DUDLEY'S UKIP group have hailed the rethink over controversial changes to waste collection as "a huge victory" for the party.

But Councillor Patrick Harley, leader of Dudley's Conservative group said it was "a hollow one" as he believes the purple party could have nipped the Labour-run council's proposal in the bud before it was made public.

Councillor Paul Brothwood, leader of the borough's UKIP group joined members of the council's cabinet for a two-day policy summit at the end of May, where plans to introduce fortnightly black bin collections and charge £30 a year for the green waste removal service were discussed.

Cllr Harley, who has vowed to fight "tooth and nail" to halt the "ridiculous plans", which will be discussed a cabinet meeting tonight (Wednesday), said: "If they were serious about stopping this they would have prevented Labour bringing it to cabinet.

"They didn't and therefore there's a suspicion this would have gone through had we not opposed it."

However cllr Brothwood said the proposal was "fiercely opposed" by himself and Upper Gornal and Woodsetton councillor Dean Perks, adding: "We made it clear at the time that we wouldn't support it, that's why we were surprised to see it put forward."

He continued: "We appreciate the financial circumstances the council is in, we can't be opposing every single cut like the Tories seem to be but this is an area we don't think should be cut."

Cllr Brothwood reiterated that the setting up of an all-party working group to investigate other ways of making the required savings was "a huge victory" for his party, adding: "I have sat down with Cllr Pete Lowe (Dudley Council’s leader) and had constructive talks to try and put a stop to it, I wish that Patrick had done the same.

"We look forward to working with the cross party working group. All of us will sit down together and find resources from elsewhere.”

However Councillor Karen Shakespeare, shadow cabinet member for environmental services, said she couldn't understand why alternative saving options hadn't been looked at before.

She said: "I have fought for 17 years to keep the weekly bin service and I have always said over my dead body will it move to fortnightly collections. Why did the this Labour administration announce something like this in the first place?

"Surely they would have looked at everything and made a decision based on facts and figures? Or are they just chucking out ideas to see what support they get? It's wicked to the electorate, I don't know what they are playing at."

The Conservative councillor for Halesowen North continued: "These are bread and butter services that our whole community rely on. They affect our quality of life and represent a core service that people believe they pay their council tax for.

"They want to blame a lack of government subsidy for everything. They have been in power for four years now, they should be running a good ship instead of blaming the government and wasting money on vanity projects."

She added that depending on the outcome of the cabinet meeting, the Tories would be submitting a notice of motion to full council on July 11 in an attempt to block the "unreasonable proposal".

Councillor Hilary Bills, cabinet member for environmental services, said the initial proposals were "not put forward lightly" and it was one of a number of difficult decisions the council was having to make.

She said from the initial feedback, she wanted members of all political parties to scrutinise the proposals to see if there were any alternative ways of saving this money from the wider council budget.