Wolverhampton council workers fluff their lines outside bulldozed school
Wolverhampton council workers painted markings on a busy main road warning 'School - Keep Clear' - outside a school that was bulldozed three months ago.
The large yellow lettering stretches 300ft down Birches Barn Road in Graiseley and sits outside the former Penn Fields Special School.
Workers from the authority's highways department blocked one lane of the busy road off for several hours last week to paint the markings, seemingly oblivious to the fact that the school is no longer there.
It moved to a new £45m campus in Boundary Way and the old site was flattened earlier this year.
The Labour-led authority, which recently re-branded itself as a 'confident, capable council', said procedures will be reviewed to ensure the gaffe does not happen again.
But councillors have branded the blunder a 'scandalous waste of taxpayers' money'.
Councillor Paul Singh, who represents the Tories, said: "This is just total incompetence on the part of the council.
"I find it astonishing that staff could be sent on this job without anyone noticing that the school isn't there anymore. The council is making cuts all over the place, but here they are squandering money on this nonsense.
"They are wasting money they simply haven't got. There are plenty of areas like Birches Barn Road where speed calming measures are required, yet the council doesn't implement them because of the expense.
"Someone needs to be held to account over this."
Labour Graiseley ward councillor Elias Mattu said the mistake was embarrassing for the authority.
"The school isn't in existence anymore and those markings shouldn't have been done and obviously there is some mistake somewhere.
"It shouldn't have happened and it will not go down well with the local residents.
"Mistakes do happen from time to time and this must have been part of a programme, we schedule work programmes because there is so much to do, it is a big city and there's thousands of cases pending, this has probably been on the list for a couple of years.
"It should have been checked out, of course it is embarrassing because at the end of the day it costs money, it is still a waste of public money and that shouldn't have happened."
Birches Barn Road resident Jack Roberts, 89, said: "The council has known about the school being demolished for months, so this is ridiculous. It's a waste of time, money and baffles me completely.
"The lines being painted are one thing but I believe residents who live so close to the site should have some kind of say in what is being built near their homes also."
Will Morris, said: "I don't understand it to be honest, it doesn't make any sense to have school lines painted when it's clear there's no school there.
"Speeding cars do seem to be an issue down this road as well , especially after 11 o'clock. I'd be happy and I'm sure many others would if the council did look into this to give us some kind of piece of mind."
One resident, who did not want to be named, said: "It's obvious to everyone, the school was demolished some months ago, the council knows this so they really need to explain as to why they've used manpower, time, and probably council tax payers money to paint these pointless lines on the road, it makes no sense."
Another resident, who also did not want to be named, added: "Not only is it a complete waste of their time for everyone, the council need to really understand that some speed prevention needs to take place down this road with whatever they intend to build on that open space.
"We have been told that no speed humps have been built as there have been no fatalities, which is absolutely outrageous.
"People speed up this road like there's no tomorrow, so to have something like that said to residents is beyond comprehensible."
Councillor Steve Evans, Wolverhampton council's cabinet member for city services, said: "We maintain around 760 kilometres of roads across the city, and occasionally mistakes do happen.
"Clearly this re-marking, which was carried out as part of routine maintenance work in the area, was completed in error and we will be reviewing our procedures to ensure it does not happen again."
Last year ,the council was criticised after road signs directing traffic towards Wolverhampton town centre were updated with a set of cut-out stickers - 14 years after it became a city.
The stickers were placed over signs around the Parkfields and Ettingshall areas.
The word 'city' has been stuck over the word 'town'. Critics had slammed the authority for dragging its feet over changing the information.
