THE SNP has proposed raising council tax by 4 per cent along with more than £1 million in cuts to Clydebank services and groups.

The party launched their formal consultation this week and ask the public to agree with their cuts or offer alternatives.

If residents prefer a council tax rise of 3 per cent, they have to find £430,000 from elsewhere.

The move would mean those on median band D council tax would see an increase from £1,163 to £1,209.52 (a rise of £46.52) next year if a four per cent hike went through.

The consultation offers more than £3m potential cuts proposed by council officers.

The survey also brings into question the protection of funding for Antonine Sports Centre.

The SNP pushed through a motion at the full council meeting on December 20 guaranteeing support for Clydebank Women’s Aid, but, as the Post previously reported, the administration verbally added the independent sports centre to the list, when questioned by Labour.

But the SNP now disputes that they protected the sports centre and added that they "don't support subsidising a private company in this way".

Antonine Sports Centre was unaware of the move to protect their £50,000 in funding from December 20 or being listed in the consultation for potential cuts until contacted by the Post this week.

Councillor Lawrence O’Neill, of Labour, added: “Cllr Ian Dickson categorically stated that Antonine Sports Centre was not being considered for cuts.”

Councillor Jonathan McColl, leader of the council, said: “This is absolute nonsense from Labour. We do not support subsidising a private company in this way.

"Our policy has been the same for the last 10 years. Labour have however put us in a difficult position by using their majority towards the end of their last term to lock the council into a £500k contract with the centre.

"That’s £500k taken away from council services to fund a private sports centre that I have found out today is tweeting adverts offering membership for £1.

"We are subsidising private membership of a sports club, which is not only bad use of public money, but helps it compete against our own services.

"It’s complete madness, and I’m hopeful the public will agree during the consultation.

"I’m currently working with our officers to try and find a way out of the contract so we can spend that money on council services."

Cllr O’Neill added that he has been fielding complaints from constituents who said they were unable to access the survey or were kicked them out midway through.

He said: “It doesn’t say what the budget gap is in the pre-amble. You might ask the public for what income generation ideas they have.

“This smacks of everything that’s wrong with any form of public consultation.”

Cllr Dickson hit back: "I won’t take lessons from Labour on consultation after their complete failure to have any budget consultation last year."

The council wants to cut back black bin collections to once every three weeks – or the public has to suggest alternative cuts of £125,000.

Their online survey also asks about education cuts such as saving £75,000 on payments to parent councils, £18,000 for primary school swimming lessons, reduce budgets for head teachers by 10 per cent to save £84,000, and saving £25,000 from removing crossing patrols where there are already pedestrian crossings.

They also consider removing summer bedding displays and cutting cemetery and park maintenance.

Business rates discounts for charities in Clydebank would drop from 20 per cent to 10 per cent to save £43,000 and £50,000 or a quarter of the current budget would be cut from the West Dunbartonshire Community Volunteer Service (WDCVS) for grants to local groups.

The consultation, which runs until January 31, tells residents: “Please ensure that you have selected alternatives from the list above for any administration proposed options you disagreed with to ensure the budget gap is closed.”

In a statement, Cllr McColl said: “It is vital that residents take part in this consultation and give us their views on the options being proposed. We are legally bound to set a balanced budget come March, but I want to reiterate that the budget consultation is based on the worst case scenario.”

Visit west-dunbarton.gov.uk/councilbudget1819 to fill out the survey.

If council tax increases by 4 per cent, bills payers would face the following changes: Band A £775.33 to 805.34, Band B £904.56 to 940.74, Band C £1,033.78 to 1,075.13, Band D £1,163 to £1,209.52.

Bands E-H are also getting separate increases from the Scottish Government, making their potential new totals: Band E £1,421.44 to 1,589.05, Band F £1,679.89 to 1,965.48, Band G £1,938.33 to 2,368.64, Band H £2,326 to 2,963.32.