Anger as Dudley Museum axed while council tax rises

The cash-strapped council will increase its share of council tax by 1.99 per cent and take up a Government offer to increase it by a further two per cent for adult social care.

This works out to be an extra 77p per week or £40.04p per year for people living in Band C properties.

Reduced litter collection is forecast to save £55,000, with cabinet member for environmental services, Hilary Bills, saying there is 'not enough money' to carry out the collections anymore.

She said: "At the moment we have a majority of people in the community who go out and clean their own areas.

"More and more people are looking after their own street and do their own litter picks, including myself.

"We will still continue to work in the hotspot areas with fly-tipping and assess where we need to go. But it will be an on demand service because we do not have the money to collect the litter anymore."

Community campaigner Abdul Qadus from Stourbridge said the environmental impact would 'cause a lot of problems'.

"It is going to cause a lot of problems environmentally. We have bins filling up enough as it is, and no they are saying that we may have to clean our own streets on top.

"In certain areas people have had to go out to clean their streets because they have no choice. But the council need to give something back to these people who are practically doing their jobs."

The full council has now made the final decision to go ahead with the cuts.

Councillor David Sparks, cabinet member for finance, said that they had never been in a position of predicting so many cuts ahead before. "To the people in this borough it will mean budgets that will carry cuts to essential services for years to come," he said.

We have never been in this position before. In the past there have been bad years but we know that there would have been good years to come and we have always lived in hope but never before have we had to project ahead so many years of cuts.

"In this unprecedented situation we need to be honest and admit in this council that central government of all persuasions have failed to fully address the need in this borough. None of us got into this position to be making these cuts but we must expect to continue to prepare for them in the borough of Dudley," he added.

Up to 275 jobs will also be also be at risk across the council, as a 'tough decision' to close Dudley Museum was also announced.

Around 4,000 campaigners signed a petition to save the popular attraction in St James Road last month.

Councillor Michael Evans from the opposition side said the closure of the museum was 'totally unacceptable'.

"The museum has 35,000 visitors a year and helps children with their education and senior citizens who use art clubs there," he said.

"This is not looking after vulnerable people but is totally unacceptable."

Councillor Khurshid Ahmed explained the museum wasn't 'accessible' but promised that the collection would be safeguarded.

He added: "I accept that there are a number of visitors a year but there will be other options available to those who use it currently. It is not accessible.

"The collection will be moved elsewhere."

Ross Crompton, who kick-started the petition to save the attraction at www.38degrees.org.uk, said it was 'incredibly disappointing'.

He said: "Although it was expected on Monday night it is a hypocritical move by Dudley Council as they say they want to attract more tourism into the town yet then they are closing such an important place such as this.

"The building is accessible – there is wheelchair access and lifts. With such high level social deprivation in the area then why are we closing such educational institutes like this? The museum is vital for the community.

"We would have been happy if the council had even said they would mothball the collection for a few years and then move it back into the museum but the council just want to knock it down."

Dudley UKIP group tabled three amendments to the budget including a reduction of councillors by a third, which they say would save £251,000, and the scrapping of a chief executive role.

But the proposals were rejected after a vote.