True cost of Public project
It is a travesty that Sandwell taxpayers will be forced to throw millions more into the funding blackhole that is The Public arts centre (news item, June 27).
It is not just a colossal waste of money which proves the incompetence of our local politicians. It has also gone alongside the neglect of vital public services in the Sandwell area.
Sandwell is rated as one of the worst in the country for education services but the council has sacrificed the funding equivalent of four brand new schools on this fiasco. In the CPA Council Ratings of 2006 it was awarded just one star out of five and its services for young people given the lowest possible score.
The trust of council taxpayers has been completely undermined by Sandwell's blinkered commitment to this poorly managed, ill-fated and utterly wasteful initiative and they cannot justify diverting another penny towards it.
It is somewhat fitting that on the day of Tony Blair's departure as Prime Minister we came to learn the true cost of another of New Labour's grandiose public projects. The Public has become – if it wasn't already – the Millennium Dome of the West Midlands. It is time we pulled the plug.
Fiona McEvoy, Campaign Agent, West Midlands TaxPayers' Alliance.
