Lib Dems plan radical transfer of power

Dudley’s Liberal Democrats are planning what they say is the most radical transfer of power from the council ever offered.

The party, which is fielding the maximum of 25 candidates in local elections on May 7, wants to establish neighbourhood plans for communities in the borough along with measures to enable people to pay for community projects.

Under the Lib Dem’s Citizens Investment Fund, individual residents would be able to pledge £50 or more for community facilities like sports equipment or solar panels at community centres.

Dudley Liberal Democrat leader, Cllr Ryan Priest, said: “We are saying to people you can voluntarily pay a bit extra to a community project and then see a return on that.

“That’s the way we upgrade facilities around Dudley, it’s a way people can start to chip into their own communities.”

Cllr Priest rejects any suggestion the scheme is a stealth tax to swell the council’s coffers but rather a way to free up limited resources in the authority’s budget. 

He said: “A tax isn’t voluntary, we know our communities are quite run down and the council has done a bad job on managing that centrally – we want to empower people to be the agents of their own destiny.

“This is a way to fund projects the council is unlikely to be that interested in.

“We don’t know if it will take off but we have seen, when we have projects, people want to get involved in their community.”

Cllr Priest, who represents Cradley North and Wollescote, has long been an advocate for devolving power into communities.

His plans suffered a setback when a study in Cradley rejected the idea of a town council with 82 percent of the 1,269 responses against the idea.

Despite the size of the rejection Cllr Priest has not lost faith in the principle, he said: “Twenty-five percent of people were willing to pay for community projects, we could fund a lot in Cradley with that.

“We take the message loud and clear, the outcome wasn’t that people didn’t think services weren’t needed, it was the extra layer of government to facilitate that.”

The Lib Dem election manifesto for Dudley also includes plans for action on fly-tipping and antisocial behaviour (ASB).

Cllr Priest said: “The council talks a good game but we rarely see any action, in Cradley and Wollescote fly-tipping has always been a problem.

“We need to pursue stricter fines and enforcement when we catch people.”

He added the Lib Dems were also in favour of ‘community skips’ to be deployed in each council ward and and periodic lifting of charges for collection of bulky waste although he said those ideas were not commitments ‘until we see the costs’ .

The party pledges to introduce a Rapid Response ASB Team to tackle bad behaviour, vandalism and off-road bikes.

They also promise a property task force to close homes and businesses linked to crime.