Dudley Reform UK has demanded answers from civic leaders regarding the deteriorating state of the Black Country borough and the prolonged wait for a new waste tip. The group has called an extraordinary full council meeting on June 29 to address these issues.
Reform's Demands
The meeting will see Reform calling for urgent reports on environmental services such as grass cutting and street cleaning, as well as proposals for a new tip serving areas including Sedgley, Coseley, Gornal, Upper Gornal, and Woodsetton.
Dudley Reform's deputy leader, Councillor Shaun Keasey, expressed deep concern: "It's an absolute mess at the moment. I've never seen it look so uncared for in my entire life, and we need answers. Residents put us in because they're fed up with the status quo, and we will do exactly what they put us in for: hold this minority Conservative administration to account."
He added: "We want to understand how the borough has been able to get into this state. We want to understand how the administration is pushing for a more permanent solution to the lack of a household waste facility in the north of the borough. We want cold hard facts as to what has gone wrong."
Conservative Response
At a cabinet meeting on June 11, Council leader Councillor Patrick Harley stated that the council is continuing to explore suitable sites for a permanent tip, noting that it would require significant capital investment. He said: "Delivery would likely take three to five years. In the meantime, pop-up collection events have been introduced for a three-year period to support residents in the north of the borough alongside the existing provision at Birmingham Street."
Cllr Keasey dismissed these remarks as "wishy-washy non-committal faff" and rejected suggestions that he and other former Conservative councillors now representing Reform bear some responsibility for the issues. He pointed out that he left the Conservative Party in 2023, and the borough's decline has occurred recently.
Reform councillors James Clinton, Rob Clinton, and Jason Thorne were all previously members of the Conservative group. Cllr Keasey stated: "That is irrelevant. I left the Conservative Party in 2023, three years ago. The borough was not in the state it is in now. Jason and James left last year, and it wasn't like this then. Rob Clinton lost his election in 2024, two years ago, and he is just as alarmed at the state of the borough and the lack of a household recycling facility for the north as everyone else. That is why we want this extraordinary meeting: to understand what on Earth has gone wrong and hold people to account."
