does not need to be broken up to improve its poor performance, the Conservative group leader has claimed 鈥 putting him on collision course with the city鈥檚 only Tory MP.
Councillor Robert Alden, writing in the Birmingham Post today, 鈥 saying Birmingham鈥檚 size is an asset and not responsible for the council鈥檚 failings.
His comment came after , the former Government minister, called for the break-up of the city as the only viable way to end years of failure and under performance.
Coun Alden said: 鈥淏irmingham is a great place, the birth place of the Industrial Revolution, a city of a thousand trades, home to some of the greatest engineers our country has ever known. by breaking the city up.
鈥淭he recent past for Birmingham has been bleak but our future can and should be bright. Birmingham City Council does not need to be broken up, it鈥檚 position is not insolvable.
鈥淚f the city council can embrace culture change and now look forward to modernise our services, residents can expect a renaissance in Birmingham, without having to give up our shared history.鈥
He said that in many places councils were working ever closer together to achieve economies of scale as they battle huge cuts and added that even Lord Bob Kerslake, in his damning review of the city council last year, rejected a break-up.
Instead, failure in child protection, poor work with partner organisations and an inability to modernise or adapt working practices or services to meet 21st century challenges are due to deep seated cultural problems in the organisation.
He pointed out that the huge financial burden of equal pay and single status, now estimated to have cost the council
拢1.3 billion was a result of delays by leaders 鈥 pointing out that the Labour leadership up to 2004 had five years to deal with the problem. Even then the next Conservative and Lib Dem coaltion struggled to deal with it up until 2010 as a flood of legal claims came forward.
Two weeks ago Sutton Coldfield MP Andrew Mitchell outlined his devolution idea created with their own councils and a much reduced group of 40 councillors running strategic services in the centre.
He said there was some support from Local Government Secretary Greg Clark for his proposal and added: 鈥淲e鈥檝e done our best. Under Conservative leadership, Labour leadership and Coalition leadership, it鈥檚 now clear that it just doesn鈥檛 work.鈥
The MP warned that the entire region was 鈥榩aying a high price鈥 for the failure of Birmingham and was in danger of falling behind the Northern Powerhouse if the situation did not improve.
