Cradley High costs rise by £25k a month (From Halesowen News)

Cradley High costs rise by £25k a month

2:30pm Wednesday 1st July 2009

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DUDLEY council is spending £25k of taxpayers' cash on the former Cradley High site every month.

Costs include £14k a month on security for the derelict school and £5k a month on providing temporary changing rooms for Homer Hill park which is next to the school site.

The bill for decommissing the school, site security, staff redundancies and other costs has already run to three quarters of a million pounds a year after it closed and is now rising by £25k a month.

Cradley councillor Richard Body is fuming at the expense, which included £12k to set up the mobile changing rooms.

He asked the council's interim director of finance Bill Baker how much was still being spent each month on the site and received the figure of an average of £25k a month in an e mail reply.

Cllr Body said: "The mind boggles - it's such a massive waste of money - it leaves me speechless Im very angry about it - it's ridiculous.

"If I had that amount of money to spend in the ward we would have a lovely ward.

"It's beyond reproach."

Councillor Liz Walker, Dudley Council's cabinet member for children's services, said: "The people of Cradley choose to vandalise that site.

"If people were civil we wouldn't have this problem - that's why we have security on site.

"That's health and safety - we are liable for any miscreants injuring themselves."

Cllr Walker said the site was valued at £3m before the housing market collapsed and that any costs would have to be recouped from the sale which "will diminish the gross pot to Dudley schools - I'm as angry about it as cllr Body."

Cllr Walker said the council wanted to demolish the school building as soon as possible.

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