BRADFORD Council is expected to make £40 million worth of cuts in the next three years.

In addition to the closure of three household waste recycling sites, an outdoor activity centre and 113 jobs are likely to face the chop.

Council tax bills will rise by nearly five per cent, and charges at council-run facilities such as car parks are also expected to increase.

And the cuts may still not be enough to prevent the council from effectively declaring bankruptcy – bosses are still in dialogue with the Government for “exceptional financial support” that would allow the authority to balance a budget that is expected to overspend by around £72m this year.

The council has announced its latest plans to deal with a financial crisis that could see the authority issue a 114 notice – effectively saying it is not able to balance its books.

The first wave of cuts go out to public consultation next week, and Bradford Council’s leader has warned that there could be further measures announced in the coming months.

Ingleborough Hall, a council-run children’s outdoor activity centre in North Yorkshire, is likely to be sold.

Leisure centres and libraries will be reviewed, with £60,000 of cuts expected in 2024-25 rising to £1.25m by 2025-26, with a report saying "reductions of this scale are likely to impact on the overall number of swimming pools, gyms and indoor recreation centres".

And the council hopes to bring in about £10m through the sale of assets including buildings and land.

Council leader Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe said there would be no cuts to children’s services.

The council is in consultation with the Government asking for “extraordinary financial support” that would allow it to borrow money to balance its budget, and use money raised from asset sales, which can normally only be spent on capital projects, on funding services.

If this support is not given, the council will likely become the latest in a line of local authorities to effectively declare bankruptcy.

A report going to the council’s executive next Thursday (January 11) describes the 2024-25 budget as “the most difficult that the council has experienced to date”.

Cllr Hinchcliffe says: "No councillor wants to make cuts, and we’ve had so many cuts over the years – over £350m. This is the next stage of Government austerity.

“Over the next four to five years what we’re looking at is becoming a much smaller council, employing fewer people and providing fewer services.

"That’s what the Government has decided by not adequately funding councils or children’s services."

Councils legally have to balance their budgets at the end of each financial year, and a report into finances last month said Bradford Council was unlikely to achieve this.

Cllr Hinchliffe adds: "If anyone has ideas on how money can be saved, we’re willing to listen. This will be an exceptionally hard year for us. We recognise that people find our services valuable."

She said projects that received funding from other sources, such as the Government-financed Transforming Cities Fund, would still go ahead as that money was ringfenced.

Bradford district's City of Culture celebration in 2025, which is being run separately from the council, will not be hit.

The situation has been condemned by Keighley's Conservative MP, Robbie Moore.

He says: "Labour wants you to pay for its complete incompetence but not only that, for you to suffer poorer local services as a result.

"It is infuriating but unfortunately not surprising that under Labour’s watch, Susan Hinchcliffe and her team have bled Bradford Council dry by wasting money on glorified white elephant projects, non-statutory schemes and gross mismanagement of children’s services.

"Cllr Hinchcliffe’s attempt to blame everyone but herself for leading the council to bankruptcy isn’t fooling anyone.

"If Bradford Council wanted to start saving some money, perhaps it could start by scrapping ill-thought-through schemes that the vast majority of people don't want.

"But no, instead it plans to close tips which will lead to an increase in fly-tipping. It plans to increase parking charges which will hamper local businesses, and look to close local sporting and leisure facilities, all negatively impacting our children’s health and wellbeing.

"However it won’t stop there – it will then look to close our libraries and other key services, all as a result of its financial mismanagement.

"I won’t accept these absurd proposals and will campaign like there is no tomorrow to stop them."

John Grogan, Keighley's Labour parliamentary candidate, says: "The scale of the cuts facing Bradford Council is shocking but not surprising given the Government’s indifference to local councils, particularly in the north of England.

"In Yorkshire alone, the Tories have cut nearly £1 billion in local government funding since 2015 whilst treating the likes of Surrey much more favourably.

"It is time Bradford district's two Conservative MPs put aside party politics and demand that the Chancellor fund councils like Bradford fairly.

"Ultimately the fault lies in Downing Street not City Hall, as councils both Tory and Labour around the country are facing similar pressures on their budgets.

"There is another way to run our country. Councils did not routinely go bust under the last Labour Government and doctors did not go on prolonged strikes. This year will almost certainly see a general election and the future of all our libraries, leisure centres, swimming pools, recycling centres and youth clubs will be on the ballot paper."