PLANS to cut a further £30.7 million from Bradford Council’s budget over the next two years will now go to public consultation after being approved by the authority's executive group.

The proposed cuts would see £7.1m saved in 2018-19, and £23.6m in 2019-20.

Services including street cleaning, libraries, and museums and galleries are set to be among the hardest hit, with the savings resulting in the potential loss of 153 jobs.

The authority is also to raise council tax by 1.99 per cent in each of the next two years, alongside implementing the social care levy by three per cent next year.

Council leader Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe said: “This council will be half the size in 2020 as it was in 2010. These cuts take a toll, but we will not let them dim our vision for Bradford.”

When the proposed cuts were announced, top-level assurances were given exclusively to the Keighley News that the town's library and Cliffe Castle Museum would not shut.

But both sites could still be severely hit.

Under the latest proposals, library services across Bradford district will be slashed by £950,000, with the museum and galleries budget cut by £260,000.

Keighley Central Tory councillor Zafar Ali, who is set to become the next Lord Mayor of Bradford, has criticised the planned cuts.

He accused the Labour group of picking the wrong priorities and cutting frontline services rather than removing waste.

And Craven ward councillor Adrian Naylor warned the cuts could disproportionately affect community libraries in outlying areas, such as Silsden and Denholme.