COUNCILLORS voiced their frustrations after hearing they would have to wait weeks before they hear more about the future of Bradford's libraries and museums services.

Members of Bradford Council's Regeneration and Environment Scrutiny Committee had expected to learn more about what the vital services would look like after their budget is slashed when they met in City Hall on Wednesday evening.

But they were instead told that details of closures, shake ups or job losses would not be revealed until September at the earliest.

The museums and galleries budget for the current year is £1.8 million, but Bradford Council plans to cut this by a further £500,000 in 2020/21.

The libraries budget is currently £2,824,000, but in 2020/21 will be cut by £1.5 million.

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For months the committee has asked officers to provide more details on what was going to be cut to deliver the savings. At Wednesday's meeting they were told that information was still not available.

Chair Councillor Rizwana Jamil (Lab, Bowling and Barkerend) said: "This is the third time you have come here, and as a committee we have asked for specific information to be brought here. Why are we still at the stage where we don't have anything in front of us about how the service will look? The cut have to be implemented, but we still haven't seen what it will look like on the ground."

Phil Barker explained that the Council needed to complete a "needs assessment" that would detail what services were needed in which areas of the district. Although that had been completed, it would take several weeks for officers to go through those results. Once they had they would be able to make a number of proposals. These would then go to public consultation.

Councillor Ralph Berry (Lab, Wibsey) said: "As a committee it feels like we're always having to run to catch a ball - you've not met a single deadline we've given you in this process."

Mr Barker said Councillors will be given a list of proposals in September.

John Giles, customer support assistant at Ilkley Library and Unite Union representative, said: "Libraries are a statutory service, the Council has to provide this service and it has to be a comprehensive service. If the budget for libraries goes to just over £1 million it won't be an effective service."

Rebecca Dawson, a learning officer for the museums service, said: "Staff are really worried that next year there will be further reductions and the possible closure of the Industrial Museum and Bolling Hall. If that happens there will be no municipal museums in Bradford. We're very concerned about that."

She said cutting museum staff could mean the loss of decades of expertise.

The meeting was attended by a number of library and museum staff, who at one point held up a number of signs reading "books not cuts" and "save our libraries."

The committee asked for a report to be presented to them in early September, detailing the future options for the service.