Dudley Council defends plans to make £20m of cuts

Dudley Museum and Art Gallery would close and up to 275 jobs would be axed under the last cost cutting plans at the council.

Leaders faced criticism from opposition members who claimed that cuts could have been tackled without harming services.

Councillor Pete Lowe came under pressure at the council's first cabinet meeting since the savage cuts were revealed last week.

Conservative group leader Councillor Patrick Harley said the Labour-led council should have been better prepared to ensure cuts on the scale that have been proposed which affect frontline services were not necessary.

"What's disappointing is not what's in this document but that for three and a half years Labour in Dudley has had the opportunity to make changes to the way services are delivered so that we manage our finances better than this," he said.

"I said two years ago that if a different delivery model wasn't introduced we would continue to cut until some services were not provided any more. Austerity isn't new, it's not been dropped on us since the election. It's bee here for the last six or so years. Yet here we are with another budget and more services cut or stopped altogether."

But Councillor Lowe hit back, saying that the authority had been forced to contend with unprecedented cuts in Government funding.

"We have seen significant cuts in Dudley, over and above that of elsewhere. We have seen cuts of £61 per person in Dudley compared to £18 in Windsor. How is that fair?" he said.

Finance boss and former council leader Councillor David Sparks added: "We are facing even more horrendous cuts than we have already faced, they can't be compared to what we faced under the Labour Government.

"These are now your Government cuts, not the Coalition's, these are Conservative cuts, or should I say, George Osborne cuts."

As well as closing Dudley Museum and Art Gallery library opening hours are set to be cut, while public toilets, dog bins and gritting lorries could also be in the firing line.

Almost 3,000 people have already singed a petition to try and save the museum, in St James' Road, and campaigners protested outside the meeting on Tuesday.