To hike tax

– by nearly a third to save £630,000.

Grass cutting will be reduced from 18 to 14 times per year to save £213,000; although the budget paper noted: “Highvisibility areas will not be impacted.”

Cleaning services at the area’s secondary schools are also to be reconfigured to “increase efficiency and improve productivity”, saving £153,000 and affecting nearly 27 fulltime equivalent jobs.

Burial subsidies will be reduced, with a nine per cent increase to fees. Councillors also agreed to reduce the number of household waste recycling centres to six by closing one of the two existing facilities in Cumbernauld.

Labour’s approved budget includes increasing school footwear and clothing grants to £110 and expanding breakfast club provision to all primary pupils.

Funding will be given direct to local area partnerships for community projects, with Airdrie receiving £1m and Coatbridge £894,000; while there will be a further £27.5m spent on the Schools and Centres 21 initiative.

The budget also includes £ 1m for roads maintenance and £200,000 for cemeteries; plus the same figure again for a pilot scheme to tackle fly tipping and £ 80,000 towards assisting with “loneliness and keeping people active”.

Councillor Logue said of the extra £ 10.5m in Scottish Government funding released to North Lanarkshire last month: “It would be churlish not to acknowledge this has meant some of the more difficult options not being applied.”

However, he added: “We have to heighten the profile of the damage cuts are doing to councils – in the funding of public bodies, local authorities come at the bottom and we have to realign that.

“People are very passionate about council services – you see that with any school rationalisation, closure of a community centre or reduction in a service – and to match that commitment, there’s a requirement to resource it. I convened a meeting of local MPs and MSPs to give them an overview; it becomes about competing priorities.”

SNP members proposed a budget including a commitment to operate primary breakfast clubs, expanding the provision of free sanitary products, increased funding for winter resilience, advice centres and for Women’s Aid, and payments to support those with autism.

Finance spokesperson Jim Hume said: “We’re intent on supporting communities in the difficult times many residents are dealing with.”

Group leader David Stocks said: “Labour openly admit that there’s been a ‘significant’ Tory input into their plans; it’s seen in slashing the education budget, which is shocking in a deprived area like North Lanarkshire.

“We’ll always act in the best interests of our constituents and produced a budget to support social need.”