A FURTHER 640 jobs could be axed at Bradford Council as the authority prepares for budget cuts of £120 million during the next four years.

Council leader David Green called the proposals "gut-wrenching".

Frontline services are set to be cut across the board, including reduced amounts for adult and children's services, potential library closures, a 20 per cent decrease in winter gritting and an end to council funding for Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs).

The Labour group, which runs the local authority, has now produced a draft budget to go before its executive next week before the plans are put out to public consultation.

Cllr Green said £60 million needed to be cut during the next two years, with the proposed budget covering everything bar a £6 million shortfall, which still needs to be identified for 2017/18.

Cllr Green said: "We've taken money out of efficiency savings, management, buildings, administration – all the things you would expect us to do.

"Most of it, in the end, is going to be jobs. We think 641 full-time equivalent posts are under threat."

The council has reduced its spending by more than £172 million since 2011 due to a combination of Government cuts, increased demand and rising costs, Cllr Green added.

An additional £7.5 million has been raised through increases in council tax, and the authority is proposing an increase of 1.6 per cent in each of the next two years, equating to a rise of £1.54 a month for an average Band D household.

Despite being classed as the 18th most deprived district in the country since 2011, the council, which employs about 11,000 people, said its spending power had been reduced by nearly £220 per person – a figure it said was more than five times higher than those in the ten wealthiest authorities.

"I think we've got to the point where the policy towards local government, if they do what we fear they're going to do during the next four years, many local authorities will become unviable," said Cllr Green.

"Bradford would probably reduce to providing the minimum statutory services.

"I've been a councillor for 25 years, and this is the most dire financial predicament local authorities have found themselves in at any point during that time."

Other cuts included in the consultation include fewer staff delivering adult social care, which accounts for 30 per cent of the council's total budget, a reduction in funding for educational services, further cuts to youth services, and all but the seven most heavily-used libraries – City, Manningham, Eccleshill, Shipley, Bingley, Keighley and Ilkley – becoming community-managed.

Bin collections would change from weekly to alternate weeks, a charge of £40 a year would be introduced for those wanting green waste collection, some selected street lights would be turned off between midnight and 5am and rate relief would be reduced for non-profit organisations.

"We will listen to what is said in the consultation," said Cllr Green.

"But this has been the hardest, most gut-wrenching budget process we've been in, and we've been doing this horrible stuff since 2010.

"If people come back with alternative ideas, then they'll be seriously considered. However, the reality is a minimum of £120 million cuts during the next four years."

Cllr Simon Cooke, leader of the Council's Conservative group, lambasted the Labour group for how it published its proposals.

"It is becoming an annual routine that the Labour Council releases the budget to the press, before releasing it to nearly 50 per cent of council members, which is undemocratic and totally unacceptable.

"I will make comments when I have had chance to read the document."

Cllr Jeanette Sunderland, leader of the authority's Liberal Democrat group, said: "We have to challenge every penny.

"We keep crying saying we have got no money, yet we still spend millions renovating buildings.

"We are still borrowing money to build new swimming pools, for example, when people are suffering cuts to their social care."

On the cuts to PCSOs, Cllr Green said the £1.2 million the council spends to help fund 120 officers would be withdrawn.

In response, West Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner, Mark Burns-Williamson, said: "The stark reality of these cuts means it will be very difficult to maintain the current levels of PCSOs, although I will be in conversation with Bradford Council and others following the CSR announcement."

The draft budget will be discussed by the Council's executive on December 1.