Video: Erdington reacts to Birmingham City Council cuts and tax rises as budget savings announced

'We have no alternatives' - that's what John Cotton insists as Birmingham City Council announces £300 million worth of budget cuts and the sale of £1.25bn in assets. This on top of a dramatic 21% council tax rise over the next two years. I'm here in Erdington to hear people's concerns.

John says: “Why should we pay for a totally incompetent council? They knew they had to pay out all this money. What have they done with all the money that they did get? Where's it gone? You've got billions that could be used for housing and they're going to try and bid them off and they were billed supposedly for people coming to the games, the contestants and things like that. They're not even finished.”

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Marwan says: “It's too much for people like us, earning working class people with just a low minimum wage. It's high for us again. So the council was supposed to support people like us. The cost of living in England right now is too high.

"Electricity is high, tax is high. So if you're having a low income, you're supposed to be getting benefits and getting support from the government then paying all of this. For me, I think that's too high for us. We can't afford it.”

It was last September when Birmingham City Council issued a section 114 notice stating it was essentially bankrupt, leading to the appointment of commissioners to address the challenges the authority faces.

The process has been turbulent with auditors previously having complained about their working environment within the council. The city council have now announced their plan to tackle a budget gap of more than £300 million over the next two years.

This includes a rise in council tax by 21%, as well as cuts for many services across the region. After a few years where we've seen Birmingham often touted as being in a golden era of economic progress, is this view shared among everyday people?

Angela says: “No, I don't think there's any golden era. I think Birmingham is a run-down city. There's good local people. There's lots of organisations and charities that help people in Birmingham, but it's always the poor people helping these local charities.

"It's never the governments who have got this big pot of money. And Birmingham is just left to go in squalor. There's people that can't even afford to have the heating on and they're asking us to pay more in council tax. The government are not even in touch with reality.”