DUDLEY Council chiefs are going toe to toe with retail gurus in a war of words over empty shops.

Regeneration supremo Cllr Shaukat Ali launched a broadside against the Local Data Company (LDC), saying their claim that nearly a third of Dudley's shops are vacant is a load of hot air.

Cllr Ali has called on LDC to visit Dudley and see for themselves however LDC argue they already have - and the authority's deputy leader has got his figures wrong.

Cllr Ali, Dudley cabinet member for regeneration, said: "The inaccurate figures that make big headlines are not doing anyone any favours at all and this is why we have invited the company to come and see the town for themselves.

"We know that under LDC’s current methodology our success in attracting leading national chain Costa Coffee to Dudley would not be taken into account as they currently focus purely on shop and retail use.”

According to the council, LDC claimed 32.4 per cent of Dudley town centre shops were empty while council bosses say the real figure for vacant premises in Dudley is 18 per cent.

LDC is currently producing data for a number of universities including Oxford on research into the state of Britain's high streets and the not-for-profit company also worked with a team at Dudley Council in 2009, until they were axed.

LDC director Matthew Hopkinson said: "LDC last visited Dudley CLG in January 2013 and at that time the shop (comparison, convenience and service retail) vacancy rate was 27.1 per cent and the all (retail and leisure) was 22.6 per cent.

"The latter figure takes into account the issue raised with regards the arrival of Costa Coffee. This January 2013 figure is still some 4.6 per cent different to Councillor Ali's figure and as such I can only assume that the boundary is significantly different or that a significant number of new retail and leisure businesses have opened up in the last three months."

Mr Hopkinson added he thought Cllr Ali's comments were politically driven and demonstrate a lack of understanding of what LDC does.

He said he would be willing to visit Dudley "subject to a genuine interest to consider reinvesting in the data and insight LDC provides".