Staff at flats go in fresh cutback

Eight concierges at high rise flats in Wolverhampton are to be axed, it was revealed today.

The losses will be in addition to the 50 redundancies already announced at Wolverhampton Homes, which manages more than 22,000 council houses in the city.

The latest cuts are part of a £1.6 million plan to centralise security at tower blocks.

A further seven vacant concierge posts will be deleted.

Resident Don Jarvis, aged 81, who lives in St Joseph's Court in Coalway Road, Merry Hill, said today: "I value the concierge service.

"If you have a problem with noise then you can ring the concierge and they will call the flat in question and have a polite word about it.

"I don't agree with centralising the service.

"Cameras can only do so much. It has been centralised in Bilston and if you have a problem on a night the concierge is off, then they take a long time to get there."

Councillor Paddy Bradley, who has responsibility for housing, said today: "We are developing a new concierge service with CCTV based in a central location but it will be expensive to set up in the first place."

The location is yet to be decided.