A MAJOR £5.3m investment in Bradford Council's buildings will go ahead, senior councillors have decided.

This will include a new £3 million depot in Bradford, a refurbishment of Shipley Library and £2m of urgent work to nine council buildings, including City Hall in Bradford and Queen's Hall in Ilkley.

The scheme was approved by the Labour-led Council's Executive at the last meeting of the municipal year at City Hall today.

Councillors heard the investment was the next instalment of the authority's ten-year 'invest to save' Property Programme, which has so far slashed the Council's maintenance backlog by £48m and raised £31m by selling off sites that were no longer needed.

Councillor Andrew Thornton, who leads the programme, said: "We have reduced the backlog maintenance by £48m - that has virtually halved from the position we inherited in 2010."

MORE TOP STORIES

Councillor Ralph Berry, executive member for children's services, said a previous strand of the programme, to bring children's services staff under one roof at Sir Henry Mitchell House in Manchester Road, Bradford, had worked well.

He said it was the best working environment he had "ever seen in the social work sector", as it was far better for families and other organisations to visit.

He said: "It's about making sure people doing a frontline job are in the best possible accommodation. Having been in Henry Mitchell House, I would like to say, good job."

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, executive member for culture, welcomed the investment in Shipley library, saying it hadn't yet had any refurbishment work done in its 30-year history.

She said it was "one of the most popular libraries in the district - 200,000 people a year visit that library".

It will get improved IT facilities, replacement heating, new toilets and fresh carpets throughout.

Meanwhile, the planned new depot at Bowling Back Lane would replace the authority's Shearbridge and Harris Street depots, as well as the Tramshed building on the Wakefield Road depot site.

The new site would bring together staff from the authority's parks department, waste and streetscene teams and staff who look after the Council's fleet of vehicles.

Although the Council's Labour leaders argue the investments are all designed to save running costs, slash maintenance backlogs and slimline the authority's estate, opposition parties are critical of the policy.

At last month's full council meeting, the Conservatives criticised the amount being spent on repairs at City Hall and other council offices, including "the expensive refurbishment of the former Central Library".

Their motion, backed by the Liberal Democrats, called for more investment in school buildings instead, but it had failed to get voted through.