Councillors clash after call for finance chief to quit

Councillor Steve Clark, Dudley cabinet member for finance, faced tough questions at an extraordinary meeting of the authority on August 22 where councillors were asked to approve a raft of new measures to save cash.

The changes, including the introduction of car parking charges, are aimed at filling a £37m black hole in the council’s budget over the next three years.

Councillor Clark came under fire from Councillor Shaun Keasey who claimed the Conservative administration had ‘driven the council to the brink of bankruptcy’.

Councillor Keasey said: “It’s all on you, cuts to services, an increase to demands for taxes and charges, car parking charges introduced with no apparent consultation with businesses, leisure centres put out to tender.

“We finally see the true devastating financial figures for Brookes Bar and Bistro, to top it off – the slap in the face for Dudley tax payers – you paid a consultant £50,000 to give you advice on Brookes and then shut it.

“The decent thing for you to do would be to apologise and step down.”

Dudley Council launched Brookes Bar, on Priory Street in Dudley, in September 2022 after spending more than £1m developing the site.

The project failed to turn a profit and after losses of around half a million pounds the authority announced it was to close at the end of August 2024.

Councillor Clark hit back at Cllr Keasey, who is now an independent member of the authority but was Conservative cabinet member for commercialisation and human resources from May 2021 until May 2023.

Councillor Clark said: “You were the cabinet member when this went through, if you’d had the bottle to stand up and say ‘no this is not right’ – no you didn’t, you said the way we were doing it was wrong but you didn’t follow through and change it.

“You were the cabinet member at the time, to blame us now when you were the person who could have done something about it – you are totally out of order, your comments are ridiculous.”

When Brookes Bar opened it was controlled by the regeneration and enterprise department at the council under cabinet member Councillor Simon Phipps; the venue was transferred to the commercial department in April 2024.

Councillor Clark also had to fend-off criticism on plans to introduce parking charges starting at £1.20 for the first two hours and an increase in existing charges.

A petition of nearly 2,000 names opposing the charges was handed into the council before the meeting and Councillor Cathryn Bayton read a statement from traders in Dudley.

Councillor Bayton said: “Consultation had been non-existent, we are the people on the ground.

“It is no good the council saying ‘use local transport’ because buses at times are very poor, the Metro is still years away and who will want to get off in Dudley with a diminishing town looking like a dump in places.”

Councillor Clark said he would be happy to meet traders and introducing charges was not something the council wanted to do.

He added council leaders had listened to advice from a scrutiny committee and reduced fees.