COUNCIL leaders have been accused of “spiteful” political decision-making and punishing residents by scrapping investment plans.

Basildon Council’s regeneration and environment policy committee voted down plans to spend £78,000 to remove bottle banks in South Green, Billericay, to make way for ten car parking spaces.

And a much-needed investment of £150,000 for Billericay swimming pool still hangs in the balance after the committee decided to carry out a £25,000 viability survey before making a decision.

Residents say the bottle bank is noisy and unnecessary, because the council already operates a recycling collection service. Traders say they desperately need more parking spaces.

The pool is likely to close without the cash boost.

The spending was set to be included in the 2016/17 budget but the Tories were ousted in May and the council is now led by a Labour-Ukip-Independent ‘coalition’, headed by Pitsea Labour councillor Gavin Callaghan.

Former leader, Conservative Phil Turner, of the Billericay West ward, blasted the administration as “immoral”.

He said: “Billericay residents do pay higher council tax so they’re entitled to their fair share. The administration is being immoral and nasty.

“Residents will be absolutely outraged by something that’s politically spiteful. The administration isn’t doing anyone favours by creating an ‘us and them’ atmosphere.

“I don’t understand why they’re targeting Billericay because all residents make a contribution to the borough.”

Fellow Conservative councillor Andrew Schrader, of the Billericay East ward, accused the administration of seeking political vengeance because the Tories previously axed investment plans for the Pitsea Swimming Pool as part of the Basildon Sporting Village scheme.

He said: “The pool is a long overdue investment and now they’re doing this viability appraisal, which in other words means ‘find me a reason to shut it’.”

He added: “We did a survey with residents and 60 per cent say they never use the bottle banks and some say it attracts antisocial behaviour. South Green is in desperate need of more car park spaces.”

Wickford Independent councillor Alan Ball, chairman of the regeneration and environment committee, said: “The decision to keep the bottle banks is because this recycling facility is highly used. There were no were no reports of dumping bottles and waste.

“The council is promoting recycling across the borough. If we build car parking spaces, it means we need to remove three mature trees near the facilities.

“The Tories were in office for 15 years so why didn’t they put in investment in the swimming pool then?

“We’ve decided to do the survey as a full refurbishment of the pool will cost £1.2 million. We need to be careful with our spending.”