Following the administration's defeat in the capital budget by opposition parties last week, Councillor Hendry said the SNP and Lib/Dem councillors who backed proposals which attracted £½million for roads upgrades and a £100,000 spend on Milngavie centre had let their constituents down.

SNP councillor Jim Gibbons hit back, saying: "I feel I must correct the statements made by the Tory group. It was stated by Councillor Hendry from Bishopbriggs that the two opposition members who represent Milngavie 'voted down the town centre'.

"This is not the case. We in the SNP and the LibDem councillor for Milngavie are doing the best we can for 'the village' in consultation with the traders, the community council, Civic trust and East Dunbartonshire Council.

"Having debated and consulted on what is best for Milngavie town centre I have taken into consideration the timetable for improvements to the centre. It is very important to note that the £100,000 allocated for the town centre is to cover urgent short term improvements in a difficult financial year.

"Once the medium term and long term improvements to the precinct have been agreed by the people of Milngavie, we will then look to find the correct amount of money to do the job properly. Not all this money has to come from East Dunbartonshire Council tax payers."

Councillor Gibbons said if the new £50,000 ward fund and the extra cash for the roads network are taken into account, Milngavie is better off with the opposition budget which allows individual ward representatives some input into how some of the money is spent.

He added: "The administration obviously does not trust the people of Milngavie and Bearsden to even spend a small proportion of East Dunbartonshire's money on what matters to us."

Councillor Gibbons said the Tory and Labour councillors had made a lot of noise about their failed budget which had included much needed new street signs. Although he agreed the existing signs aren't up to much, he would rather see "Welcome to Milngavie" signs that will let visitors know they have arrived.

Such a spend, he said, was one of the areas where the new ward fund would come into play — the setting up of which he hoped signalled the beginning of a more democratic future for residents.