Council may have lost huge sums over dropped kerbs

AUTHORITY ADMITS IT DOESN'T KNOW HOW MANY HAVE BEEN ILLEGALLY INSTALLED

- HARRY LEACH News Reporter

SKINT Birmingham City Council has lost out on a major payday after admitting it had no idea how many illegal dropped kerbs had been fitted outside city homes.

The cash-strapped authority, which effectively declared itself bankrupt in September 2023, has slashed services and twice dramatically inceased taxes for residents.

But now it has admitted it did not know the true scale of unauthorised dropped kerbs fitted in Birmingham - and how much cash it had missed out on given that those using authorised channels must pay council fees.

The authority responded to a Freedom of Information Act request from the Birmingham Mail by saying it was “unable to calculate a figure for potential lost revenue” as it held no record of the number of unauthor-ised kerbs installed.

Residents in areas where illegal dropped kerbs are an issue, such as Small Heath, estimated the council had lost out on millions of pounds from failing to curb the kerb issue.