. This has been particularly beneficial for new parents who may feel anxious about traditional health environments.

• Infant Feeding Support and Milk Mates Peer Groups: These sessions combine professional guidance with peer-led support, helping parents navigate the challenges of infant feeding while building confidence and community. The informal setting encourages open dialogue and reduces feelings of isolation.

• HENRY Parenting and Nutrition Courses: Delivered in small groups, these evidence-based programmes support families to develop healthy routines, improve nutrition, and strengthen parenting skills. The leisure centre’s kitchen facilities allow for practical demonstrations and shared meals, enhancing learning and engagement.

• Perinatal Mental Health Support: Recognising the importance of maternal wellbeing, the spoke offers drop-in sessions and structured support groups in a relaxed environment. Practitioners report that the leisure setting helps reduce stigma and encourages participation from parents who might otherwise avoid mental health services.

• Stay 'n' Play and Brilliant Babies Sessions: These play-based activities support early childhood development and parent-child bonding. They also serve as a gateway to other services, with practitioners able to engage families informally and signpost additional support.

• Menopause Cafés and Wellbeing Workshops: These sessions reflect a whole-family approach to wellbeing, acknowledging that adult health and emotional resilience are vital to family stability. The leisure centre’s inclusive atmosphere makes it easier for parents and carers to access support without feeling judged.

• Space for Social Workers to Meet Young People After Hours: The leisure centre provides a safe, neutral space for social workers to build relationships with young people outside of formal office hours. This flexibility supports more responsive and youth-friendly practice.

Facilities That Enable Engagement

The inclusion of a small kitchen has proven to be a valuable asset. It enables food-based sessions such as cooking demonstrations, nutrition workshops, and informal coffee mornings. These activities are particularly effective in engaging families who may be hesitant to attend more formal sessions. Sharing food fosters connection, reduces isolation, and creates a relaxed atmosphere where support can be offered organically.

The leisure centre’s extended opening hours, including evenings and weekends, allow for flexible service delivery that accommodates working families and those with complex schedules. This flexibility also supports multi-agency collaboration, with professionals from health, social care, education, and voluntary sectors able to share space and coordinate support more effectively.

A Blueprint for Accessible, Non-Stigmatising Support

By embedding services within a leisure setting, Dudley Council has created a model that is:

• Accessible: Families can access support without needing to travel to unfamiliar or clinical locations.

• Non-Stigmatising: The informal environment helps normalise help-seeking and reduces the stigma often associated with early help or mental health services.

• Responsive to Local Needs: The spoke was designed based on community feedback and continues to evolve in response to local demand.

This approach offers a blueprint for other councils seeking to reimagine how and where family support is delivered. It demonstrates that with thoughtful design, existing community infrastructure can be leveraged to deliver integrated, preventative services that truly meet families where they are.

Impact Since Opening

Although the Halesowen Spoke has only been operational since June 2025, early indicators suggest it is already making a meaningful difference in the lives of local families. Practitioners and service leads report:

• Strong community interest and consistent attendance: Weekly sessions have attracted a steady stream of families, with some groups reaching capacity. This reflects both the accessibility of the location and the relevance of the services offered.

• Reduced stigma due to the informal leisure setting: Families who may have previously avoided formal support services are engaging more readily. The leisure centre environment helps normalise help-seeking and encourages participation without fear of judgement.

• Increased incidental engagement: Families visiting the centre for swimming, soft play, or fitness classes often discover services organically. This incidental exposure has led to spontaneous conversations with practitioners and increased uptake of support.

• Improved visibility of Start for Life services: Co-location has significantly raised the profile of early years support. Posters, leaflets, and practitioner presence within the leisure centre have helped demystify services and make them more approachable.

• Enhanced peer support and informal networking: Parents attending sessions such as Milk Mates or Stay 'n' Play have formed informal support networks, sharing experiences and advice. This peer-to-peer connection is a powerful complement to professional support.

One of the most striking indicators of success is the 92% increase in leisure centre membership since refurbishment. While not solely attributable to the spoke, this surge suggests broader community engagement with the site and a growing recognition of its value as a hub for family wellbeing. Feedback from families has been overwhelmingly positive, with many citing the convenience, welcoming atmosphere, and variety of services as key reasons for attending. Practitioners have also noted improved cross-referrals and more holistic support planning, thanks to the proximity of different services.

Public Health Leadership

The success of the Halesowen Spoke owes much to the leadership and vision of Dudley’s Public Health team. From the outset, the team recognised the potential of leisure centres as community anchors and worked to ensure the spoke was designed with both health and engagement in mind. Rachael Holt, a key figure in the development of the spoke, brought a unique perspective to the project. Her professional background in leisure services enabled her to bridge the gap between public health and recreation, shaping a model that promotes lifelong engagement with wellbeing activities.

Under her guidance, the spoke was designed not just as a service delivery point, but as a space where families could build relationships, access support informally, and develop healthy habits that last a lifetime. Her approach exemplifies the kind of cross-sector thinking that is increasingly vital in local government. The Public Health team also ensured that the spoke aligned with Dudley’s broader strategic priorities, including the Early Help Strategy and the Start for Life programme. Their involvement has helped embed a preventative ethos across the site, with services focused on early intervention, relational practice, and community resilience.

Councillor Endorsement

Political leadership has also played a key role in championing the Halesowen Spoke. Councillor Wayne Little, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People, has publicly endorsed the initiative, recognising its value in improving access and outcomes for families.

“The Halesowen Spoke is essentially an outreach facility from our nearest family hub, based in neighbouring Lye.We know it’s difficult for some families to travel and we hope this will give people who live in Halesowen easier access to services offered across the family hub network such as midwifery and health visiting.”

Councillor Little’s support has helped raise awareness of the spoke and reinforce its role within the wider Family Hub Network. His comments reflect a clear understanding of the barriers faced by families and a commitment to place-based solutions that meet people where they are.

Learning and Next Steps

The development and early success of the Halesowen Spoke has generated valuable insights for Dudley Council and offers practical learning for other local authorities considering similar models. Key lessons include:

• Leisure centres can act as community anchors for family support: Their familiarity, accessibility, and positive associations with health and recreation make them ideal venues for delivering early help and Start for Life services. Families are more likely to engage with support when it is embedded in spaces they already trust and use.

• Extended hours and multi-use spaces enable diverse service delivery: The flexibility of leisure centres open evenings and weekends, with rooms that can be adapted for different purposes supports a wider range of services and makes it easier to accommodate working families and those with complex schedules.

• Co-location fosters joined-up working between health, social care, and community partners: Sharing space encourages informal collaboration, quicker referrals, and more holistic support planning. Practitioners report that being physically close to colleagues from other services has improved communication and strengthened relationships.

Dudley Council is committed to building on this early success. Plans are in place to gather structured feedback from families who use the Halesowen Spoke, with input to be shared with Dudley Family Voices the borough’s parent and carer engagement forum. This feedback will inform future service development and help ensure that the spoke continues to meet the evolving needs of the community. In addition, the council is exploring stronger links with local schools, recognising that schools are another trusted touchpoint for families. By connecting the Family Hub Network more closely with education settings, Dudley hopes to reach families who may not currently access hubs or spokes, and to offer more integrated support across the child’s journey.

Broader Implications for Local Government

The Halesowen model aligns closely with national ambitions under the Family Hubs and Start for Life programme, which aims to establish 1,000 Best Start Family Hubs across England by 2028. The programme emphasises integrated support, early intervention, and reducing inequalities in outcomes for children and families.

Co-locating family support services in leisure centres offers a promising strategy to meet these goals. It addresses several common challenges faced by councils:

• Accessibility: Leisure centres are often centrally located, well-served by public transport, and already frequented by families.

• Stigma reduction: Delivering services in informal, non-clinical settings helps normalise help-seeking and encourages engagement from families who may be wary of traditional service environments.

• Whole-family wellbeing: Leisure centres support physical activity, social connection, and mental health all key components of family resilience. Co-location allows parents and children to engage in parallel activities, reinforcing a holistic approach.

As councils across the country consider how best to implement or expand their Family Hub networks, Dudley’s Halesowen Spoke offers a replicable, evidence-informed model. It demonstrates how existing infrastructure can be leveraged to deliver integrated, preventative support in a way that is both cost-effective and community-led. The next phase for Dudley and for other councils inspired by this approach will be to evaluate impact, share learning, and scale what works. With continued investment, collaboration, and innovation, leisure-based spokes could become a cornerstone of family support across the UK.