A BUDGET bombshell by local SNP councillors would see more than 60 council jobs go and all bar one community centre closed down.

The Telegraph has seen a document issued by group leader Chris McEleny detailing how his party would plug an estimated £8m local authority funding gap over the next two years.

Councillor McEleny’s blueprint saves £7.9m but would mean 62 council workers losing their jobs by 2022, including 23 school cleaners, 16 street sweepers and seven community wardens.

The SNP group is also proposing to increase council tax by the maximum three per cent in each of the next two years and close all under-used community centres, except the Paton Street hall in Greenock.

Mr McEleny last week issued a wish-list of services his group said should be saved, calling for continued funding for CCTV, and under-19s sports team subsidies and the Youth Connections centres to be spared.

Cllr McEleny is furious that his budget proposals have been made public.

He said: “The SNP group have attempted to form a consensus so that all Inverclyde councillors can come together to agree a good budget for Inverclyde.

“We have been open and transparent in sharing our views with fellow councillors so that we could have an open and mature discussion on the future of council services. 

“However, I have not yet had the opportunity to meet with trade union representatives to discuss with them their views on our draft position.

“Therefore I am bitterly disappointed that less than a day after we shared our views to our council colleagues they have been leaked to the Greenock Telegraph.

“It’s an utter disgrace that the particular councillor who leaked this would rather council staff and people in Inverclyde find out about potential new ways of delivering council services via the press instead of allowing representatives of our staff to have an input first.”

Also on the SNP group’s hit-list is the removal of free swimming for over-60s, reduced opening hours and a review of staffing levels at the McLean Museum, a cut of £144,000 per year to the grants to voluntary organisations budget and increased charges for school lets, community alarms, cremation and burial fees.

Funding for Inverclyde Leisure would also be slashed by £300k over the next two years and £370k removed from the Riverside Inverclyde grant.

Mr McEleny said: “Our budget proposals will protect Inverclyde’s young people.

“They will invest in free school meals, they will protect vital community facilities and protect crucial services that help us reduce inequality in the area.

“It is a budget that we have managed through negotiation and lobbying of the Scottish Government to be well over £4m better off than what people were saying it was going to be.”

Inverclyde Council leader Stephen McCabe says no final decisions have been made on where the axe will fall.

Mr McCabe said: “It is only right that the SNP group have put their savings proposals into the public domain given that they had previously highlighted the savings they would not take and their policy priorities.

“All other groups have agreed not to comment publicly on any savings proposals until we receive a presentation and report from officers on the responses submitted to the public consultation.

“We owe it to the more than 1,300 individuals and groups who have taken the time to respond to listen to their views before making informed decisions.

“To do otherwise would bring the whole consultation into disrepute.”