New figures showing the true cost of the Government cuts to Bradford Council this year were discussed by the authority’s decision-making executive yesterday.

A report by Council finance bosses shows that the scale of the savings and cuts to investment that the authority must deal with this year are more than £31 million.

They include £7.3m cuts in area-based Council grants including £3.8m for education; a £7.8m loss of investment from Yorkshire Forward including a deferred payment of £1.3m for the construction of the City Park; the loss of £1.8m of investment due to cuts in the successful Future Jobs Fund; and a total of £7.2m cuts to transport infra-structure.

Council leader, Councillor Ian Greenwood told the meeting: “What’s absolutely clear is the Council is in a massively-changed financial position and all of use are going to have to reduce budgets.

The pressure will be to do that. So we have some soul searching to do about the services we want to continue providing. We are committed to ensuring that the most vulnerable are protected from the cuts that will have to be made.”

The report also suggests that the Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review in October could leave local authorities with cuts of up to 40 per cent in five years