Enough is enough on council budget cuts, says Wolverhampton leader

Bosses announced drastic savings of up to £50 million would be needed over the next five years, while up to 500 jobs will be axed and council tax will rise by five per cent. Bin collections are also moving to every two weeks.

Council leader Roger Lawrence said something needs the change if the council is to avoid inflicting any more pain on families.

It is a familiar story across the Black Country and Staffordshire, where councils have had their budgets stripped during this decade. The latest warning comes after Staffordshire County Council announced plans to save £35m next year.

The latest cuts at Wolverhampton Council come just a week after it was revealed the authority's debt would soar to more than £1 billion over the next two years.

Councillor Lawrence, who heads the Labour-controlled authority in Wolverhampton, admitted he was 'concerned' about the authority's financial position for the next five years. Bosses have taken the unpopular decision to introduce fortnightly bin collections from this month, which they say is necessary to save money.

He said: "Councils up and down the country are facing the same issue. There are a lot of Conservative leaders of different councils and the Conservative leader of the Local Government Association saying it as far as it can go and saying that it will have a massive impact on services, and that is the case.

"We have got to go to the Government. We have managed over 10 years but it is getting harder and harder. They have got to do something to support councils."

The council must save an extra £11 million on top of the £28.3m worth of agreed savings by the end of 2019/20 and is proposing to raise council tax by almost five per cent from April.

The authority has labelled its position as ‘the most significant financial challenge it has ever faced’.