A stormy and chaotic debate saw a fourth successive council tax freeze approved by the narrowest possible margin.

The meeting over Hounslow Council’s budget for 2010/2011 raged on for hours in the Civic Centre on Wednesday - with councillors being forced to take a 20-minute break while the various political leaders desperately sought to come to an agreement about where to spend and save cash.

The first vote saw the Tory-led budget proposal knocked back by 28 votes to 27, but during the last-ditch recess members of the borough’s Independent Community Group (ICG) were promised an additional £250,000 would be made available for community projects.

The move won the support of ICG councillors who abstained during the first vote, and the budget was pushed through by 29 votes to 28.

Council leader Peter Thompson promised an extra £2.3m investment in children’s services and an additional £1m in highways maintenance, as well as more money for voluntary and community groups.

However, a council spokesman this week revealed that 20 posts were being axed as part of the newly approved financial plan, adding: “Others are likely to be affected by the restructurings and other changes referred to in the report.”

Critics have already slammed next year’s budget. Labour councillors condemned what they called a “stormy” meeting, particularly the deal between the Conservative and ICG coalition partners.

Group leader Jagdish Sharma said: “This was a shoddy deal done by two parties with no principles whatsoever.

“They could not tell us where the money would come from or what it was going to be spent on. It's a shocking waste of council taxpayers money.”

Leader of Hounslow’s Lib Dems, Andrew Dakers, lashed out at opposition councillors for approving proposals, which he claimed ignored the “declining” state of Gunnersbury Park and failed to take positive steps to halt Heathrow expansion.

Coun Dakers said he was “staggered” that the budget involved skimming £100,000 from the social care budget - heaping pressure on “an already stretched part of the council”.

ICG leader, Phil Andrews admitted the meeting was “chaos” but rubbished any notion that extra community project funds were a waste of money.

He said: “We want to put local people at the heart of what we’re doing, so extra investment in community groups and the voluntary sector is welcome.”

Coun Thompson added: “By reducing bureaucracy and improving efficiency we’ve been able to make sure we don’t add to the burden of hard working residents in the difficult economic climate.”

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