17th October

The economic figures released last week confirm what we all know - things are getting worse.

Unemployment is now at its highest level in 17 years, with over 2.5 million people out of work. One in five young people are jobless and there are more women unemployed than at any time since 1988.

Everyone knows someone who's been affected by the recession - the family member made redundant, the friend who's struggling to pay the mortgage or the colleague who can’t afford to send their child to college or university.

These kind of cases are raised at my advice surgeries all the time. And I've noticed things getting worse in recent times.

That's partly because Dudley is one of the areas that's been hit hardest by the downturn. In the last year the number of people out of work and claiming benefits has gone up by 12%. That number is now 42% higher than five years ago.

These are shocking figures and the clearest proof yet that the Tories' economic policies are not working. Growth is stalling and the economy is flat-lining. They claim there is no alternative if they are to tackle the deficit, but borrowing is actually £46 billion higher than planned.

Their policies are hurting families and costing jobs. The Government should change course or things will keep getting worse.

TOWN CENTRE RESPONSE SHOWS APPETITE FOR CHANGE

Like anyone else who lives in Dudley I've been concerned about the town centre for years and I think reviving the town centre should be the Council's top priority.

Last week I sent an email out to constituents asking for their ideas on how to improve things.

I wanted to get people's take on a number of issues like whether Stone Street would be better used for parking and what people think about opening up the castle for concerts and plays.

I've had an overwhelming response so far and a number of interesting suggestions have been made. The response goes to show what an important issue this is for people in Dudley.

I'm keen for as many people as possible to have their say so I've put a short survey on my website: http://www.ianaustin.co.uk/surveys

HIPPODROME NEEDS TO BE TIDIED UP

On the subject of the town centre, when are the Council going to do something about the Hippodrome?

It sits at the gateway to the town and is just yards from two of the town's biggest tourist attractions yet the paint is peeling, the steps are overgrown with weeds and it's covered in litter and broken glass.

It gives a terrible impression of the town and I can't understand why the Council haven't done something about it. How hard can it be to send a couple of workers down to tidy it up?

TOUGHER ACTION NEEDED ON METAL THEFT

I read last week that problem of metal theft is becoming so severe that Dudley Council has started replacing metal manhole covers with plastic ones.

79 were stolen in one week in my constituency recently and at £450 each they're not cheap to replace.

And thieves aren't just targeting drain covers. There have been some appaling cases recently: a local school was forced to close after being flooded when lead flashing was stripped from its roof and just the other day the Highways Agency revealed that the theft of copper cables from cameras on the M6 risked causing a serious accident.

A caller to my office this week made a good point - if trading standards can send in youngsters to catch off-licenses selling alcohol to underage kids, why can't we do the same thing and catch dodgy scrap metal dealers red-handed?

It’s clear more must be done to tackle the problem. I've written to the Government about this urging them to tighten the rules so that no metal is sold without the seller providing verified identification and - most importantly - that cash payment for scrap metal is made illegal.

The budgets of local councils are stretched enough as it is without opportunistic metal thieves costing them tens and thousands of pounds more per year.