Council bins moves to charge for tip use
Plans to get Dudley Council to fork out an extra £100,000 for its residents using a Wolverhampton tip have been shelved – after the city council was told it had no chance of receiving the cash.
Plans to get Dudley Council to fork out an extra £100,000 for its residents using a Wolverhampton tip have been shelved – after the city council was told it had no chance of receiving the cash.
Council chiefs in Wolverhampton have been refused the extra money by their counterparts in Dudley, leaving the city's taxpayers to carry on picking up the majority of the tab for running Anchor Lane tip in Bilston. The tip is used by 10,000 people a year from both areas.
Despite this, all but £220,000 of the £900,000 annual running costs are met by Wolverhampton City Council.
A letter was sent out by waste bosses in February asking Dudley for an extra £100,000 to make up some of the shortfall, but a reply has now been received saying no.
Dudley Council leader David Caunt says his authority "cannot afford the request" and that he will not negotiate any further.
The response was today labelled "very disappointing" by the city council, which has ruled out banning Dudley residents from using the tip.
Councillor Barry Findlay, deputy leader and cabinet member for the environment, said: "Our position on this has always been clear – we feel that Dudley residents benefit from using Anchor Lane tip, but their council does not pay the costs to reflect that.
"It's always been pretty civil, but we've had the response and it is very disappointing. Dudley Council says it is not able to contribute any more money.
"We have been able to find money from within our existing budgets to cover for it but we will have to look at it again in the future. Despite the response, it is not our intention to stop Dudley residents from using it."
Figures show that 43 per cent of the tip's capacity is used by Dudley residents, and 12,400 tons of waste is processed there each year.
Dudley Council finalised its annual budget in March and says it received the request from Wolverhampton City Council just after the authority's finances for the year ahead had been approved.
The extra £100,000 was included as a saving in Wolverhampton City Council's budget as part of plans to cut spending by £40 million over the next two years.
