3,500 sign petition to keep Wolverhampton neighbourhood wardens

The service has been running for the past 13 years but will disappear under the latest round of crippling council cuts if plans are approved.

The petition says residents are 'alarmed and distressed' at the removal of the service.

Wolverhampton City Council will save £480,000 by scrapping the 18-strong team of city-wide wardens, whose job is to deal with community safety and work in a similar way to Police Community Support Officers.

They were already reduced from 30 in cuts drawn up last year but will be scrapped altogether if the new plan goes ahead next year.

In a report, council chiefs said that as a final decision had not yet been made to scrap the wardens, the petition would be taken into account.

The petition has been organised by Usha Patel and states: "We the residents of Wolverhampton are alarmed and distressed at the removal of the neighbourhood warden service that has worked tirelessly in the city for the last 13 years.

"We feel it will have a detrimental impact on the communities of Wolverhampton, we strongly urge the council to rethink the proposals and retain some form of a service to the city.

"The service itself is a valuable asset to the city and a vital link between residents and service providers.

"Without this we believe most links will be lost again and trust issues which have been nurtured by the wardens will be lost and all the good work undone."

The council is having to make £123m of cuts and axe 2,000 jobs over five years. But when its budget for the next 12 months was drawn up, it still had to find £59m of these cuts, despite having already reduced opening hours of libraries and shut most of its youth clubs among a series of controversial measures.

The report, which goes before full council next Wednesday, adds: "The service led consultation that has been undertaken related to this savings proposal has identified a number of issues in terms of the impact of a loss of this service on local communities.

"Officers are currently exploring how some of these issues can be mitigated whilst still meeting the required savings targets.

"The proposal will now also be subject to the wider budget consultation being undertaken by the council."

The local authority has lost £147m in government grants due to cuts imposed by the Coalition Government.

It is the equivalent of 52 per cent of its funding.

The council has already imposed controversial Sunday parking charges and increased council tax to try to make up some of the shortfall. Libraries have had their opening hours reduced and youth clubs have been closed.