DUDLEY Council is filling some of its budget black hole by recycling tarmac from road repairs to save thousands of pounds.

The cash-strapped authority is digging deep to find ways to save by recycling around 800 tonnes of road surface material removed during repairs each year for gravel for footpaths, parks and allotments.

The savings are possible because the council is using new machinery which makes repairs quicker and converts the old tarmac to reusable material.

Councillor Khurshid Ahmed, Dudley cabinet member for transportation, said: “I am absolutely delighted with the savings we are creating by using this new machinery.

“I have been out with the crews personally to see the machinery in action and the speed and efficiency with which it does the job is very impressive compared to the more traditional method of digging holes out manually.

A Dudley Council spokesman added: “The machinery is on a lease arrangement at an annual cost of under £20,000 and this relatively small investment is creating significant savings of around £100,000 both in terms of its efficiency and in the way it allows for tarmac to be recycled.”