£10k bricks scheme 'a waste of cash'

Plans to spend £10,000 of public money on bricks spelling the name of a Black Country town have come under fire as a waste of cash.

Dudley Council has agreed to cover the £10,000 cost of an art project to spell the word Netherton in bricks on a grass verge off Halesowen Street.

The cash will come from interest made from a Prince's Trust account, but councillor John Martin branded it a "complete waste" of public cash.

"At a time when the council is so strapped for cash that it can't even fund a bid to secure Building Schools for the Future money, to spend £10,000 on some bricks is absolutely absurd," he said.

Councillor Martin, a Labour councillor who represents Netherton, Woodside and St Andrews, said he was further angered by their decision to press ahead with the project because the Capital Allocation sub-committee of Dudley's Central Area Committee had already turned it down.

"I am a member of that sub-committee and we received a request for the £10,000 funding on behalf of The Friends of Netherton Park earlier this year," said Councillor Martin.

"But when we looked at it we could not see any reason for awarding the funds."

The Friends of Netherton Park, together with residents, first approached Dudley Council in 2006 for help in designing and implementing an eye-catching gateway to the park area in a bid to revamp the nearby shopping area. But the design was agreed ahead of any funding for the project.

Dudley Council spokesman Chris Howes said: "School children have been working with the borough artist on the designs and we hope it will be in place as soon as possible."