A council tax rise, cuts to some museum and library opening hours, an increase in nursery fees, and a hike in parking and bus lane fines are being used to plug a budget shortfall in Glasgow.

A raft of measures to meet a spending gap that ended up at just under £50 million was passed by councillors after a day of political protests and accusations inside and outside of Glasgow’s City Chambers.

The end result was a budget passed by SNP councillors after the Labour group did not take part and the Greens and Tories left the chamber before the decision was taken.

READ MORE:Spotlight: Council in crisis as Glasgow faces cuts of £100m this year

The Glasgow Times reported yesterday that there would be a 5% rise in council tax and a hike in parking charges among the measures to make the savings needed to balance the budget.

Glasgow Times:

The full details of the budget by City Treasurer Richard Bell included other charges and cuts to council services.

The spending gap of £49,300,000 will be met by the council tax hike and cuts, savings, and fees totalling £31.2m and another £6m from council General Fund balances.

It includes charging a fee to enter the glasshouse, including the Kibble Palace in the Botanic Gardens.

Nursery fees over the 1140 free hours will increase and schools will see non-teacher resource budgets cut by around 10%.

READ MORE: Spotlight: Social work services reaching 'tipping point' in Glasgow

Glasgow Life will raise cash and make savings worth £7.15m.

It includes a cut in swimming pool opening hours, not re-opening the health suites in Glasgow Club venues that stayed shut after the pandemic, cutting the Mitchell Library opening hours by six hours a week and charging at peak hours for outdoor tennis courts.

The treasurer said that all council charges will increase including parking and charging for temporary street cafes.

Charges for allotments will rise, with the council axing the subsidy but not for another year as 12 months' notice is needed.

Burial and cremation charges will go up and a permit will be needed if households want to put garden waste in their brown bin.

The cleansing budget will be cut by almost £1m with a review of kerbside collections but no changes to the green general waste bins.

Fines for entering bus lanes and parking fines will go up to raise £3m.

Glasgow Times:

Councillor Bell said the budget protects services from further cuts.

He said: “This is not the budget any of us would wish to deliver. But it is one which has gone a considerable distance to protect and maintain those services upon which our communities depend.

“It’s a budget also shaped by the most turbulent economic and financial context most people can remember.”

READ MORE: Cuts send workers to 'early grave' warns union ahead of Glasgow budget

He added: “There are many things in this budget I wish we didn’t need to do.  

“But it is my view that increasing charges, including parking charges and asking all our citizens to pay a 5% rise in their council tax, is preferable to slashing vital services many Glaswegians rely on.  

“Longer term this is no way to deliver for Glasgow. We need to have a conversation with the Scottish and UK Governments and our citizens about how local government is resourced and the levers available to us. But that’s for another day.”

Outside the City Chambers, the city’s main public sector trade unions protested before, during and after the budget meeting.

They wanted the council to pass a ‘no cuts’ budget.

Brian Smith, of Unison Glasgow, said: "We want them to not make budget cuts and refuse to pass on Scottish Government and Westminster cuts.

"Stand up for the people of Glasgow and set a no-cuts budget."

Sean Baillie, of GMB, said: "Rather than force Glaswegians to pay more for less we demand the £500m is returned to Glasgow."

Eddie Cassidy, of Unite, said:" We want a no-cuts budget. It is clear the administration is managing the decline of service in Glasgow."

During the meeting, Tory councillors criticised the budget.

Thomas Kerr, Shettleston Conservative councillor, said: The whopping 5% council tax rise is unfair on the working class communities of Glasgow who will pay more to get less.”

Greens said they would not support the budget proposals.

Jon Molyneux, Green councillor, said: “We’ve said all along we wouldn’t support cuts to statutory services which will put additional pressures on our workforce.

“And this budget does nothing to address pressures of £40m on our social work department.”

Labour councillors stayed away from the meeting and joined the protesters outside.

Speaking outside, George Redmond Labour Group leader, said the most vulnerable people would bear the brunt of cuts.

He said: “Cuts to addiction services, cuts to homeless services, vulnerable people, disabled people children, elderly, families, that’s who we are talking about.”

He added: “People’s lives are on the line and we can’t stand by and let that happen.”

Inside, SNP councillors lined up to attack Labour for not turning up to the meeting.

Susan Aitken, council leader, said: “Glasgow Labour have shown every Glaswegian that our services and communities are just pawns in their childish political games.

“Leadership that is absent when things are tough is no leadership at all. Leadership is turning up when the chips are down, making the difficult decisions, fighting the difficult fights, trying always to make the right choice even when it feels like there’s no right choice available.”