COUNCIL tax in Glasgow will go up by 3% from April as part of the SNP’s council budget plans.

The council faces a £41million spending gap and city treasurer Allan Gow has revealed the budget he plans to put forward.

It includes a range of savings, extra charges and also identifies a new investment strategy for community facilities.

However, he said: “No libraries, no swimming pools, no community facilities will be closing. If we close something, we will open a new facility.”

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The plans, to be presented to the council on Thursday, will also see bins collected less frequently for thousands of homes.

There will be an increase in council car park charges and charges for hall hires.

And there will also be a £2.50 extra environmental charge on ticket prices for concerts held in the city’s parks like TRNSMT and Summer Sessions.

The council tax hike is lower than the amount the council is allowed to increase the charge by.

Finance secretary Derek Mackay increased the cap to 4.79% - but Mr Gow said he didn’t want to use that power.

It will increase a Band C property by £34 a year.

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Mr Gow said he doesn’t want to impose the full increase available to him.

He said: “We don’t think it is required at this stage. Glasgow council tax has been too high for too long. I think a 4.79% increase is too high and too many people would struggle to pay it.”

The increase will bring in an extra £6.6 million in the next year.

The bin collection changes are for properties with a main front door and collections will move from every two weeks to every three weeks.

The council thinks many bins are being collected half empty, making the collections service inefficient.

Council car park charges will go up by an average of 40p per hour and changes approved last year of on-street parking will raise almost half-a-million pounds.

The council is using £13 million from its reserves, and Mr Gow said: “We are getting more money in capital and revenue from the Scottish Government.

“The key pressure points for us are pay and inflation pressures and the equal pay settlement.”

The plans also include investment across the city.

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The big idea is a £20 million investment plan to begin developing a network of community hubs.

Mr Gow said the options in a leaked paper that included closing swimming pools, community and leisure facilities and golf courses was not being taken forward.

Instead, in the future, services will be re-provisioned so that any building that is closed will still see the services remain in the area.

He said: “We are moving to a multi-agency hub model. It could include libraries and pools.

“We are taking a strategic view of our assets. We have got to review and re-invest.”

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