MORE than 1,000 jobs and millions of pounds have been slashed from Bolton Council since 2010.

Over the past four years Bolton residents have seen reductions in the library service, street cleaning, park rangers and wide-scale redundancies across the authority — once the borough’s biggest employer.

Town hall bosses first announced their plans to cut up to 1,500 posts in 2011, as they were told to save £60 million.

While 5,500 teaching jobs were protected, the remaining staff were told their jobs were at risk, and invited to apply for voluntary redundancies.

A third of the town’s libraries — Astley Bridge, Oxford Grove, Heaton, Highfield and Castle Hill — were shut in 2012 in attempts to save £400,000.

Opposition group Save Bolton Libraries was launched to campaign against the plans.

They co-ordinated a petition against the plans collecting thousands of signatures and the support of children’s author Philip Pullman and comedian Dave Spikey.

The axed libraries were replaced with five drop-off points, but a report in December 2012 revealed a huge decrease in lending across the borough.

All of the council’s park ranger posts were scrapped last year, and the number of road and pavement sweepers was cut as well as the amount of dedicated litter teams.

The council also controversially closed the much-loved Animal World in Moss Bank Park in September 2013, to save £80,000 a year running costs.

In March this year funding for the town’s 28 bowling greens and pavilions was reviewed, with bowlers vying to see their base saved from cuts, while the budget for the maintenance of allotments across Bolton was wiped out in April.

Representatives from Unison, the public sector services union, were informed of the latest wave of cuts at a town hall meeting last week.

Branch chairman Matt Kilsby said workers were very worried about the plans — and would not rule out a walk-out over the measures.

He said: “We are extremely concerned that this is yet another wave of cuts to council jobs and services with vital services potentially outsourced.

“Currently we are asking for much greater detail about what these plans mean for our members.

“We are committed to working with the council wherever possible to represent the best interests of our members.

“However we will always campaign vigorously to defend public services.

“We cannot say at this stage what form the campaign might take but we cannot rule out the possibility of industrial action at some point.”