MORE than 100 campaigners are expected to swamp the Civic Offices when the council meets to set its budget this week.

The protesters have pledged turn out in force on Thursday night to vent anger over cuts in council spending across 2011 and 2012.

Andy Newman, Swindon and Wiltshire secretary of the powerful GMB union, warned that the council risks “breaking Swindon”.

“It’s difficult for us to judge the numbers, but I’d say there’ll be more than 100 people,” he said.

“We had about 70 people back in October when awareness wasn’t as great.

“The unions have done a lot of work informing their members. We’ve mailed 700 to 800 members, and Unison has done the same.

“The message we have is that they’re in danger of breaking Swindon.

“Although Swindon seems like quite a prosperous town, it’s economy is quite precarious.

“They’re just slashing and burning. It’s the most irresponsible thing they could be doing in light of how precarious Swindon’s economy is.”

Parents from St Joseph’s Catholic College are also expected to voice opposition to the axing of its school bus service.

And around 50 of the council’s 64-strong home care team will be among those turning up.

As reported in the Adver, they all stand to be made redundant from March 31 when cheaper, private carers will replace them.

Unison representative Ann-Marie Black, 47, of Brookdene, Haydon Wick, said: “We can see what’s happening to our service users. We’re their safety net.

“We’re going to be asking them to stop cutting their in-house care. Stop cutting front line services. There’s no need for it. There’s a way around it.”

The budget has already been through a series of drafts, and the council’s Conservative cabinet voted to accept it on February 2.

But at 7pm on Thursday, all councillors will meet at the Civic Offices to vote on it – setting the figures in stone.

Labour leader Coun Derique Montaut, will be speaking out against the cuts on behalf of the borough’s 14 Labour councillors.

And in spite of the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government, Swindon’s four Lib Dem councillors are also set to vote against the budget.

But with a large Conservative majority on the council – 40 councillors in all – it looks set to pass.

Mark Edwards (Con, St Margaret), cabinet member in charge of finance, said: “What you’ll hear at this pantomime is: ‘cuts to the vulnerable!’ “This about is making sure we’re sustainable in the long term. Every local authority is on this same journey in one way or another.”

l THE council has also decided not to axe £50,000-worth of funding for “cultural groups”.

An initial draft of the budget said the council would be cutting the subsidy.

It is also reversing a plan to scrap a review to find new premises for Swindon Museum and Art Gallery.

But the decision to grant this cash comes in a budget where other critical areas of spending are squeezed.

Coun Edwards said: “The political decision is that’s the right balance between caring for the vulnerable, and investing in the town.

“We could dedicate 100 per cent of our funding to the vulnerable. That won’t be impacting 180,000-plus people in the town.

“It’s about building Swindon for everyone. We have to make stark choices.

“But we have to be cognizant of the fact we’re looking after a lot of different people.”