ANTI-SOCIAL behaviour, dog fouling, littering and drinking in the street are set to rocket in Sandwell due to controversial plans to halve the number of street and park wardens, it has been claimed today.

Former policeman Bob Dunn is spearheading the Stop the Warden Cuts campaign and has organised a 4,000 signature petition opposing the cuts.

Mr Dunn also believes Sandwell Council’s conduct pushing through the decision could land them in hot water with the Local Government Ombudsman.

He said: “The way this has been handled stinks and after next week’s full council meeting I am considering taking the matter up with the Local Government Ombudsman.

“Sandwell residents will notice the difference as there will be more litter, dog fouling and drinking on the street. Last year alone they dealt with over 12,000 incidents of anti-social behaviour, helped remove over 300 abandoned cars and gave out over 2,000 fixed penalty notices.”

He added: “We need the wardens to have powers and be on the streets because there is no way the police are going to concern themselves with low level crime.”

Six park wardens, two park warden managers, two administrators, one warden manager, four senior wardens and 19 street wardens will be sacked before May.

The replacement Boroughwide Patrolling Service will have one team leader, a supervisor, an administrative assistant, a CCTV and abandonment vehicle officer along with 13 community wardens.

The council paid consultants Exact £3,000 to produce a report last summer which recommended the merger of the services.

Community activist Mr Dunn said: “The Exact report was the very opposite of exact as it was full of holes and mistakes and was a waste of money as councillors had just finished a report on the same subject.

“We have got a petition of over 4,000 people which has forced the decision to go before the full council on Tuesday and we will be lobbying the councillors before they go into the meeting.”

Independent Socialist Langley councillor Mick Davies slammed the plans.

He said: “Wardens are visible and do a great job, it was not that long ago when senior members of the council were talking about having wardens working 24 hours a day, seven days a week but is now making half of them redundant.”

The council hopes to save £542,219 a year by merging the services and has blamed Government cutbacks for the decision.

Cabinet member for neighbourhood services Councillor Derek Rowley said: "The merging of the warden services is something the council has been looking at for some time and it was a view that was clearly backed by the consultants.

"The new structure will mean that for the first time we will be able to operate a seven-day warden service which has got to be better.”