THERE was plenty of last-minute bargaining — but last night town hall chiefs confirmed Bolton Council’s budget of more than £400 million for 2010/11.

At a meeting of the full council, members confirmed the authority’s portion of the council tax bill would rise by 1.2 per cent, as recommended by the Labour Group’s Executive earlier this month.

Precepts — charges for services — from the Greater Manchester Police Authority and the Greater Manchester Fire Authority will push the figure higher, meaning the total bill for Band A properties, the lowest band, will be £939.89 for 2010/11, compared with £922.39 for the previous financial year.

People in the average Band D homes will pay £1,409.83, compared with £1,383.59 last year.

Those living in Blackrod, Horwich and Westhoughton will face a further levy for the parish council precepts.

In his opening address, council leader Cllr Cliff Morris said it had been a budget put together under difficult circumstances. He said: “We know these are difficult times for people in Bolton.”

The Liberal Democrats put forward a number of amendments which were accepted by the council.

These included removing the proposal to cut £10,000 from the council sports pitch maintenance budget, removing the £11,000-worth of cuts which, the party say, would mean Moss Bank Park and Moses Gate Country Park losing their Green Flag status and adding a one-off £200,000 to the budget for maintenance of roads and pavements in residential areas.

Other accepted amendments included stopping the proposed cuts to street lighting renewals, reducing the proposed cuts to the grass cutting budget and stopping the proposed cuts to the nature reserves and contribution to the Lancashire Wildlife Trust.

The council rejected a motion by Lib Dem deputy leader Cllr David Wilkinson to cut the number of executive members from 10 to 8 and stopping publication of the council’s Bolton Scene newspaper to fund new social workers to work with vulnerable children in the wake of the Baby Peter case.

After the meeting, Lib Dem leader Cllr Roger Hayes said: “We’re very pleased that the majority party have taken on board and supported our amendments, some of which Cllr Morris only knew about yesterday.”

It was a equally successful night for the Conservative group.

An amendment put forward by leader Cllr John Walsh to postpone £5 million-worth of “desirable” but non-essential highways work and use the money to tackle the borough’s pothole backlog was accepted.

But Cllr Walsh said: “What we have agreed is a total spend for the next financial year. A Conservative council after May’s election would revisit the budget and we would cut our cloth accordingly in certain areas.”

Speaking after the meeting, Cllr Morris said: “I think it is a very balanced budget. The figure of 1.2pc is very fair and we were pleased to be able to use some of the money we had to accommodate requests from the Liberal Democrats.”

andrew.greaves@ theboltonnews.co.uk