Stourbridge News
0.5 per cent of residents sign Dudley's city status petition
10:00am Wednesday 22nd February 2012
LESS than one per cent of people in the borough have signed up to support the bid for Dudley and its surrounding towns to be given city status.
Councillor Les Jones decided a day after getting the job as leader of Dudley Council that the borough should enter a competition for a chance to be bestowed with city status as part of celebrations surrounding the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.
But after months of promoting the borough’s bid through features on the radio, TV and in a host of newspapers - the council has announced that just 1,324 people have added their names to a petition supporting the application.
In percentage terms and based on the 2010 population figures for Dudley - just 0.4 per cent of residents in the borough have backed the bid.
Scheme critic Harry Rowlands from Stourbridge, who has started a Say No To The City campaign, says the response to the pro-city petition, run by the Black Country Chamber of Commerce, “doesn’t justify going forward with the application.”
The 69-year-old retired company director said he objects “most strongly” to the idea, and he added: “Both Stourbridge and Halesowen have their own unique cultural background and identity.
“We should not allow the history and cultural heritage of the various parts of the Black Country region to be potentially lost in a greater Dudley area.”
Cllr Jones, however, has steadfastedly defended putting in the bid which he believes will bring vital investment and jobs to the borough.
He said: “There’s nothing to be lost by doing this and so much potentially to be gained.”
Cllr Jones said Stourbridge, Halesowen and Brierley Hill, which would form part of the City of Dudley, would retain their indvidual identities and postcodes, adding: “We’re proud of the fact that we’ve got four very distinctive towns, that’s what makes Dudley a great place.
“In fact it is each of their unique histories that has made this bid so strong and one of the favourites to receive the honour.
He said the application had cost no more than “a notional £500 in staff time, photography and material costs” - and he added: “I can assure people this bid has been made for all the right reasons.”
A poll run by the News to decide the Dudley News Sports Personality of the Year received more votes than the city status petition - a total of 1,631 compared to 1,324.
And in a News Group website poll last summer - 72 per cent of 346 voters gave the thumbs down to the idea.
Just 21 councillors out of 70 on Dudley Council appear to have signed the petition backing the plan.
Even a number of cabinet members do not seem to have taken the time to add their names to the document.
Top Tory councillors whose monikers are missing from the pro-city petition include cabinet members Liz Walker, Patrick Harley and Tim Wright, development control committee chairman Colin Wilson, development control vice-chairman Colin Banks, regeneration, culture and adult education scrutiny committee chairman Ken Turner and even former Dudley Mayors - Malcolm Knowles and Ian Kettle.
The current Mayor of Dudley, councillor Michael Evans, also does not appear to have signed the petition.
However cllr Jones was unfazed, saying the response to the petition was “a good result from a single poll which had limited exposure”.
He added: “If you stick something under people’s noses they’ll probably sign it - not everybody will have known about it.”
The borough is expected to find out in May or June whether it has been granted city status.