Labour promises ‘boots on the ground’ to tackle ASB

Labour would put ‘boots on the ground’ to tackle antisocial behaviour in Dudley if they beat the odds in local elections.

Voters in Dudley will go to the polls on May 7 to select 25 of the borough’s 72 councillors and opinion polls predict Labour could be facing big losses.

Despite being under the electoral cosh Labour leader in Dudley, Cllr Adam Aston, is determined to fight for every vote with a manifesto of promises including action on ASB

Cllr Aston said: “The Conservatives have led the council for a decade and time and time again we have seen opportunities for getting the basics right have not been taken.

“We have seen money wasted on trips to Cannes, the Brookes Bar debacle and the botched sale of Dudley Leisure Centre – whilst at the same time basic services which people rely on like getting roads fixed or keeping green spaces neat and tidy have almost been an afterthought.

“The thrust of our manifesto is ‘let’s concentrate on core services that people rely on’”.

The council is already rolling out a raft of new measures to tackle ASB including surveillance vans and drones but Labour say councillors missed a trick when a budget amendment to pay for ten new street wardens was rejected.

Cllr Aston said: “I welcome a move to use technology to improve any service but I think you also need boots on the ground which can be deployed to hotspot areas.

“That worked really well in Nottingham and it’s something Birmingham has done for a while as well.

“It’s people doing the job in lockstep with the police, it would have made a tangible difference.”

Another manifesto pledge is to reverse the council’s policy of disposing of homes which cost more than £10,000 to repair.

Cllr Aston said: “Ten thousand pounds is quite a low level to start thinking about disposal of a  property based on a small cost of repair in the grand scheme of things.

“We want each property assessed on its own merits, we need to keep old council properties, in fact we need to be building far more.”

Cllr Aston acknowledges funding for local government is tight and big spending is not an option.

He said: “It’s not about spending lots of money – that money isn’t there at the moment.

“I believe things are getting better but it’s about spending the money you have got intelligently and partnering up with other organisations.

“That is why we were opposed to cuts to the voluntary sector – supporting the voluntary sector saves money in the future.

“It needs long-term vision and planning, it’s short-term politics all the time because we have to set a budget year after year.”

Cllr Aston is under no illusions about the challenge his group faces as a result of the rise of other parties.

He said: “Dudley has traditionally been two parties with the odd smaller party, we now have five political parties on the council.

“If we have a bad result on May 7 I don’t necessarily think it will be down to local councillors not doing their jobs.

“We have some dedicated local champions who represent their wards with pride and do an amazing job.