Cllr Adam Aston has publicly criticised the borough's Conservative administration for prioritising the painting of lampposts in a time of 'limited council resources'.

More than 200 have already been spruced up in the last month and to up to 250 more will see the same this year, with operatives busy repainting those on the Commonwealth Games cycling time trial route over the last four weeks. 

However, in a post to the 'Sedgley and Coseley (past and present)' Facebook page, cllr Aston questioned the timing of the work, adding that there are more pressing matters across Dudley borough, some of which have been 'on hold for months'. He said:

"As a Dudley Councillor, it’s a daily battle to ensure essential repairs to our Borough’s infrastructure and maintenance of the fabric of our communities are carried out responsively.

"In the current climate of extremely limited council resources...why the hell are we painting lampposts? I will be asking for details of when this became a priority. 

"Dudley North has fallen into rack and ruin (and) I’m pretty sure that Dudley’s lampposts have a shelf life that doesn’t necessitate painting them at regular intervals so we can probably utilise the manpower and resources to sort issues we’ve been trying to get resolved for months."

However, Councillor Shaz Saleem, cabinet member for highways and public realm, defended the decision and noted that it was a Labour councillor first raised the concern. He added:

"I was delighted to join the crew in Spring Street and get a paintbrush and muck in - it really makes you appreciate the fantastic job they do day in day out to spruce up our streets.

"A lot of our lampposts are in need of a bit of TLC – they still work absolutely fine but are looking tired and old due to flaking paint. Something as simple as a new coat of paint makes a massive difference to the way they look and it was really appreciated by the residents in Spring Street."