WE made a mistake in including £99,000 in the budget to cover the increased cost of landfill charges caused by the £3 per ton increase in the Landfill Tax.

We applied the increase to the whole of the refuse collected (33,000 tons) instead of just the trade waste (3,000 tons) and I apologise to the people of Bromsgrove for this. I do, however, take strong exception to the accusation that was made about the professional integrity of the officers when it was implied that this money would in some way have been spirited away if the error had not been revealed.

This allegation is absolutely despicable and I now call upon Cllr Peter McDonald to apologise publicly and unequivocally to the officers.

However, because of all the pressures the council is faced with the error did not make any difference to the five per cent increase we have had to introduce. The Government have been pressing us hard to increase our staffing in certain areas and intimated we would be allowed to exceed the Government's capping level if we so wished. We took the decision that we would control the increases and not hit the 10 per cent, 11per cent and 27 per cent levels that had been introduced by previous administrations of whatever political persuasion.

Having decided on five per cent I insisted the services to the public should not suffer, with the exception of grants. The decision not to give grants was taken because we believe the public should have the choice of which charities they give their money to. What suffered was what the Government inspectors wanted.

The windfall of £99,000 will now be used to increase the capacity in the areas that the council's treasurer and the other officers have agreed with these inspectors.

One newspaper reporter said to me that what Cllr. Peters had suggested would have looked much better for the public and, even though it was absolute rubbish, I agree it would.

However, I will not lie for PR purposes and I have been completely open and honest as to where the money will be spent. I will not hide what we are having to do and where we are having to spend your money.

If you want to know the truth behind some of the published headlines and get more information about the services that were included in the budget and judge for yourself whether it was good or bad please ring me on 0121 445 0323.

Roger Hollingworth

(Con - Alvechurch)

Portfolio Holder for Finance

Bromsgrove District Council