MORE THAN £42 million in savings has been made following an 11th hour budget deal between Glasgow City Council’s SNP administration and the Greens.

Council tax will rise by a further 4.64 per cent, with an increase to £1386 per year for band D households.

The budget will see the closure of Blairvadach Outdoor Resource Centre, charging residents for bulk uplifts, reduction of street sweeping services and ending free city centre parking for councillors.

Under-utilised bowling greens across the city will be turned into community growing spaces or communal allotments.

Despite these cuts the SNP has vowed to protect teachers while alternative budgets suggested reducing staff numbers to balance the books.

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City treasurer councillor Allan Gow said: “I regret the increase in council tax but I believe that there is no other option. It will hopefully mitigate some of the impact on our poorest people in Glasgow.

“We have sought to protect our most vulnerable people in our community. We will continue the holiday fund and universal free school meals to all children from primary 1 to primary 4.”

Education convener Chris Cunningham said that he was determined to see more teachers in class while continuing to bridge the attainment gap.

Mr Cunningham said: “Labour’s willingness to sack teachers will haunt them for years to come. The closure of Blairvadach is deeply regrettable but we will create a number of outdoor learning activities.

“Improving attainment must remain our highest priority. We will continue to commit to maintaining teacher numbers.”

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In return for a series of funding and policy commitments, the Greens voted with SNP councillors to pass the annual budget. Agreed was a new £10 million climate emergency action fund to accelerate emissions reduction, work to identify a further £20 million to invest in nature, green networks and food growing and developing a new economic plan centred on a Green New Deal.

There is also an agreement to reform the council’s budget process so it enables better public scrutiny, an end to free internal UK flights for councillors, a school bike library pilot as a step towards every child in Glasgow having access to a bike and action on healthier, more sustainable diets.

Councillor Kim Long said: “By securing £10 million for climate action Greens have ensured the city can step up its decarbonisation efforts ahead of COP26.

“We’ve also ensured the council leads by example, bringing an end to internal UK flights and free parking for elected members.”

Labour councillors criticised the closure of Blairvadach and branded the SNP’s budget as “madness”.

They had proposed that the pupil teacher ratio be realigned to the national average.

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Councillor Frank McAveety said: “All parties have arrived at a budget which has tried to budget the books. I do know that after years of proposing budgets we never closed Blairvadach - one of the major institutions in the history of Glaswegian childhoods.

“It is sad we will lose this facility which has benefitted so many Glasgow school children.”

Mr McAveety also pointed out that there was no detail about the households or the number of people who might be charged for a bulk uplift.

He added: “Good luck with that - we can’t even get the basics done at the moment when it comes to our cleansing services.

“Our budget has had to make some very difficult decisions because we take seriously the responsibility of producing a budget.”

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The conservatives also criticised the SNP administration for failing to stand up for the city against Scottish Government cuts to local authority funding.

Councillor Kyle Thornton said: “Charging for bulk uplift is likely to exacerbate the already considerable blight of fly tipping within Glasgow.

“In a year when Glasgow is hosting the environmental summit COP26, having a city littered with fly tipping is not exactly the warm welcome that people would expect of Glasgow.”

Following the debate 45 councillors voted through the SNP’s budget with the Green ammendment, 25 voted for Labours and seven voted for the Tory budget.