Birmingham residents face 'cruel' price rises

Conservative opposition leader, councillor Robert Alden, questioned the decision to raise fees for council services.

Price rises for hundreds of council services have been branded “cruel” by the leader of the Conservative opposition in Birmingham.

Labour council leader John Cotton has said savings measures, including the fee increases, will put the council £10m ahead of its savings targets for the year.

Fees, covering everything from waste collection and burial costs to leisure and sports facilities, will rise from the start of next year.

It comes as Birmingham City Council looks to save £150m this financial year after declaring effective bankruptcy just over a year ago.

Conservative councillor Robert Alden said the “strangest or cruellest” increase was the 25% rise in the cost for parents to watch their children swim at public pools – taking the price to £1.50.

Council leader John Cotton says the council is now £10m ahead of its £150m savings target for the year.

He added: “All of these fees are going up at this level before we even know what is needed to balance the budget. It might be the situation that the council comes back in a few months and goes ‘these have to go up even further’.”

A 10% increase is being applied to many of the services under council control, but some are going up by even more – including a 50% increase to grave reservation fees and a 22% increase for bulky waste collection. That would take the costs of reserving a burial plot to £450 for a resident and the cost of bulky waste collection will rise to £55.

The fee increases were signed off at a council cabinet meeting on Tuesday and come just days after the government-appointed commissioner Max Caller said he didn’t believe a further 10% council tax rise could be avoided next year.

Councillor Karen McCarthy urged people not to "get excited" about the forecast of being £10m ahead of savings targets.

Speaking about the possibility of being £10m ahead of the savings target, Labour councillor Karen McCarthy, cabinet member for finance, said it was “a good thing” but warned “don’t get excited”.

She added: “Things change rapidly and we will not be allocating that potential saving to any other heading. £10m is a huge figure, but in the context of our budgets, it is a very small proportion.”