AN ANGRY councillor has hit out at plans to spend more than £5 million of taxpayers' cash on part of the Exxon site redevelopment near Dumbarton.

Jim Bollan, from the West Dunbartonshire Community Party, said he believed the authority's Labour administration was treating the council's finances as a "bottomless pit".

Councillor Bollan said plans to spend £5.74m on the design and construction of a new underpass giving access to the western end of the Exxon site near Milton, beneath the Glasgow-Dumbarton railway line, were "astonishing" and "reckless".

A motion brought to a full council meeting on October 26 by Labour's council leader Martin Rooney sought approval for the start of work on the 'design and construction' phase of the underpass project and for the finalising of payment to contractor Balfour Beatty for the work.

According to the project programme, as long as the design and build contract is agreed by November, design work will take place between December and May, with pre-construction work on the site between June and December of next year before a five-day closure of the railway line at Christmas 2023 for the work to take place.

However, Cllr Bollan expressed his dismay at the plans.

He said: "Here we are again - another meeting, another request for millions of public money to be invested in this project, which seems to be a bottomless pit of investment of council taxpayers' money.

"It beggars belief. And once again, we are being bounced into making another hasty decision without having the full information in front of us."

The development is part of the £1 billion Glasgow City Region Deal, a collaboration between eight local authorities to improve infrastructure in and around the Glasgow area.

Cllr Bollan's concerns stemmed from a report which stated that a full business case for the Exxon site project - including industrial and business facilities and a new relief road for the A82 - will not be submitted to the Glasgow City Region Deal's board until June 2023.

The Labour motion, approved at Wednesday's meeting, stated: "To enable council officers to finalise the Network Rail contract, approval is sought from council to agree expenditure on the Western Underpass design and construction ahead of the full business case approval by the Glasgow City Region."