A BITTER row has erupted over demands from Dudley Council for more government cash to pay for borough services.

As officials consider an inflation-busting rise in council tax of around five per cent, the leader of the authority’s ruling Conservative group has written to borough MPs calling for more cash from Westminster.

As the recession bites into council incomes cllr David Caunt says residents are being forced to bear an unfair burden by Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his ministers.

Cllr Caunt said: “We are faced with an increasing number of demands and pressures from central government, but without the funding to do what is needed and required.

“It is inevitable these imposed costs will have to fall on local council tax payers.”

The council cabinet was set to consider the 2009 council tax hike at a meeting on Wednesday January 7, before the proposal is put to full council.

Finance bosses are planning a package of measures which will save around £700,000 from the council’s overall budget of £256m for the coming financial year.

Cllr Caunt says a combination of extra government regulation plus reductions in government grants has added millions of pounds to council costs.

He also says a 20 per cent increase in homelessness during the last year and higher unemployment mean demands for benefits are rising - with Dudley residents being left to pick up the bill.

Labour finance minister and Dudley South MP Ian Pearson hit back, accusing the Tories of failing to set aside cash from ten years of prosperity when the government doubled Dudley’s grant.

Mr Pearson said: “David Caunt appears to be playing politics, at no time during the past year has he approached MPs to sit down and discuss these issues.

“It seems to be this letter is an attempt to embarrass local MPs.

“We are not embarrassed, because Dudley got twice as much as it did under the Tories.

“David Caunt should be embarrassed because he snubbed £280m to build new schools and create the jobs that go with it.”

Meanwhile, council cabinet member for finance, Anne Millward says Dudley is set to remain the lowest council tax region in the West Midlands.

Cllr Millward said: “I believe our budget proposals for 2009/10 strike the right balance between the service improvements local people say they want, what needs to be spent dealing with increased service pressures and costs and what is reasonable to ask local council tax payers to pay.

“The overall council tax increase will be less than £1 per week for most households.”