£32k to resurface Walsall Council's car park
More than £30,000 has been spent resurfacing a council car park – as the cash-strapped authority faces having to make £100 million of savings.
The work at the front of Walsall Council House has been branded a 'waste of money'.
Resurfacing was carried out on the car park, which has 15 spaces including two for disabled people, over the summer.
But it has now emerged the bill was £32,000. Independent councillor Paul Bott said the cash could have been better spent.
He pays to use council car parks within the town centre rather than the spaces outside the town hall in Lichfield Street.
"The way things are today, needing to save £100m, the council has got to look at everything and £32,000 for the car park at the frontage of the council house is a waste of money," he said.
"Money is tight now and it could be pushed into other areas. If they are spending that amount of money on that car park why don't they open it up to the public on a Saturday or Sunday?"
Council leader Mike Bird said improvements were being carried out to the listed building to ensure it met standards.
The car park is used by visitors to the council and councillors who pay a fee.
"We do get a substantial amount of people that walk across that car park thinking it is a right of way," he said. "The car park was in a dangerous condition."
The council allocated more than £550,000 this year on sprucing up Walsall Civic Centre along with £700,000 investment in the council house and town hall.
Councillor Bird added: "The law is quite clear, if it is a listed building it has to be kept to a certain standard."
