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Row over clock's £400,000 repair bill
Feb 21 2006
A row has broken out over plans to spend £400,000 on repairing Sutton Coldfield's clock tower.
Rival regions are furious the town is being given such a large share of Birmingham City Council cash.
Labour councillors have accused the Conservative-Lib Dem administration of giving millions of pounds to one of the richest areas in Britain at expense of poor people.
Shard End councillor Ian Ward said: "This is indicative of how the Conservatives are taking money from deprived areas and spending it in affluent areas.
"There are community projects across Birmingham which would have made a real difference to people's lives that have been scrapped so the council can spend the best part of £500,000 on a clock. Sutton Coldfield has been awarded 23 per cent of the capital money available to the entire city. If it was allocated fairly then it would have received nine per cent," he said.
Birmingham City Council announced earlier this month that £405,000 has been allocated for work on the clock tower to ensure it is working for the Town Hall's centenary.
Thomas Vale Construction has been appointed to restore the historical landmark in a scheme which will entail part of the tower being rebuilt and the rest refurbished.
The clock will also be repaired so that all four faces are operational.
Chairman of the Sutton Coldfield Constituency Committee, Coun Peter Howard, said: "We bid for the money fairly and squarely and it is as simple as that.
"Whilst Coun Ian Ward is continually complaining that we are taking off the poor to give to the rich he should remember that Sutton Coldfield runs a much tighter ship than inner city districts like Ladywood and Hodge Hill who have double the amount of senior managers and assistants."
