A row has broken out over a councillor's involvement in the future of a debt-hit community centre after it emerged the heating had been on 24/7 and a water leak had run up huge bills.

Councillor Tim Crumpton had been president and trustee at Cradley Community Centre when the blunders, which brought the centre to the brink of closure, happened.

He admitted the central heating boiler had been running 24/7 and that a £3k water bill was partly the result of a broken valve in a ladies toilet running up the water meter.

A meeting was held to secure the future of the centre in Colley Lane with the aim of electing a new committee to help run it.

Cradley Residents' Association members say at the meeting cllr Crumpton was re-elected to carry on as president and trustee, but only on a temporary basis.

But cllr Crumpton denied he was re-elected in the role of president on a temporary basis and said he planned to continue in the role.

Chris Legiewicz, of Cradley Residents' Association, who had been elected as treasurer, has resigned her role saying she cannot work with cllr Crumpton after his mistakes.

She said “I put myself forward as treasurer of the newly-formed committee at the community centre in Colley Lane after a campaign to save the centre.

"This was on the understanding that Tim Crumpton - the only trustee and president at the time - helped us with the handover and then stepped down.

"Before our first meeting began I asked Tim if he was going to step down.

"To this he said no he was re-elected and would work with the new committee to save the centre.

"So I have resigned. I told Tim I had no confidence in him and couldn't work with him in view of the previous mismanagement of the centre.

"This is still my opinion. It has been mismanaged for 15 years."

Mrs Legiewicz, who had done work on sorting out the centre's finances, said the series of blunders which left the centre in the red, only came to light after residents asked for an emergency meeting into what was happening with the centre.

Kevin Powis, of Cradley Residents' Association, also said it emerged no accounts had been filed to the Charity Commission for around 15 years.

Cllr Crumpton said: "I fully admitted to mistakes - I have been the sole person there for 15 years.

"I thought you had to earn more than £10k before you had to put a report to the Charity Commission, I didn't realise you had to file a nil report.

"I was re-elected as president unopposed - the centre's future is viable."